Cold Weather Riding

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

Hi the mid 50's here today (supposed to snow tomorrow night. Snuck one more 100 miler in before the Homestead race. Nice thing about cold weather riding.. ... NO BUGS!!!!

[motoman]

Did apoker run here today Mike and was abit nippy in the morning, bout 42, but warmed to bout 55, The 81 H dresser was the ticket with the Hippo-Hands and full fairing, lowers and all. Lots of harleys with big bore kits tryin to show ther stuff. They were small in the mirrors by third gear(skip second for now for obvious reasons). 'They', being the instigater, as they usually seem to be on these kinda runs, specially the ones with the big-bore kits just for some reason can't resist pickin on the XS when it's two-up, which still turns out to be a mistake on there part............and I'm lovin it, every shift..even skipping second!

[xs650mike]

Originally posted by BLUEJEEPLAB
Hi the mid 50's here today (supposed to snow tomorrow night. Snuck one more 100 miler in before the Homestead race. Nice thing about cold weather riding.. ... NO BUGS!!!!

The bugs must be tough out here in Calif. Cleaned my windshield yesterday before I left for my ride down to Lake Berryessa. Nice and sunny, about 68-70F. Only about 5 or 6 bugs on the windshield on the trip down. As soon as the sun went behind the mountains on the return trip the temperature dropped by 20 degrees or more and suddenly the air was filled with all sorts of bugs. Lots of hungry batsappeared at twilight, a feeding frenzy for them!. 80 miles later I arrived home with the windshield completely covered with bug juice and body parts.

[xs650mike]

Originally posted by motoman
Did apoker run here today Mike and was abit nippy in the morning, bout 42, but warmed to bout 55, The 81 H dresser was the ticket with the Hippo-Hands and full fairing, lowers and all. Lots of harleys with big bore kits tryin to show ther stuff. They were small in the mirrors by third gear(skip second for now for obvious reasons). 'They', being the instigater, as they usually seem to be on these kinda runs, specially the ones with the big-bore kits just for some reason can't resist pickin on the XS when it's two-up, which still turns out to be a mistake on there part............and I'm lovin it, every shift..even skipping second!

Dunno why most Harley guys think loud=fast. All these jerks around here with their open "drag" pipes and misjetted carbs backfiring and popping. I can take most of 'em up to about 50 mph on my tired old box-stock XS400 beater! Boy does that consternate 'em. After I've rolled-off the throttle they blast by thinking they showed me!


On my 750 kitted XS650 (otherwise stock) I can take most up to around 80 mph and the bike is rolling junk that I got for free with the engine frozen solid.


On the 11 I let them think they've almost got me for awhile then I look over, give a little bye-bye wave and only then open the throttle all the way. Wish I could see their faces then but the image is just too damned small in the mirrors.

Tom and I blew off a bunch of Harleys on our ride yesterday but to be fair (or unfair, hee hee!) some of this was in the twisties. Tom's Kawi Vulcan 1500 is bone stock except for Vance & Hines drag pipes (his bike is correctly re-jetted) and my XS 11 is absolutely stock. Of course Tom's bike is no match for mine but he absolutely tromps most Harleys.

[xj11john]

Tom's Kawi Vulcan 1500 is bone stock except for Vance & Hines drag pipes (his bike is correctly re-jetted) and my XS 11 is absolutely stock. Of course Tom's bike is no match for mine but he absolutely tromps most Harleys.

Interesting,

I havent had the pleasure yet of racing anyone, but a vulcan 1500, wow I didnt realize we could blow one of those away....
I can't wait till I get to find out.

I just have to be careful of the blue lights around here

But some day....some day

[xs650mike]

Originally posted by xj11john


Interesting,

I havent had the pleasure yet of racing anyone, but a vulcan 1500, wow I didnt realize we could blow one of those away....
I can't wait till I get to find out.

I just have to be careful of the blue lights around here

But some day....some day

Well there are the older Vulcan 1500s with dual carburettors (the cruiser guys call them the "fast but ugly" Vulcans) which are supposed to be pretty quick but I still think a good XS11 would leave those too. Tom's Vulcan does step out pretty good. Ducati Tim had one like Tom's which was even faster with the stock airbox removed, K&N filter, Vance & Hines drag pipes, no baffles. He didn't like the noise and put a couple of Harley mufflers on the V&H headers which quieted it down to a mellow rumble and made it even faster. I rode it and I was pretty impressed but that was before I got my 11SF.

