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What's The Coldest We Go Out On Our Bikes

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Hong Kong Phooey
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PostPosted: 16:29 - 25 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

These days about 4 deg C, but that would be for a reason, and it would be in the Honda only. Anything under 8C, or raining, and I'm contemplating using the car. Anything over 12 and dry then KTM gets out to play.

When I had my Fazer 600, I rode all year round and snow isn't as bad as ice. I stuck to the main roads though, and crossing the rutted car tyre tracks was the worst. This was before noticing how bad other people's driving can be, not leaving enough braking distance etc.

Now the fear of being rear ended is enough to stop me in my tracks rather than frozen hands. But mainly it's ice, after having a couple of close shaves it's been decided.
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MarJay
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PostPosted: 18:22 - 25 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

I went to work in London on my VFR800 a number of times around -2 or -3. I was careful on the way to the M3, then by the time I got off the M3 the temperature had invariably risen to about 4 or 5 degrees meaning I was safe to continue my journey. It's not something I want to repeat if I'm honest.
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GettinBetter
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PostPosted: 20:22 - 25 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great anecdotes guys. Great read.

I've just put two new tyres on and dynamically balanced the wheels, so am itching to get out on it, and see if it feels any different, but experience tells me to wait...plus I leave in the dark and come home in the dark, so not the greatest riding experience... I'm too old to risk getting an injury so.... wait it is. Well at least to a weekend when I can at least go out in daylight.
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Easy-X
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PostPosted: 21:23 - 25 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

I admitted defeat today and added a liner to my winter jacket. Doubt it was much less than 5°C tonight Shifty
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Old Git Racing
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PostPosted: 22:36 - 25 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

I say i'm not going out if its cold but the pull of riding the bike makes me, then I think why am I doing this lol

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Prawny
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PostPosted: 10:28 - 26 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

Happy to be working from home today, my thumbs are still tingling from yesterday, really need to do something about that. I was hoping to stick with the medium weight gloves and heated grips but hey ho. I’ve got some lobster claws in a bag somewhere that I rode all through the 19/20 winter with no heated grips or handguards so I think they will be pressed into action soon
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Serendipity
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PostPosted: 15:36 - 26 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don’t mind a bit of cold when it’s dry. I’ve only crashed on ice once and only because I was young and foolish. Most of the roads around me get treated promptly and to be honest the number of properly icy days we get in the (Southern) UK are pretty low.

Snow is a no from me. I’ve ridden in heavy snow about 5 times and had no fun at all. Zero visibility as the snow sticks to your visor or blinds you if you flip the visor up. Never crashed although I did just walk away from the bike on one occasion after it just became impossible to keep going safely.

I commuted daily on the bike until the pandemic. Now I WFH except for 1 day a week so my chance of hitting inclement weather is much reduced.

Coldest I’ve ridden in is around -10 Celsius, but that was a while ago. Must have been early 2012 because I was using the naked CB500 and froze my tits off… I had muffs, but no heated grips.

With heated grips and muffs on the current bike the hand problem goes away. Pinlock sorts visor misting and I find a down filled bodywarmer under a waterproof is more effective than heated clothing.

The coldest weather I’ve seen in my neck of the woods was around -15 Celsius, but at the time I was working for a customer who was handing out luxury pool cars so I was driving to work. Very Happy
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Skudd
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PostPosted: 15:49 - 26 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

GettinBetter wrote:
dynamically balanced the wheels,


What is that when it's at home? I just get mine balanced.
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c_dug
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PostPosted: 15:53 - 26 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've always commuted all year around, but I don't think it's been too bad down south for a few years now.

There were two winters a while back, I reckon 07-08 and 08-09, when it snowed quite badly.

The first winter I was commuting from Romford to Tunbridge Wells every day (for a shitty job, was not worth it, was young and naïve). That's 45 miles of motorway in each direction on a really shitty NTV600 with no heated grips, no muffs, and really really shit bike gear.

Fuck me that is by far the coldest I had ever been, but, I did make it in every single day.

The second winter I was commuting to Bluewater for the same shitty company, only 15 miles or so at least. Anyway it snowed very badly whilst I was at work and I was on a lovely CBR600F, the road out of Bluewater was a complete blanket of snow and I literally could not get enough grip to get up the hill. I gave it a really good try but no chance.

I had to push the bike to the side of the road and leave it there for about 2 or 3 days until the snow had cleared enough to ride it home.

When I collected it I managed to leave a glove at home, that was also quite a cold experience!
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droog
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PostPosted: 17:53 - 26 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used to do an 80 mile per day (there and back) commute into London - the worst cold weather experience was ridng through the 'big freeze' of 2010 - they were recording sub zero temperatures at the time - 80 mph wind chill on the motorway made it feel even colder if that''s possible.

Like other recollections of freezing weather on here I had trouble working the clutch/brake levers on my Yamaha Thunderace by the time I was pulling into London.

I didn't have heated grips so I splashed out on some really expensive Rukka winter gloves with some woolen under gloves - they might have provided some extra warmth - but it didn't feel like it - my hands were still freezing.

I also did a a few 40 mile trips in heavy snow and ice back in the day - I remember riding up the M3 following the narrow track gouged out of the snow by car/lorry tires.

In retrospect it was interesting to see what you can endure/get through on a bike - but not stuff I would like to experience on a regular basis.
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chickenstrip
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PostPosted: 19:19 - 26 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

droog wrote:


I also did a a few 40 mile trips in heavy snow and ice back in the day - I remember riding up the M3 following the narrow track gouged out of the snow by car/lorry tires.

In retrospect it was interesting to see what you can endure/get through on a bike - but not stuff I would like to experience on a regular basis.


