Cold weather riding

[aidy]

Hi everyone just wanting to know what you guys are using to keep warm while riding as I'm finding that by the time I get to work in the morning I'm freezing cold. I have thermal glove and over trousers and motorbike jacket but like I said freezing cold and it's not even middle of winter yet so I'm hoping you guys have some tips to keep warm as the weather gets really cold and icy

[BenR]

I'm using a mk2 skoda fabia.

[Riejufixing]

[kgm]

Layers. Although I findy RST paragon suit keepse adequately warm and dry in most conditions with the liner in. I might add a fleece underneath when it's really cold. For your hands the only proper solution is muffs.

[linuxyeti]

Warm clothes, decent gloves, and when it does start to get cold, handlebar muffs, never found the need to consider heated grips, or even heated gloves ..

Eg ..

tucano urbano muffs

Richa Cold Protect Gore-Tex Gloves

Decent waterproof boots

Oh, and some waterproof overclothes, for when the weather gets really wet..

I'm sure others will offer suggestions
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[peejayess]

Before you pay a fortune for ‘bike’ layers check out the outdoors shops like Mountain Warehouse and Trespass. Thin but warm layers for next to the skin for a fraction of the cost, but does exactly the same job. Likewise get an inner glove to go with your bike gloves, I find that more effective than just thick gloves. Hand guards to keep the wind off your fingers - even if you have heated grips they only warm the palms, still need to deflect the air from the backs of the hands

[flearider]

merino wool base layer top .thick tea shirt . thin jumper padded shirt waterproof bike jacket ..merino wool bottoms padded jeans thermal over trousers .. will keep you warm to about -20..
only missed 3 days last yr (due to snow had to take the bus ) and I work split shifts
thing is the next couple of yrs are going to be really bad so who knows

[colink98]

is it already that time of year again.

the wife will be putting the heating before long.
damm lizard people.
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PCX125 (stolen) - CBF600 (current)
Ride it like you stole it.
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[talkToTheHat]

aldi merino wool baseleaysers when i can find them
campari ones for £3 from the discount bin at sports direct when i can't

thin regatta pull-over fleecey thing from matalan - folds up small enough to go under seat and use instead of thermal liner in summer or addintional to liner in very cold weather and/or thin noname windproof midlayer that has the bonus of making mesh summer jacket bareable when temperature drops

Altberg boots for winter. Warm, waterproof, tough, last well, decent tread on soles.

A jacket and trousers that zip together, shorty-sporty textile jacket has been a mistake and next one will be a 3/4 length again, likely paragon. It's always that the joins these things leak.

If it's proper chucking it down then oversuit. Had the same IXZ crazy trousers and HG waterpof jacket for years, use maybe a dozen times a year, but really handy.

Goretex gloves, double cuff if you trust your textiles and don't use an oversuit.

Tucano Urbano muffs for the coldest of the winter.

Cheap wind/waterproof neck tube + a spare for the way home

Helmet tht doesn't leak in the rain.

If it's snowing then VW polo
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[ADSrox0r]

Heated gloves were my revelation last winter. Done years of muffs/winter gloves/heated grips etc and nothing is as good in my opinion. Hefty investment though, that's the downside.
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Current bikes: '08 VFR 800 VTEC(yo) , '07 ZZR1400 Winter hack: '95 Aprilia 650 Pegaso Currently lusting after: RC30

[ThatDippyTwat]

Merino base layer. The Merino part is important.
Make sure your jacket is actually waterproof and has a liner.
Overtrousers with a thermal liner - same with actually being waterproof.
Decent winter gloves with silks undergloves. - Spada Enforcers with silks if it's really cold (-5 etc).
Boots with a fluffy/warm layer. I prefer 'adventure' type ones for this reason.
Waterproof neck protector - There's a cracking Blacks on ebay/amazon for under a tenner that I've used for a couple of years.

