Too hot to ride

[Pickle]

We were supposed to go to a Rally this weekend near Mytleford in Victoria, Australia. Finished work at 3.30, got home ready to go, checked the temperature 33C inside with the aircon going, outside had reached 51C in our back yard. No worries we thought, needed to try out our new vented jackets anyway, left Canberra out onto the Hume & the heat was unbearable, riding directly into the sun didnt even realise we had good tinted visors on. Try leaving the visor up a bit & it was like someone shoving a hot fan heater in your face, the wind through the vented jacket again like a hot fan heater. Riding at a steady 120kmh didnt help & both bikes temperature gauges were going up, the ZX6 was reading high 90s & the KLR was near the red.
At one point the traffic had stopped due to a small fire on the road side.
We stopped at the next town in the shade to rehydrate, pulled the water bottles out of our packs & the water was nearly to hot to drink, poured some water over us & carried on to Holebrook, the next 5minutes were cool due to the water evaporating, then back to the hot fan heater.
Stayed in Holebrook for the night in a nice cool aircon room - next morning rode home as we were both suffering from the heat, left at 7.30am to try & beat the heat. Back in Canberra the temp was getting hot again so drink plenty of cool liquid & sit in front of the aircon unit & fan.
Today we see that the area where the Rally was being held was razed with the big bush fires.

[bones135]

Far out man, we got about 28-30 here where i am & thats bad enough so can only imagine what it must have been like for you guys.
Hope they get those fires sorted soon too, not good at all.

[Crasherfromwayback]

When I rode through the Nevada Desert in 07 it was 48 deg c. Was actually better to close the helmet vents and jacket vents as the hot air rushing in made it worse!

Lil old NZ ain't such a bad place to ride in after all.

[Skunk]

Stop ya whining... or move back here. :yes:

[Tank]

I believe that the appropriate term used on KB is HTFU.

Bet a beer - even a crappy VB never tasted so good as it would riding in weather like that.

[Dean]

I believe that the appropriate term used on KB is HTFU.

Bet a beer - even a crappy VB never tasted so good as it would riding in weather like that.

No wonder why they sell vb in australia, i bectha the aussies would say even a crappy tui never tasted better in cold weather like that . lol at times like these im glad we live in a reasonably stable temperature country.;)

[Crasherfromwayback]

VB

Vagina Bile.

[Taz]

It's like 27 degrees over here. I just got back from pukekohe classics (night shift tonight and I need my beauty sleep) and I almost worked up a sweat!!! And you think you got it bad??;)

[fliplid]

Would you rather you were in England at the moment???

[smoky]

I remember transiting the top of Western Australia and the Northern territory in some extreme temperature
The guy I was riding with was use to the heat and taught me the best way to avoid over heating, it sounds weird but;

As the temperature during the day increased we put more clothes on and limited the air flow into our suits and helmets

The idea behind this is simple - INSULATION is your friend

Our bodies deal with temperature by using evaporative cooling from perspiration in normal circumstances, and the air flow or air pressure to our skin - allows for the conduction of the heat away from our body.
But when air temperatures increase too high, above our bodies natural defense, the heat is conducted into our body from the hot wind - the opposite to "Wind Chill", dependent on the relative humidity of the air.

You don’t want to increase the wind against your skin when the temperature gets extreme. You need to insulate your body from the wind.
You will actually stay cooler with a conventional suit. Looser fitting suits to decrease heat transfer from your body surface helps.

Who would want to ride with jeans on under their leathers in that heat !!! But it’s all in your mind – yes it will be uncomfortable and your mind will tell you ‘take them off’, but in reality it’s not as uncomfortable as riding with just your boxers on in your leathers.
:sweatdrop:sweatdrop:sweatdrop:sweatdrop


Actually black suits tend to absorb heat - light colored suits reflect heat - so ditch the black look for pink, or harden up and stay in black

[Conquiztador]

And another thing to consider: A watercooled motor will try to keep the temperature at right level, and you have a temp indicator. But on a air cooled one, there is no telling what goes on inside.

I learnt this the hard way when years ago I travelled in NT in Oz. The oil in the DR500 was probably not of highest quality, and in the heat it turned really thin and did not do its job. As a result I wore out the cams etc.

[marty]

just nice in cambridge at the moment. 23 deg inside, 30 out. lovely.

[riffer]

Bastard.

We're at 33, and climbing...

http://www.wmac.org.nz/trenthamweather/

[Subike]

34 inside house at Greta Valley
um err, 43 outside on the front porch
Im off fo a ride very soon
too hot to stay at home

[Karl@Alpha]

Mmmm... My bit of the shop has AC.
But I can sense an uprising so I might stop gloting for a bit...
Not keen on getting back into the leathers but the dragons are in the wash!

