Staying warm

[neels]

It's not necessarily a mistake. Wearing a balaclava under a helmet will mean you need to buy a new helmet if you want one that actually fits, 'cause the balaclava will compress the lining and make the helmet too big.

No that's not a theory, that's the voice of sad experience.

Haven't had any dramas with mine, helmet still fits with or without it just fine, which is what I would expect given that it's a motorcycle balaclava not some wooly thing your gran knitted.

[Cosmik de Bris]

It's not necessarily a mistake. Wearing a balaclava under a helmet will mean you need to buy a new helmet if you want one that actually fits, 'cause the balaclava will compress the lining and make the helmet too big.

No that's not a theory, that's the voice of sad experience.

This is a bit daft, unless you are using a chain mail balaclava they are not that thick. I suppose you have a haircut every two days as well.

[Ulsterkiwi]

I agree on the use of plastic rain gear for wind protection, wind chill is the real enemy. Those that say harden up, yeah maybe, what is cold to one person is not to another. What cannot be disputed is if you get cold your brain function dramatically decreases in efficiency, that is never a good thing.

[pritch]

This is a bit daft, unless you are using a chain mail balaclava they are not that thick. I suppose you have a haircut every two days as well.

It's not daft, I can't remember which balaclava stretched the helmet but the one I have here is a Zegna knitted silk number and I doubt that there is much better available. I don't suppose it matters much if you ride so slow that the wind doesn't try to move your helmet around on your head.

[neels]

I don't suppose it matters much if you ride so slow that the wind doesn't try to move your helmet around on your head.

So that's why I haven't had a problem. Mystery solved.

[nzspokes]

I'm riding to National Park first thing tomorrow. Guess I'll see how good I'm set up for the cold.

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Tapatalk

No worries. Good gear beats the cold.

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Tapatalk

[iYRe]

I have an old pair of tecknic pants, which are good enough I have never had to wear the thermal liner. On a really cold day I will wear a pair of track pants or thermals underneath, but it would have to be subzero.

Recently I bought an RJays Voyager jacket, which comes in a "stout" sizing - as I am stouter than most. If the temperature is over 15 deg, its too warm for the thermal liner, even with just a tshirt underneath. I have been riding to work on frosty mornings with the thermal in, and just a polo shirt and shorts underneath. After about 30 mins on the motorway at 100+ I start to feel a sort of cold feeling - I think it is just the jacket material cooling. I have yet to think "damn I cant handle this". One morning at 0 deg I decided I would wear a light cotton jersey as well, and I was positively toasty.
THis is the jacket:
http://www.cycletreads.co.nz/product...ns_textil.aspx
For gloves I wear 1Tonne Razor:
http://www.1tonne.co.nz/index.php?pa...Num=1&x=32&y=4
They are a 3 season glove, but I find with heated grips and a warm torso they are fine. I've had them for 4 years and they are still in good condition, and still super comfy (of all the gloves I tried, these were the nicest to slide the old fingers into.. soft and velvety).

I didnt think RJay's were very good, but I have to say, this is the most comfortable, warmest, driest, easiest to get on and off jacket I have ever worn. I really really like it.

[IronPawz]

As discussed I've tried an experiment to see if heating the core helps everywhere with amazing (to me at least) results! It was so amazing you could almost hear the second exclamation mark.

Test - Really cold morning (started with biggest frost I've seen so far this year at home but not quite as bitter in the air as few days back).
Removed one thermal hoodie (they are thin quality devices)
Removed my bulky neck sock (also goes down front and back) I replaced it with the beanie inside the helmet and under the strap trick
Placed on hottie of boiled water on the outside of tee-shirt, two thermal skives and now single thermal hoodie
Over this is my jacked with water and winter layers in and over it all is my plastics

Result
Bit warm to start but by pushing shoulders out a little it made a gap and was fine
Face was massive improvement over neck sock due to no cold wind on face / eyes and less restricted neck
HOWEVER - once I got moving it was just night and day better, I was warm! The road was dry and I switched into summer riding
How to tell things have changed - noodling on straights, singing to myself and riding like summer (fast, through traffic taking all gaps)

It was just so much better like those first warm days when you layers come off and you feel all mischievous taking all the passing opportunities and making split second decisions about routing slow passing cages (up the inside, out and gone through the closing gap).

The most amazing thing? Never turned on the grips which have been on 50% most days recently. My hands did get a bit cold but I set the bar and don't turn them on until they are actually cold enough to really want them. They never got that cold so I just lived with them being cool. This means only one thing, the hottie heated the core and the warm blood flow was increased to the hands and heated them (people with poor circulation get cold hands so it makes sense warm blood and a warm core works). However mentioned this was on the money and this is enough of a test I think to 100% confirm that.

The hottie stayed hot for the hole 60 minute ride. Towards the end I could pull the shoulders back a little to pull the hottie in and it was much less warm on arrival. This was really quite something getting to work warm, not so stiff and tired and pumped from a great ride. It also put me back in touch with the Blade and lifted my spirits from being bummed out about my Katana do up seeming so impossible suddenly.

I will 100% be using that hottie more. I am not padded (the ultimate insulation really no use saying you don't need layers when you are in part layered) so I get cold and its crap so being suddenly warm was just so noticeable. Makes me really appreciate Kiwibiker too because this test came from the conversation on this thread and has massively (after 4 solid years) improved my winter riding blues. I think grips on 1 would have been nicer also.

Sensational result, biggest riding tip / improvement I've had in ages. I am looking forward to tomorrow which should be dry and cold as all hell. Thanks to everyone discussing things here. The small tips and ideas can sometimes have the biggest results for individuals involved.