I'll ride in anything the wheels will grip in with that and my normal work uniform.
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'98 VFR800 (touring) - '12 VFR800 Crosrunner (Commuting) - '01 KDX220 (Big Green Antisocial Machine)

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

I rode about 5k last winter - it was a cold one up here (many more nights of frost than for years). I felt it all the time - but it was bearable. My hands were always cold, but not too bad at all tbh. I'd be out for an hour or two at a time. I don't have grips or anything else. I was in single skin leather gloves (cos feel), and just wore the same textiles I wear at any other time of the year - but with the linings in, of course. I just wore more layers underneath. Also, keep the layers loose fitting - none of this base shit. I actually think that cools you rather than insulates. Imo you need loose layers where lots of small air pockets exist - this air warms up from body heat, and acts as its own insulation. All that said, I am about 14-15 stone and just under 6 foot. Point being, the extra timber definitely helps. If I was lighter, like I probably should be - and always was, as a yoof - I'd probably get loads more shivery. So factor your build into the question of whether my "method" could work for you.
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[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

Whoops yeah - the merino thing. I got some slightly oversized bottoms (and maybe a top) - Aldi shit. Works well. Definitely worth a try.
____________________
"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[Serendipity]

Not exactly a quick fix, but the difference a decent fairing makes in the cold is substantial. Worth bearing in mind for the future if you're currently rocking the naked side of the street.

Froze on my naked CB500 earlier this week in weather that wouldn't even see me reaching for the winter gear on the CBF.
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2007 CBF1000-ABS - Commuter heaven | 1994 CBR600FR - Awaiting defibrillation

[inline4]

[Johanna]

My hands are sore because I've been wearing thicker gloves and clamping the grips like a vice. I've stalled and braked badly already due to the reduced grip. Feeling like a beginner again.

I would like gloves with a massive padded top and thin, grippy palms.

The rest of the body I can layer up. Control points (hands, feet) need to know what they are doing.

[chickenstrip]

A windproof layer. Pertex works very well. I have a pull-on Pertex running/cycling/outdoors top, thin as paper, packs down to nothing, fits over a warm top (fleece etc), and wasn't too expensive. Makes a huge difference, allows a warm layer to work more efficiently. Breathable too.
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[sickpup]

Its the time of year when I give cold weather riding advice and everyone ignores it, yay

First you need Goretex outer gear. The usual is Norway issue ECW boots followed by Goretex trousers and jacket.
The performance shell stuff while cheapest tends to be warmer than the proshell stuff but the outer can become saturated which proshell as a laminate doesn't.
This year I also have a TCX Infinity Evo Goretex that I got cheap, help keep my old shins toasty.
Trousers with a bib are best, keeps you all snug and warm.
If you get wet you will get cold so don't get wet. Lots of 2nd hand Goretex on Ebay.

Tucano furry muffs if you can find them, they seem to have stopped making them but Tucano say they will go back into production at some point. Oxford heated grips, £50 from Ebay and an apron.

For 7.5 years I've been telling people to buy heated jackets to stay warm, I don't think anyone has listened, they just get heated gloves which are slightly cheaper, less reliable and a lot less effective. My jacket has lasted 7.5 years now.
If you have the cash go for heated trousers as well.
With a heated jacket you don't have to worry about base layers or layering you just wear a T-shirt and the heated jacket.

If you really want to go all the way fit a heated seat pad as well. They're pretty cheap these days, from £25 upwards.

For when its really cold you add plastic over jacket and trousers and you are good for 80mph+ at -12

Also buy a Deauville, the weather protection is amazing and they are faster than you are.

Don't even bother with non-motorcycle gear, its overpriced and not designed for use at 70mph.

[Evil Hans]

[BusterGonads]

Back in the day (1970 - 1973) I lived in Newcastle and was a student in London and I rode up the A1 and back every six weeks whatever the weather on terrible 1950s motor bikes. I used to put old newspapers across my body inside my cotton jacket and in the later period, someone gave me an old WW2 naval duffel coat which made things better. I rode hundreds of miles in freezing fog and had my beard all solid with ice.

I should end this post by telling you that we were lucky to get an orange in a sock at Christmas, but in fact, we were too poor for that.

[struan80]

RST Heated cloves RTS adventure textiles in Black. RST boots black ones. I also have white ones but that's a bit extreme for winter and riding a cruiser so might sell them.

[Nobby the Bastard]

Heated grips.
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[aidy]

Thanks guys for all your useful help and advice was beginning to think I was just being soft for getting cold but can't afford to be getting ill because of being cold

[BusterGonads]

[B5234FT]

How cold is it where you are

I rode 36 miles to work this morning on a naked bike in RST Blade textiles with the liners in, boxers and a long sleeve tee with boots and full length summer gloves and heated grips and it was 'fine'. Biggest thing was making sure the neck tube was tucked into the collar of the jacket and up inside the helmet.

Once it gets colder I'll be using Tucano urbano muffs and a touring jacket with a collar as opposed to a sports jacket and a thin fleece layer under it and that was good enough for -3 last year.

All that goes to pot if its pissing down, then you need sickpups advice, but by then I'll be in the car because it's dark, miserable and not really any quicker for me.