[trustme]

When I rode through the Nevada Desert in 07 it was 48 deg c. Was actually better to close the helmet vents and jacket vents as the hot air rushing in made it worse!

Lil old NZ ain't such a bad place to ride in after all.

+1 Death Valley 48 in the shade at the Ranger Station, hotter again in the centre of the Valley. Worse still main drag of Las Vegas 117f what ever that is & stuck in a traffic jam

Smoky is right, as I entered the valley stopped to talk to a couple on a Goldthing, they were in a t shirt & jeans & were suffering, they could not understand how I could be wearing full gear, told them to cover up with long sleeve shirts , gloves & visor down , bloody hot but they admited it was an improvement

[Dean]

When on a hot day ride, use those bags that hold a chilled drink and have a tube that can fit under the helmet, that way your mouth dosent get dry and you dont get thirsty.I recomend it, even though i havent really had one but ive seen other riders use it.And dont drink beer on a extremely hot day because you get wasted way quicker

[Pickle]

Bet a beer - even a crappy VB never tasted so good as it would riding in weather like that.

It would have to get even hotter or all the other beer has run out to drink VB.

Very reluctant to try putting more clothing on but may try it next weekend as supposed to be going to a Rally in Lower Hunter Valley, then 2 weeks after that is World Superbikes at Phillip Island camping at track.
Viv's Scott oiler also emptied itself in less than 200kms as the oil had got so thin.

[smoky]

It would have to get even hotter or all the other beer has run out to drink VB..

I enjoyed VB when I lived over there, I thought it was much the same as Waikato, I really liked drinking Red Back and Elephant beer too
I guess I like the strong flavour over the weaker tasting fizzy crap that seems to be the preference now days

[Pickle]

I enjoyed VB when I lived over there, I thought it was much the same as Waikato,

Enough said really!!!

Just hit 58C in the back yard

[Manxman]

Would you rather you were in England at the moment???

Can't imagine anyone wanting to be in England right now...even if there was perpetual sunshine and neverending beer + wimmin on tap: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/default.stm .:Pokey: Not much good news, eh? Apart from Liverpool winning of course.

/back on topic.

[XxKiTtiExX]

Just hit 58C in the back yard

My brother is already suffering from extremely bad headaches and stuff because of the heat here, and he's moving to aussie on tuesday.. Mad... Absolutely mad! :sunny::sunny::shutup:

[longwayfromhome]

The key to all this is hydration...the gear you wear makes a difference, but basically whatever you wear can work as long as you are hydrated.

Its pretty common practice for those that ride any distance to use CamelBak-type packs and to drink regularly, or sip almost continuously, when temperatures get up there. Its not just for touring/long-distance types. Around SanFran where I rode for the last year, when it gets bloody hot, at least as hot as what you are talking about, virtually all sports-bike riders doing anything like a decent ride all wear a back protector and a CamelBak....over a t-shirt :-)

[Big Dave]

CWB - The country that makes Steinlager knocking VB. Yeah Right.

[Tank]

CWB - The country that makes Steinlager knocking VB. Yeah Right.

We may make it - but I dont know anyone who actually drinks the stuff. We sell most of it offshore.

[Horse]

Steiny Pure on the other hand...

[Big Dave]

We may make it - but I dont know anyone who actually drinks the stuff. We sell most of it offshore.

Ah - Like Forsters.

[merv]

Enough said really!!!

Just hit 58C in the back yard

Crikey that'd be enough to pickle anyone. Take care and stay away from the fires and say hi to Viv for me. I was last in Canberra two years ago and it was suffering smoke from the Victoria fires of that year - seems to be happening too often don't ya reckon?

[smoky]

Hmmm I wonder;
what if you could fit a small aircon unit to your bike, just a small one running off the main drive out of the gear box from a double sprocket arrangement or some thing. then have a couple of feeder tubes - one into the jacket and one into the helmet!!!
Maybe possible - there's some clever bastards around

[smoky]

www.motoring.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=2210466&fSectionId=759&fSetId=381
"An Israeli inventor has developed a motorcycle vest that has cold air circulating inside it from an electric "air-conditioning" unit, mounted on the bike.

Physicist Glen Guttman said his company, Entrosys, had developed an electronic unit powered by a standard motorcycle battery to funnel cold air into a thermal undershirt worn under the rider's heavy outer jacket.

The system doesn't need a compressor and the technology is quite simple but "like any simple idea, you have to think it up and then you have to implement it".

Unlike a domestic air-conditioner, the miniature system uses electronic technology in which various factors convert electric current into hot or cold airflow"

[Ixion]

The old rule is , keep your neck cool and all else will be OK. The easiest way the cool the neck area on a bike would be evaporative refrigeration. I'd try to rig up a pugaree with the ends dipping into a water reservoir. Exactly the way Granny used to keep the milk cool with a muslin cloth.