[IronPawz]

one reason your hands and feet get cold is your body when cold limits the blood flow to them so the returning blood doesn't cool the core down to a critical level, heated grips might transfer a bit of heat to your core, a heated jacket does your core and the warm bllod flows to the extremeities as per normal, i've done ten day trips to the brass with cotton socks, all i can wear, and rubber boots, (waterprrof) remmeber getting cold toes twice all up plus once you've got grips they stay on that bike whereas the jacket moves along with you, and youy don't have to bulk up on clothes either

I wrote an entry to this thread on my test and result and just wanted to say THANKS you are 100% right and the test proved it completely with a hottie, didn't even use my heated grips and had the single best ride I have had for ages. Like riding in summer (dry road and warm, even though it was bloody cold). Put hottie down the front inside jacket outside other layers. really appreciate this comment as it will make many many rides (daily commuter all winter long) much much nicer for hopefully years to come. On ya Jellywrestler in my book you are a bloodly legend.

[Waipukbiker]

Everyone has different tolerances to temperature, What may work for some wont work for some one else, After spending 6 months working in Antarctica which including hooning around on snowmobiles Ive got a fair idea of what works and what dousnt. I can stay toasty warm and dry in any conditions on my bike which includes riding over the Desert rd in driving sleet. The golden rule down on the ice was simple, keep the body heat in and the wind out. if you can achieve that on a bike, you will stay warm. NZ Made Marino thermals, I say Marino cos like any wool, it dousnt get cold if it gets wet and nobody can be allergic to Marino, dont know why but its totally itch free. layer with polar fleece, the likes of Farmlands sell those box packs of polar fleece items, singlet, T shirt, long sleeve top, trackies, beanie and gloves. All for about 90 bucks. Wear a Zip up jersey that zips right to the top of the collar, This seals the neck against the wind as helmets normally will extend down over the top of them. Wear a proper helmet balaclava if you want but I dont normally bother as the jersey seems to seal the neck ok. I use heavy Adventure boots which are totally storm proof and gumboot socks, (If you want decent socks, once again, go to your local Ag merchants, Farmers dont like cold feet.) I dont know of any totally waterproof bike pants, I wear a pair of trackies under my Revit summer pants and a light weight pair of tramping pants over the top, these are totaly weather proof and can be stuffed in a pocket when not in use. I know there is no such thing as the "best" jacket but my Technic freeway jacket has never let a drop of water in during the 4 years Ive had it. Im lucky in that my bike (Wee Strom) has big wind deflecters around the grips and I fitted heated grips on as well so I can wear summer gloves to keep good feel on the bars. If your jacket is a bit suspect for warmth or weatherproofing, wear a light tramping jacket over the top, keeps all the wind out and if any water does sneak through, the bike jacket will handle it with ease. Thats my 2 cents worth anyway.

[IronPawz]

Everyone has different tolerances to temperature, What may work for some wont work for some one else, After spending 6 months working in Antarctica which including hooning around on snowmobiles Ive got a fair idea of what works and what dousnt. I can stay toasty warm and dry in any conditions on my bike which includes riding over the Desert rd in driving sleet. The golden rule down on the ice was simple, keep the body heat in and the wind out.

Really good points in there I think a trip to farmers on the weekend and good look at merino. As for staying dry plastics over the top keep out wind and rain. I've drystar jacket and pants but at 40,000kms per year they are never waterproof two winters in a row like they where new. With plastics it just does not matter anymore. And now is all else is not enough I've become a fan of additional heat (currently in form of hottie and grips). Wind out body heat in is a great comment. There is nothing like a spastic over gear for keeping wind out around that 45+ minute mark. So nice to take it off and have all the gear dry also (plus they themselves dry out much faster than the gear). As for gloves I found winter gloves take ages to run in but once they are they are actually not bad (but we are talking at least 10,000 kms in case of my current ones with lots of waxing and pain / numb hands along the way). Wind defectors sound fantastic but I've never found them for a Fireblade and they'd probably look terrible on that bike (not that I am a poser but I have my limits).

[neels]

As for staying dry plastics over the top keep out wind and rain.

If it's cold or wet I wear a single layer waterproof cycling jacket between my polar fleece and leather jacket, keeps me warm and dry unless it's really pissing down.

My very unscientific opinion is that it's effective because it's not flapping in the breeze so there's no airflow upsetting the insulation layer with cold air, but stops the cold air getting through from outside.

[G4L4XY]

Pee in ya leathers, it'll trickle down and keep ya feet warm

[Moi]

Pee in ya wetsuit, it'll trickle down and keep ya feet warm when you're surfing

Fixed it for you...

[R650R]

Don't be buying cheap ass gear and pissing around with plastic bags or whatever.

Start with merino base layer. Seriously this shit is worth paying $$$ for, its not some hipster greenie eco tech, just good old fashioned stuff that works. As a plus you can wear it under textiles in summer to help them breath and not get hot either.
Decent gloves, boots and wool socks. Tourmaster Synergy heated (proper thick leather with feel still so don't often need to be plugged in.) Gaerne Adventure boots, waterproof.
RST Adventure II textile jacket and pants, tested on the road several times now in massive downpours, 100% waterproof except when you forget to zip the jacket to pants!!!! (excellent NZ warranty service on previous paragon RST gear too)
With all the liners installed I usually just wear my merino and t shirt underneath. If its REAL damn cold eg about zero ish I'll put one or two old freezing works wool shirts on singlets over top of t shirt too and toasty as.

Done the helmet balaclava thing before and pritch is right, its puts you out a size on your helmet even with good thin one (Oxford). In future of I buiy one of those again I might get a second winter only helmet with it.
I've found that by the time my head is getting cold I'm needing tos top for coffee or gas anyway.