Winter Riding

[damanning71]

My car broke down at an unfortunate time, so I decided to go ahead and ride my bike for as long as I can stand it. I have decent gear. Good insulated over pants, riding jacket, good gloves and boots. I havent riden in weather below 40F.

I know this forum has lots of "Yankees"! So I was wondering if ya'll could give me some tips on how to ride warm.

[ZackDaniels]

Thermal long underwear and/or running suit. You will be amazed at the difference a good base layer makes. Looks like you already have a shield on the bike, that's a big help.

I've been in 29 degrees comfortably with long thermal underware > t-shirt > long sleeved t-shirt > hoody or sweatshirt > lined riding jacket.

It helps that my riding jacket is a 3x and I've dropped a ton of weight since I got it...

:edit:
For the hands which are the biggest problem IMO - a set of polar hands/handle bar mitts for the bike itself.
A good liner to go under your already winter ready glove. Such as these:
http://www.rei.com/product/835651/sm...l-liner-gloves

or these:

http://www.target.com/p/c9-by-champi...lot=medium_1_1

The champions are not designed to be liners but they're thin enough to work just fine. Bonus they work down to 40 or so comfortably by themselves for all things not on a motorcycle. They and the REI silk liners are thin enough to work with your helmet etc so they don't add much to the 'dress time'.

[Bens06Sabre]

well having riden in early spring with temps into the teens, when the roads where dry and clear, my biggest problem on my ride to work was cold hands, now my ride to work includes highway, city, and interstate, and is about 50 miles one way, I found out that snowmobile gloves worked the best to keep my hands from freezing, and adding one of those chemical hand warmers into the glove helped some, but they would stop work half way there, they starved for oxygen apparently, because once out of the gloves at work they held heat close to 8 hours, I have sense added heated grips to bike, wish I done that long ago, makes the world of difference for keeping hands warm.
Rest of clothing like said before learn to layer your cloth, I wear chaps that have a liner over my wranglers and never had problems with legs getting cold. upper body I would layer thermo shirt, shirt, carhart vest and my leather jacket with liner in it also.
Make sure you also protect your face and neck area, especialy if you don't wear full face, or even if you do, I wear one of thos scull masks that cover my face and run down front of neck to uper part of chest. Works for me in cold weather, and I'm not just a fair weather rider, rode till snow droped here, cold not problem, traction is LOL

[Bugler]

It was in the low 30s here in KC today and I was fine riding. My windshield really helped, especially as it protected my hands. I also wear a full faced helmet and gloves. I wear thermal underwear, a hoodie and then an overcoat which is lined but much like a windbreaker on the outside. I wrap a scarf around my neck, put on my helmet and then zip up the jacket. After I strap the helmet, I tuck part of the scarf up into my helmet to cover my face behind my faceshield. Stopping that wind has a big impact.

Tomorrow my riding pants and jacket will arrive. I purchased them from a seller who sells on Amazon. The pants only cost around $60 and the jacket was about the same. My goal is to ride into the teens as long as road conditions are okay. My biggest weak spot is my feet, so I will probably have to go to two pairs of socks.

[GilaMinumBeer]

Motorcycle Superstore has a one piece thermo made by firstgear. Absolute best over the clothes winter apparel I've ever had. I've ridden in 20*F and felt warm and cozy inside that thing. Used to be $170 but it's been heavily discounted for holidays too.

Bonus is that it doubles as a rain suite too. Way too warm to wear above 50*F tho'.

[Officer friendly]

Riding on duty in 15 to 5 degrees F. I dress in layers,,,wear things that wick away your sweat head to toe....flannel lined pants (blue jeans ect) along with chaps (somethings that breaks the wind) also I slip in "Hand warmers" in each glove ( you can buy those at Walmart or Home depot ect ect and they REALLY work,,they also make toe warmers,, a full face helmet can really make a winter difference if not a face mask (one of the best face mask wind break was a Nomex face mask I got from a fire fighter)

I LOVE the cold I also teach snowboarding at a local ski Mt. and I also ICE SCUBA dive (we go to NH and cut a hole in the ice on a lake then jump in and scuba under the ice...

so since I do a LOT of cold weather hobbies I always try new ways to stay warm,,(sometimes cheap sometimes NOT so cheap LOL ) P.S. in the last 25 years I ONLY got Hypothermia 2 times (Scuba in the Ocean off NH & Mass in Feb.) and frost bite 3 times (on dry land) LOL

[damanning71]

Last night I went to cycle gear and got some really nice insulated over-pants. normally they go for around $175, I got them on sale for 80 bucks! Got a Frost out face mask, and some frost out glove liners. Rode to work this morning and it was 21 F. I have a 30 minute ride to work, so not to bad. The only thing that got cold were my finger tips. The rest of me was nice and warm. But Holy $hit my fingers were in pain! I'm going to look online for some of those snow mobile gloves-mittens. Those with the frost out liners and I should be good to go. My fingers were froze but I had a blast. For some reason my Shadow loves the cold air. Seems to run better than usual. Thanks for all the input guys, it's much appreciated!

[brewman]

I put heated grips on and they helped, but my fingers still eventually froze. I've since added hand deflectors (

National Cycle

National Cycle

) and that made all the difference.

[CrazyDave]

We all seem to agree, the hands are the worst to keep warm
I may check these out
https://www.google.com/shopping/prod...ed=0CGcQ8gIwAA

[damanning71]

Ive been thinking about the deflectors too. I just want a set with a little style to them.