Cold Weather Riding

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

Anybody have any tips on cooler weather riding? I went on a 130 mile ride today (low 50s) and was fairly warm with a pair of jeans, shirt, sweatshirt, Leather Jacket and protective gear. I'd like to extend my season (since I got my 11 all I want to do is right). I was thinking about looking into some snowmobile gear and shooting for rides down to the mid thirties.

[Artic_rider]

well, I don't know about where your at, but up here in the North country (way way northren Canada) we don't do much. I have done a few rides on Christmas / Newyears day though...for the hell of it. I usually wear some sweat pants under my chaps, hoodie under my leather jacket, and I have a good pair of insulated gloves. lol...riding in the 30's...it's already upper twenties here over night. If you don't have snow or ice to contend with though, ride on brother!

[Czekus21]

There have been many threads on this topic. If your into cold weather riding ( as I ride more in the winter then in summer ) A snowmobile suit should do just fine.

[chevy45412001]

layer

important thing is to layer your clothes.not one or two heavy items but three or four mid weight ones instead. We call'em long johns up here (insulated underware) then i like jeans or denim ,then sweat pants followed by chaps. on the upper body long john top shirt,tee shirt sweat shirt hooded sweat shirt then the leathers. Ussualy a scarf then helmet. gauntlet style gloves and mittens over them. ya should be good to about 30 -20 degrees.

[DiverRay]

Everyone has missed the important thing for cold weather riding. A windshield of any type will keep the direct flow of air off your body, and the wind chill. I ride year-round with a fairing, and I don't need to feel like a mummy to stay warm. Even a small handlebar mount shield will help a LOT. The next best thing is probably "hippo hands". They are like a mitten for the bike. They go on the handlebar ends, and keep the wind from going through your gloves.

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

I have a Cafe Fairing that does a fair job of re-directing the air. A vetter or something like it would be nice so I could take advantage of lowers. Where can one get Hippo Hands now a days? I was in my local MC Superstore and they looked at me like I was an alien when I asked about them.

[DiverRay]

I just did a "Google" on hippo hands, and came up with two good sites. The first site will be at the top, and this is the second site. They DO NOT state they work with an XS1100, but this site seems to have a more "universal" fit.
http://www.bikerbrackets.com/pawpics.htm
Ray

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

Thanks Ray,

Those would do the trick, but they don't look as cozy as the old Hippo Hands used to. I'll keep looking and maybe do a little doodling and see if SWMBO could whip something thing up on her Husqavarna (sewing machine, I always wanted a Husky when I was young and dirty...)

[motoman]

Hard to find the Craig Vetter Hippo-Hands....and yea, ask about 'em and you get lokked at like your a bug from space..There were three sets on e-bay this week......never-ever seen them on there before.....three chances to get 'em....finally nailed the third set on Thurs......had to give almost $80 to get em tho.....was gonna nail that last set no matter what the cost tho.....thought it would be appropiate and nostalgic to add to the 81 Venturer 1100......so yea, hard to come by the originals, these were only used one season and stored away for who knows how long. Thought that was pretty fortunate as they even have the Blue Vetter Hippo-Hands insignia.

[Geezer]

I've had a set of Hippo-hands for over 25 years and while I haven't tried them on the Mongrel, I've used them on a GT750 Suzuki, N15 Norton, and my 850T3 Guzzi. They're universial in nature...

The set I have are more than beat up and were on my Guzzi when I was pasted be a drunk back in 10/83.

After you get used to not seeing your controls, they're great.

Geezer

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

I never thought about not being able to see the controls... I have a hard enough time with getting the turn signal canceled when I can see the damn thing.

[Geezer]

It take a little getting used to but it doesn't take long and it's second nature.

Canceling the turnsignals on the XS11's is easy, jut push in on the button. On other bikes you have to know it's centered to be off.

Geezer

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

Had the damn thing a month and haven't figured that out yet. I guess I'm getting dense in my old age, either that or it's from riding On/Off roaders so much!

[motoman]

Signals on my Yammy Venturer 1100 self-cancel anyways!

[Geezer]

All XS11's had self-cancleing signals but many don't work that way after all these years.

I'm using and off the shelf car flasher on the Mongrel and I have to push the button in to turn them off. I've never had a bike with working self-cancleing signals for more than a month or 2 and I'm used to doing it manually.

These days I don't ride much in bad weather. It's seldom cold and dry here and I hate riding in the rain. I tend to take the old beast out maybe once a month during the winter and that's enough to keep the carbs from gumming up and the tank from rusting.

Geezer