My Sunday afternoon 13 mile cold gear road test

[CrazyDave]

Ok, so I wanted to pick up a couple of cheap Santa hats at the local Dollar Tree, and decided it might be a good time to check out all that cold weather gear I had hanging around the house for years but have been too spineless to use.

This great collection of gear consists of some Wally world snow boots and some winter grade poly overalls. Armed with this, my 100 gram Thinsulate gloves and balaclava I ventured out into the thirty five degree 15-25 west wind fueled day for a journey to the Hooksett NH K Mart plaza

My ugly mug


Speedo set to zero



Traffic to K Mart was back road stop and go with speeds reaching 40 mph
I reached K Mart with five miles on the speedo with no ill effects ( apart from looking like a fool trying to feel himself up as I grasped and clutched to get my wallet out to purchase the hats)



The face was fine, feet were great and hands were doing A Ok..the only real issue was the flapping round of the balaclava. So after having a butt I donned the HJC ( now sans shield) and decided to go home via 28 bypass and bridge street,this route would give me an idea at how everything would hold up under slightly higher speeds with less stopping along part of the leg home.

The gloves again seem to be the Achilles heel, after a few minutes of 50 mph riding without stopping the warmth they were providing quickly dissipated.... everything else was doing fine but when I turned onto bridge I was looking forward to going home..

Dismounting the bike I discovered that somewhere along the ride back the overalls had made contact with the Vance and Hines.. some duct tape should fix them up just fine



Total miles 13.8.. I need to work on the gloves but other then that it was very doable.. perhaps some thicker socks or a layer of plastic for the feet.. the boots are thicker so care is needed when shifting.. I lost the feel for neutral a few times

[GPSchmidt]

I have one of these. They are warm, and have a strap to keep it secured to your knoggin.

[harpdad]

The hands allways seem to be the weak spot

[gat803]

Originally Posted by GPSchmidt

I have one of these. They are warm, and have a strap to keep it secured to your knoggin.

Yea, me too....lol



I'm geared for snowmobiling, hunting, and ice fishing, so I have no problems dressing to stay warm enough to ride in the cold. I just don't want to any longer.

The wife and I did 150 miles on Thankgiving day. It was 60* and a great day for a fall ride. Last night we got a couple if inches of snow and they started putting salt on the roads. I won't be back on the bikes until there is a good enough rain to wash ALL of the rust maker away. Of course that doesn't include the scooter. lol

Have fun, Dave

[GPSchmidt]

Looks good on you!

[rmw]

Dave, my hands were always the problem as well. I bought gloves that looked more like boxing gloves and my pinkies still hurt. Finally gave in and bought a pair of electric gloves. Would have saved a fair hunk of change if I had figured it out earlier.

[TCLOCS]

gat...

Nice lid. Where did you find it? Thanks

[wallasan10]

I bought a pair of mittens on ebay that were made for the snowmobile and they work great!
They cost me $16 with shipping but they retail for much more than that. I got lucky but if you keep looking you can find a deal.

[rb608]

Originally Posted by CrazyDave

The gloves again seem to be the Achilles heel, after a few minutes of 50 mph riding without stopping the warmth they were providing quickly dissipated.... everything else was doing fine but when I turned onto bridge I was looking forward to going home..

That's been my experience as well. I have a 50 minute commute, and it's my fingers that are the first to complain. A few years ago, I finally got a pair of Polar Hands for the bars, and they're amazingly effective as well as looking amazingly goofy. Thus far, I've been surprised by the effectiveness of leather chaps. I usually wear the insulated bibs, but haven't needed 'em yet this year.

I have a 6-hour ride coming up Wednesday a.m. (3 hrs each way); but a.m. temps aren't forecast below 30F, so I'll probably be fine. This'll be a good test for the heated jacket liner my buddy gave me.

[shadowmaker07]

I used to work in rooms as low as 25 degrees breezing around on a pretty zippy sidestanding forklift and never did find enough kinds of things to keep my toes and fingers warm so I know it'll never happen on the bike.
There is nowhere that I need to go bad enough to be miserable and look like an utter fool knowing people KNOW you are cold as ice.