When is it too cold to ride?

[Jantar]

Looking at keystone's thread : Riding - Bit cold for ya?, it appears that as Oldrider says, cold is a matter of perception. The only two who have voted that they don't ride when its cold are OldRider and myself, and we live in the part of the country that is hottest in the summer and coldest in the winter.

Everyone will have a point at which it is just too cold to ride, so this thread is to find that point.

[sunhuntin]

i think....too cold to ride would mean a layer of snow on the ground or huge hail stones. i dont have a temp. idea.
for me its ride or walk, lol. snow and hail im happy walking in, but not riding [never tried, and not that willing too, lol.]

[Big Dave]

Never. Just put more gear on.

[Str8 Jacket]

The only time it is too cold to ride is when my damn bike wont start, cause its too cold. Riding my bike is warmer than walking cause it doesnt take as long to get there...

[John Banks]

When the bike doesn't start.

[riffer]

Last Tuesday was -5.5 in Upper Hutt, and there was frost not only over the ground, but visibly all over the road.

I rode to work but didn't really enjoy it. On my bike you can take off easily at 2,000 rpm, but the back was spinning every time I tried to use the accelerator.

I still made it to Wellington though ...

I've ridden in -8, which wasn't much different. So I guess, it would depend on road conditions. If you could actually navigate the bike, then there's no such thing as too cold. Just wear more layers!

[Jantar]

When the bike doesn't start.

Mmmm, Maybe that is a good limit. My choice of -6 is'nt because the bike won't start at lower temperatures, but because it won't idle, and dies at every intersection. Obviously there are some who have managed to overcome carb air icing and do still ride at even lower temperatures.

[idb]

Same as above really.
It's all more to do with the state of the roads.

Ice, snow, grit are the main considerations for me.

[sAsLEX]

Mmmm, Maybe that is a good limit. My choice of -6 is'nt because the bike won't start at lower temperatures, but because it won't idle, and dies at every intersection. Obviously there are some who have managed to overcome carb air icing and do still ride at even lower temperatures.

its called efi

[Ixion]

It's road temperature that matters, not air temperature. Cold air, just layer up, stop often, light fires etc.

But sub zero road temperatures means ice, maybe black ice. Not so nice.

And road temperatures depends on a lot of stuff. You can have really cold air, but if there's lots of trucks pounding the road and keeping it warm , good as. Just keep in their wheel traks. Or in the mornings, the air temp may be well up, but still road surfaces sub zero on sheltered bits of road.

Incidentally, we had a couple of crashes up here this week on black ice, so it's not just a SI thing.

[Skunk]

I don't ride when I can't get the bike up the drive because of ice. Usually at around 0°C here.

[frogfeaturesFZR]

I don't ride when it's too cold because I'm a wuss.......and the cars got a heater ! Hell if it's to cold you can't enjoy the ride anyway

[skelstar]

Cold in welly/aucks/elsewhere aint the same as cold in Alex/CHCH/Dunners.

["D" FZ1]

Not worried about the cold. Just not to keen on ice on the road.

[Freakshow]

It's road temperature that matters, not air temperature. Cold air, just layer up, stop often, light fires etc.

But sub zero road temperatures means ice, maybe black ice. Not so nice.

And road temperatures depends on a lot of stuff. You can have really cold air, but if there's lots of trucks pounding the road and keeping it warm , good as. Just keep in their wheel traks. Or in the mornings, the air temp may be well up, but still road surfaces sub zero on sheltered bits of road.

Incidentally, we had a couple of crashes up here this week on black ice, so it's not just a SI thing.

Im with Ixion on this one at 2c the guys up the mountain are still making snow. I was up the mountain yesterday and the road had a light dusting and lots of grit etc but it was still very slippery. Great day though!!

On the way back it was a lot warmer but the roads still icey!

Any way who in Welly keen to go skiing!