HOW TO: Stay warm and dry on your bike

[xwhatsit]

The weather's getting nasty. It'll get better soon, but then it'll get really shit and all the poseur sprotsbikers will run home and get their wheatie-bags and we won't hear from them for a while.

So how do we, the rest of us hairy-chested smart-wristed real man bikers cope with the impending cage-weather-season?

• Buy a scooter. No really! With the big silly screen like some of those Vespas. Complete weather protection, even better than a GSXR. You can keep riding in your suit and open-face that way.
• Cordura. Cordura is not always completely waterproof, but it's the best thing in changeable Auckland weather.
• Take the linings out of your cordura jacket and pants. `Why, I'll get cold!'. Wear a nice warm woollen cardigan underneath, then. The linings, when they get wet, make the jacket take far longer to dry making your life miserable the next day.
• Wear long football socks underneath your normal trousers, pull them right up to your knees. Nobody can see, but your legs will be toasty warm, and that's important because they're bearing a lot of wind and weather.
• If it's really dire, and your gloves just aren't cutting it, surgical gloves underneath do a lot for warmth. They're waterproof too, but so is your skin of course.
• Work our which way you need to wear your gloves -- jacket on top, or gloves on top? If you have low clip-on bars, jacket on top. Otherwise when you stop for the lights the cold rain water will run down inside your glubs. Gloves on top if you have high bars.
• I'm told heated grips are marvellous things. Alternatively, a number of adventure-riders tell me that those ugly hand-guard things are reasonably effective at blocking the wind and rain.
• Boots are very important, they are responsible for a massive improvement in comfort. Make sure to put your cordura trou over the top of the boot; otherwise you'll have cold rainwater running down inside your boots when you stop.
• Oil/wax the boots. They might leak. If it's lunatic weather and you're going to be riding for a few hours, put plastic bags over your boots. And bread-bags on your hands.
• Scarf. Scarf is epic win. You can wear it around your neck like normal, or when it gets really cold you can wrap it around your lower face and chin as well. Plus it'll come in handy looking cool and picking up chicks when you change out of your gear.
• Stand up every once in a while to get rid of that crotch-pool of water that collects around your nads. It'll eventually seep through and you'll look like you pissed yourself (but it'll be very cold).

Please add your own suggestions (I know, I don't need to ask).

[sunhuntin]

i invested in rjays wet weather pants last year just before the burt munro challenge. they kept me dry in hail. just recently, i invested in a jacket also by rjays. keeping me dry so far.
all i need is some decent gloves... mine leak like buggery and i end up with numb fingers. my fingerless gloves are warmer than my full ones once they get wet.

i also have a neck scarf [skivvy neck cut out] and several other proper scarves, along with several pairs of thermal tops and bottoms.

seems its not only the men that ride in all weather.

[xwhatsit]

seems its not only the men that ride in all weather.

Ahhh, but do you have a hairy chest?

[Subike]

got an old woolen jersy somewhere that mom shrunk?
cut the arm off it, makes a really good neck tube and less bulk than a scarf.

Got caught miles from home, rigging cold,damb, .........
Put newspapers inside your jacket, will give added thermal protection from the cold.
If its raining, put the papers inside shopping bags, with the opening down.

Newspaper can also be rolled around your thighs as added insulation. And under you bum, where it will soak up that water that "pools" in the little hollows of buttoned cruzer seats.

$3 will buy you cheap knee high stockings, put them on under your socks, warmer than you might believe.

[sunhuntin]

Ahhh, but do you have a hairy chest?

why do you think i keep a razor in the shower?

[Disco Dan]

The smallest of gaps/openings is worth thinking about as the effects are amplified considerably during bad weather.

For example - I do not normally buckle the very top of my jacket up as the leather pushes hard against my throat, but undone creates a small opening - this after minutes in heavy rain gives me a very wet t-shirt.

Boots- I wear a pair of jeans that I fold around my leg and insert into my boots, then cordura waterproof pants over the top. Always have dry feet. If very cold i'll wear two pairs of socks as the boots are not terribly warm.

Close the vents on your helmet! It takes a while to work in, but a damp helmet is not pleasant.

Long trips in the rain - pack a spare t-shirt, socks and undies in a plastic bag. You will appreciate the dry clothes if you do get wet. Also take two pairs of gloves, most 'waterproof' gloves still let in water and become saturated after several hours (some within minutes) giving your hands that 'clamy' feel.

Elastic bands over the glove-sleeve overlap really helps too.

[MIXONE]

I've got an old" Dry As A Bone" that I've had for years and it still keeps me dry and warm.Even in the S.I. West Coast rain.(and that's REAL rain)

[Disco Dan]

I've got an old" Dry As A Bone" that I've had for years and it still keeps me dry and warm.Even in the S.I. West Coast rain.(and that's REAL rain)

Real rain? Oh so how was England while you was there?

[Swoop]

So how do we, the rest of us hairy-chested smart-wristed real man bikers cope with the impending cage-weather-season?
[*]Buy a scooter.

I bloody near sprayed my drink over that one!
A scooter will get blown all over the road on my commute. Also, I would rather ride a Honda and be called ghey, that ride a scooter and confirm it.
A solid lump of metal is better in wet and windy conditions, thanks.

[*]Scarf. Scarf is epic win. You can wear it around your neck like normal, or when it gets really cold you can wrap it around your lower face and chin as well. Plus it'll come in handy looking cool and picking up chicks when you change out of your gear.

A scarf will make you look like an unemployable student and also has ends that can get caught in places.
Buy a neck tube - preferably one of polyprop material. Bloody toasty and warm, plus packs away into a very small pocket.[/QUOTE]

[MIXONE]

Nah it doesn't rain in the UK does it?

[glice]

Im still a little wet after I got off the bike at 8 this morning. But that makes me tough.......Right?

[Luckylegs]

...and all the poseur sprotsbikers will run home and get their wheatie-bags and we won't hear from them for a while...

You might want to post this in the UNI forum, Ive never seen so much spare parking on symonds street (yesterday) at the hint of winters approach.

...twas sad !


For what its worth I ride a sprotsbike (well actually its a sport tourer I suppose, but I digress...) and I didnt run anywhere... Of course, Im leaving work early so I dont have to share the road with too many other motorists in this crap weather... ESPECIALLY THAT DAMM LIGHTNING

[Disco Dan]

Just thought i'd post these pictures of Chatham, England right now... thats my families home. Heck if I was living there still, I would be out there on my bike nipping up the shops and all sorts!

Yes those first two are of the garden... dont get much bigger than that unless your living with the Queen.

[MIXONE]

Im still a little wet after I got off the bike at 8 this morning. But that makes me tough.......Right?

Yep until you dry out again and then you are just a mere mortal like the rest of us.

[Oakie]

I LOVE my heated handgrips.