I had an experience like that riding from London up to RAF Swinderby on my 750 Turbo for my basic training in Jan/Feb 1985. There was one section of the motorway where the traffic was slowed to walking pace with the snow banked up on either side of a narrow almost clear lane, paddling my feet to keep upright. Bloody basic training that winter was no fun either!

Yeah, that kind of experience is best lived in the memory, been there, done that etc Laughing
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GettinBetter
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PostPosted: 20:59 - 26 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

Skudd wrote:
GettinBetter wrote:
dynamically balanced the wheels,


What is that when it's at home? I just get mine balanced.


I bought one of these... had to let the tyre down and loosen the beads to spin the wheel 180 degrees, apparently instructions say if you have to add more than 30g try rotating the tyre 180degrees so I did. It certainly got rid of the visible high spot on the rear.

I found doing it statically first, lowered the amount of weights needed to trim when using the dynamic method.
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Skudd
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PostPosted: 21:30 - 26 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

GettinBetter wrote:


I bought one of these... had to let the tyre down and loosen the beads to spin the wheel 180 degrees, apparently instructions say if you have to add more than 30g try rotating the tyre 180degrees so I did. It certainly got rid of the visible high spot on the rear.

I found doing it statically first, lowered the amount of weights needed to trim when using the dynamic method.


So you had them balanced.
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Islander
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PostPosted: 00:29 - 27 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

Skudd wrote:
GettinBetter wrote:


I bought one of these... had to let the tyre down and loosen the beads to spin the wheel 180 degrees, apparently instructions say if you have to add more than 30g try rotating the tyre 180degrees so I did. It certainly got rid of the visible high spot on the rear.

I found doing it statically first, lowered the amount of weights needed to trim when using the dynamic method.


So you had them balanced.


Yes he did - statically and then dynamically rather than just one of the methods. Razz
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Bhud
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PostPosted: 01:27 - 27 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't know what the issue is with winter, really. I went out to make a collection at a brewery in the early evening, no further than 20-ish miles away from where I live. Countryside. The ride was great. OK, maybe it wasn't great LOL. But it was what the experience I sought. I needed it - I don't want to go insane. The roads are slippery in the countryside, yes. Especially on turns and mini-roundabouts. However, the main issue, I find, is the light. In the afternoon, it gets dark. Then, you'd better have proper lights. 55W incandescent doesn't cut it but so what. It's the same old world.
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chickenstrip
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PostPosted: 01:33 - 27 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wouldn't want to be out on a bike in that feckin wind right now though Shocked
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ThatDippyTwat
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PostPosted: 12:27 - 27 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

chickenstrip wrote:
Wouldn't want to be out on a bike in that feckin wind right now though Shocked

Even I draw the line at that. Glad I wasn't on shift or it would have been Taxi time. trip home was... interesting... enough, dodging high speed recycling boxes in an unlit NSL, and it picked up considerably after that.
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hellkat
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PostPosted: 12:30 - 27 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used to be more intrepid, riding right across London - west to east for about six years, and now east to west for more than 10 - on a daily basis in all weathers except snow, but fuck that nowadays.

I just get the Tube when it gets to the risk of black-ice or snow, it gives me a chance to read or sleep - and certainly working from home being more predominant now has helped in that respect. Too cold to ride? Work from home! The only decent thing to come out of Covid Laughing

In the past when I've been out and about, I've actually considered leaving the bike in Salisbury (or now, Maidstone) and getting the train back home to London when its been filthy-cold or raining, although I've not *actually* done that - (yet) Laughing

But I still like a nice ride out on a sunny winter's day with dry roads.

I tend to wear better protective gear than I used to, mainly cos I am too old to suffer with the cold any more - honestly, the things I used to not wear back then! Shocked Shocked I was really only doing it to prove (to myself) that I was 'ard. No need to any more.

... and that whole "freezing-hot-hands, will I end up with chilblains" thing is less of an issue, especially now that I am teetering on the verge of buying heated gloves Laughing

I've proved I can do it if I have to, and I am very happy now to not actually bother.
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hellkat
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PostPosted: 12:39 - 27 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

BanditsHigh wrote:

I prefer snow to ice as I can see it ... got caught on the M80 one year in heavy snow ... single lane, 5mph, with artics passing by a few feet away .... very, very dodgy!!


Eeeeek!!
I think I would just cry, and then my eyes would freeze up Laughing

I was scared doing that in a CAR on the M25 when I was bringing Bruno home on his first day from the doggie rescue - I promised him I would get us there Laughing had to stop in the Bell Common Tunnel to get my courage back up before getting onto the M11.

It must have been proper scary on a bike Shocked
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Kentol750
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PostPosted: 00:31 - 28 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

Today was cold and wet at 7am, miserable and no fun. But the wind at 3pm was far scarier!
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Bhud
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PostPosted: 02:12 - 28 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kentol750 wrote:
But the wind at 3pm was far scarier!


And that's the ride you'll remember. Thumbs Up
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chickenstrip
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PostPosted: 11:45 - 28 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, now you've all gone and done it. All this talk of snow.
I have given it some thought (2 seconds) and decided no, I wouldn't go out on the bike in this Laughing

Very pretty out though Smile
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Nobby the Bastard
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PostPosted: 11:52 - 28 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

I once Chickenstripped into a hedge because I was too cold to steer the bike in the snow.
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chickenstrip
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PostPosted: 11:53 - 28 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nobby the Bastard wrote:
I once Chickenstripped into a hedge


Very Happy

I'll take whatever fame or notoriety I can get!
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Kentol750
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PostPosted: 14:59 - 28 Nov 2021    Post subject: Reply with quote

It wasn't too cold to ride, just not what you'd do for fun. The wind got up to angry after we'd finished our day.

I'd stay in bed if bills didn't have to be paid!
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