[RS Thornton]

I have a gerbing liner for those cold days, picked it up on ebay pretty cheap. I ran an SAE 2 flat connector direct to the battery with an on/off push button. Snowmobile gloves for the hands, and 2-3 layers on the legs. In my 20's I ran a Honda twinstar year round, but now I have a car so the bike is a choice. Rode last week but had to leave work early when a winter storm warning was issued. I have to call it a season when the salt and sand trucks show up, it is too cold to wash that crap off the bike.

[xj11john]

Hey RS,

What was the temp. that day? Did you stay farely warm?

And riding year round in Michigan must be interesting with snow
and ice, I used to live in WI.
(learned to ride there)
and cant imagine riding in that stuff!

I did see a magazine where a guy rode his Honda dirt bike across
one of the great lakes, but he
had studded tires. He definetly was a bike enthusiest!

Don't think even I like to ride that much, and if I did up there I'd
get a snowmobile

[RUSH]

I rode for years with just sweatshirt and leathers to keep warm. I finally broke down and bought an electric jacket and LOVE IT!!
Now I am TOASTY when I go out and not encumbered by thick layers of clothing. It's worked great all the way down to 30 degrees and Ive been known to use it just to ease the sore muscle pain when riding long distances. Cover it with some good rain gear and youll be set for everything.
It is a bit pricey at around $250 for the jacket and controller, but unlike expensive helmets this will be something you can use!

[motoman]

cold weather riding

Rode this morning for bout an hour. The 81H makes for a great cold weather machine(better than the Honda st 1100 with the grip warmers.) as it has great wind protection and the deluxe model Hippo Hands. It was some where in the neiborhood of 25-28 degrees at 10:30 a.m. and wore down jacket and ball cap. ear lobes got a bit cold, but with the fairing, lowers and tall winshield it wasn't bad. The Hippo Hands beat the heck out of grip warmers, as I didn't have to wear gloves! Love that xs 1100H for cold riding. For "old school" styling, pretty hard to beat, and don't have to spend the 20K for an 1800 Wing!

[RS Thornton]

Hey John,

I think the high was low 50's, but with the winter storm blowing in this was down to low 30's maybe high 20's when I left work at 4. Snow was falling and not melting at that time. The bikes are parked now as the salt trucks showed up later that night.

If you lived in WI you probably saw large degree temp swings more than once. That is the main reason I got the gerbing, when you have the high and low temps for the day are 20-30 degrees apart it really affects the comfort on a longer ride. I picked up the jacket for for $50 plus shipping on ebay, it is an older style, but so is my bike!!

By the way there is a guy here at work even more hardcore than I am. His Goldwing was out in the parking lot yesterday. Today there was black ice so he did not have it out, but he will ride through the winter whenever the roads are clear.

I never been much interested in snowmobiles, I always wonder if the owners understand the phrase "wind chill factor"

[morticiaann]

Cold Weather Riding

My temp gauge read -22 several weeks ago.

I would start getting ready for the cold with a mountaineering mask that covers the face and neck. It cinches tight around your eyes. They are under $20.00. I've been a skier since 1963 and the worst problem in the snow has always been frozen hands. I researched Ebay for really warm mittens and found some surplus leather mittens for about $20.00. They come with liners and you can put two other pairs of gloves underneath the outer layer, besides.
With the mask, gloves warm pants shoes and coat - I can ride all year round with no problem.
I put 5-30w oil in recently because the engine was too cold to start in the morning.

[mixelpix]

hippo hands

are great - I swear by 'em - however, just know that at high speeds the wind may cause them to be pushed against your brake handle and turn your brake lights on. Not necesarily a bad thing, but the first time I saw it happen it was in the middle of the 101 from San Luis O to SF and there weren't too many 'clean, well lit places' to pull over and determine the cause - just a faint red glow out of the corner of my eye that I wasn't expecting...

[motoman]

hippo hands

Thanks for the for the warning there Mixelpix! Haven't had any problem yet, as these are the Deluxe models with the 2 1/2" hard-sides and stay pretty well put since they're on my full-dresser 81H Venturer 1100. Well taken tho!

[Ken Talbot]

Winter - what winter?

This side of the border, we get lots of opportunity for cold weather riding, but its the snow and ice that gets in the way. Most years, January at our house looks like this:



This year, January looks like this:



We did get a cold snap in mid-December and a bit of snow before Christmas. It has been so mild since then all the frost has come out of the ground, highway load restrictions come into effect on Monday, and my lawn is looking better than it did most of last summer.

Sure is tempting to charge up a battery and try to drag one of the bikes out of storage...