how do you keep warm on your ride?

[webco2]

We only have a few times a year when leather is comfortable to wear here. The rest of the time we are trying to keep cool..

[mab864]

Gerbing... a thin jacket liner that's always in my left saddlebag. I use it as needed and always have it on over a T-shirt and under my leather jacket in the winter. It's not bulky like layering and the heat can be dialed in and adjusted as conditions change. There's nothing like it. That and heated grips with a medium weight water proof glove. That's all I need. I don't like bulky.

[RAD_Softail]

Originally Posted by icy

I bought this one piece suit this summer on a sale. So far wore it twice in not-so-cold weather because I really wanted to try it. I commute to work, so I have my work clothes at the office on a hanger, and I change into them every morning from my riding clothes. So I thought one piece suit may be easier to manage than 5 pieces of layers.

The suit is like a sleeping bag and I actually wore nothing underneath it and sweat a little. I saw 40 degrees once so far, and felt nothing (actually kept it not zipped all the way up and let the legs breath a little as well.

I am looking forward to the first 10 degree ride this year because of this suit

Firstgear Thermo 1-Piece Suit - RevZilla

Originally Posted by RAD_Softail

I've actually had this same suit sitting in my cart on Amazon for the past week but haven't pulled the trigger on it yet. Although it's gotten great reviews from Amazon customers, there were reviews concerning sizing.

Well, I bit the bullet and ordered the Firstgear Thermo 1 piece suit, $170.99 from Amazon.com. It came in yesterday. I tried it on and it fits pretty well. I only wore it for a few minutes and was already sweating my a$$ off . Got it just in time too...Thursday and Friday are forecasted to be in the mid 30s with rain on Friday. It'll be a good test for this suit. I'll report back on how it fared this weekend.

[Frosty4232]

I went out this morning and had on thermals under some pajama pants and then jeans over those. Then I had a thermal shirt , a t-shirt and my leather. Two pairs of socks, my boots and my gloves. I need new gloves! I could barely move my hands by the time I got home.

[Rhino40]

Problems don't start until your core starts getting cold ..... once that happens your hands and feet, and then arms and legs are done, just a matter of time. Layers are a good way to prolong this from happening, but if it is too cold or you ride for too long eventually you will get cold. I use a heated jacket liner under my leather or cordura jacket, and I am good on the ultra down into the low 40's just wearing jeans and leather gloves. My legs get cold, but not unbearable. Riding colder than that, I throw on some chaps, neck gaiter and heated gloves.

[rockie]

heated grips and heated seat,a must.and good quality gear.

[Pete]

Winter riding, serious winter riding, is a bit of an art and a science and it is not cheap if you want to keep warm, especially on long rides. Keep in mind that the only way to get hypothermia faster than riding a motorcycle in the winter is to get rained on while riding a motorcycle in the winter. A lot of winter crashes are attributed directly to riders who develop hypothermia and lose their ability to control the bike.

After years in the North Carolina Mountains in the winter, I learned that the ultimate winter fabric is wool - definitely not cotton. Wool is extremely warm and it will keep you warm even when it is wet. High-tech fabrics synthetic fleeces are good though there is no doubt that they are not as good as wool, not by a long shot.

I wear Duo-Fold(tm) wool long underwear with heavy wool socks for a base layer. I cannot overemphasize how important this layer is.

Over the long underwear pants I wear Gerbing(tm) heated pants liners. Then I wear lined, waterproof, windproof riding pants as the top layer.

Over the long underwear top I usually wear a wool shirt and or a medium weight wool sweater, then I have a Gerbing heated jacket liner. Over that I wear a waterproof, windproof, 3/4 length touring jacket. I wear Gerbing heated gloves too.

My helmet is a full-face model with a visor that will not fog-up with a neck-gatier made from wool or fleece. I wear Leather boots that are well insulated with Gerbing electrically heated foot liners inside them. All of the heated gear is controlled through a Gerbing dual control thermostat.

I ride a 2009 Dyna Super Glide with a full-sized touring windshield and crash-bars covered with vinyl lowers. In the winter you want to block as much wind as possible.

With this gear I have been toasty warm while riding through the mountains when it has been below 16 degrees F. Being warm while riding is very important. If you are riding while feeling cold, that means that you are losing body temperature and heading toward hypothermia. No matter how tough you are, no matter how much you can put up with feeling cold, you will eventually suffer from the effects of the loss of body temperature. This is particularly true on longer rides.

Heated gear lets you ride for extended periods of time while suffering from no loss of body heat. It also lets you wear less heavy clothing, making it easier to ride and control you bike. Windproof and waterproof outer gear permits you to retain the heat that you and your heated gear produces and it keeps you from getting soaked to the skin and headed to almost instant hypothermia if it is cold and it rains.

While the electrically heated gear is great, you need to bring along enough winter clothing to keep you from freezing to death if you get stranded in the middle of nowhere due to a bike that is broken down or due to bad road conditions or whatever.

I always bring along a heavy jacket liner, insulated mitts, and some of those air-activated heat packs, just in case. Bringing along some food - high energy snacks and water - is not a bad idea either.

Winter riding is a lot of fun. I have been out more times than I can count when I didn't see another motorcycle all day. It can be a bit of a challenge. Make sure that your bike is up to the task too. You don't want to ride when it cold if you doubt the ability of your battery to start your bike or if you engine is not starting in very cold conditions. New spark plugs, maybe spare spark plugs, and some winter gas additive are something to consider.

The most important thing about riding in the winter is the condition of the roads that you will be on. If it has been below freezing, even a nice 50 degree day can leave ice on the roads in shadows and sometimes in direct sunlight. On cold dry days all it takes is for some guy to wash the crap off his car for that water to run down his driveway and onto the road where it will freeze.

When riding under these conditions you have to be very aware of the road ahead of you. In most cases when it gets that cold your best option is to leave the Harley in the garage. I often don't take my own advice. In the winter I try to take rides at lower elevations and on roads that are in full sun most of the day. