How low can you go?

[Harald]

In a masochistic way, I can report that I've set a new record this morning. :dribble:

My previous lowest temperature ever ridden on a motorcycle was 17 degrees in Georgia back in the mid 80's. The bike was my 83 Suzuki GS1100E with a Plexi-fairing installed to block wind, but no heated grips (did they even have those back then?) or other farkles. I was wearing a snowmobile suit and insulated, long gauntlet leather gloves. I had to alternate hands held behind the cylinders of that big air cooled inline 4 engine to keep the hands warm.

This morning saw 16 degrees on the FJR temp gauge on the way in to work. I broke my old record by ONE whole degree! :yahoo: It's amazing how much warmer I was than 25 years ago with modern conveniences like a fully faired bike, Vstream shield raised up, heated grips on high, Vstrom hand guards blocking wind, electric heated gloves and jacket, wind blocking Aerostitch riding suit and fleece necker gaiter. :clapping:

A quick glance at the forecast shows a low of 10 degrees tonight! Maybe I'll get to break the record 2 days in a row?

How about you guys up north? Did you beat our south sound low?

 

[Patriot]

The bike was my 83 Suzuki GS1100E

that was my first street bike after racing dirt bikes all through college

 

[sportsguy]

I asked my wife to drive me into work today...

And it was nice and cozy in the Jetta!

 

[johnny80s]

I asked my wife to drive me into work today...



And it was nice and cozy in the Jetta!

You must be one of the guys that work with Warchild?

 

[escapefjrtist]

Had a balmy 13 on the way to work this morning...

.

.

.

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...in the cage. With the chance of ice, it's too cold to risk it! :cold:

--G

 

[user 6393]

Have ridden in snow (unplanned), but coldest temp so far has been about 20F

the only things that got annoyingly cold were my thumbs.......I hate that

 

[Geezer]

The coldest I have ridden in is mid 20s F, and that was not planned. I had to hold my hands down by the engine heat vents whenever I could to keep them warm. Normally I leave the bike in the garage if it drops below freezing.

 

[Bustanut joker]

Though aboot goin' out today but ****.. Between the rain, then snow, then rain.. Well, I figured I'd just stay here and burn up some wood

Yeah, I have a fine new winter suit (thanks again fellas) but the roads said, stay the *** inside

2 degrees F was the coldest I ever did that silly **** last year.. No heated gear but just 3 miles..

:jester:

Fergot to add I park inside 30 feet from me cave I call an office

 

[sportsguy]

I asked my wife to drive me into work today...



And it was nice and cozy in the Jetta!

You must be one of the guys that work with Warchild?

Hells no! My garage at work is heated!

 

[TruWrecks]

My FJR is tucked away nicely for at least a couple more months.

 

[capttwb]

My coldest day was 4 below zero, now work was fairly close, about 6 miles. However, this was because I had to. The ride was on a 67 Yamaha 250. No windshield, or hand guards. We used to put newspaper in our jackets and down our jeans, to block the wind. However we were 17, 18 year old boys and could withstand the cold better. Yep, I had a buddy as poor and crazy as me. :lol:

 

[Topspeed]

My coldest day was 2007. Early June I decided to take a short cut from I-90 to I-80 in WY I was heading home from visiting my mother. I routed myself with out a thought to elevation in what looked like the most direct roads (had no GPS at the time). Ended up going over some pass I don't remember because I was too damn cold to pay attention to anything other than the snow that had melted on the sides of the road late in the previous day and was now ICE. 50 miles or so and the lowest temp I saw on the bike was 4 F. Had to stop at one point about half way through to take my gloves off and put them as close to the engine as possible to warm them up for several minutes.

Probably didn't help that the gloves had gotten soaked through in a rainstorm earlier in the day that lasted for 2-3 hours at interstate speeds. Oh, and since it was summer these were not winter gloves at all.

miserable experience that. Wish I had pictures to post of it

TS

 

[sportsguy]

Tell the story to a police sketch artist and they'll draw you pics!

 

[Harald]

Maybe I'll get to break the record 2 days in a row?

Family duties conspired against me yesterday morning. I had to take my son to the dentist and he wasn't too thrilled about riding with me on the bike. :dribble: So even though I would have once again broken my record on the bike, I had to take the heated truck and sip my egg nog latte while driving to the dentist.

So I was very disappointed this morning when the temp didn't drop below 16 degrees on my 25 mile ride into work. :angry: I suppose I'll be happy when we get back to the normal 40 degree and raining.

 

[dcarver]

Did a Montana ride in my late teens, not sure how cold, but when I finally did make it to shelter (Yellowstone), I couldn't count cash. I could see and recognize numbers, but all counting functionality was gone. Never been that cold since, I vowed to NEVER get that hypothermic again. Would probably kill me now.

 

[NightShine]

...I could see and recognize numbers, but all counting functionality was gone...

Wow! That's only ever happened to me in the midst of a night of hard drinking.

Hypothermia can be pretty insidious, but I've never been so cold as to loose cognitive ability! None of my experiences can compare to that.

Coldest I've ever gotten riding was one night long ago, as a south florida boy on my way to the Marti Gras in New Orleans. The temperature was only just around freezing, but I was dressed in my heaviest south florida riding gear - what passes for light summer weight stuff anywhere else - and had been riding for several hours. I reached as far as Gulfport Mississippi around midnight and finally realized it was time to call it a day. Some wet spots from the earlier rains were freezing to ice and the roads were getting slippery. And my whole body was slowing down, making control of the bike with any finesse impossible.

The worst was at the hotel, where I had a tough time registering. My hands would hardly do what I asked of them, and so I couldn't sign my name. And my speech was so slurred, that the poor lady at the registration desk was none too happy with me and probably thought I was drunk.

Ah, the good old days. An early life lesson on operating on the wrong side of survival...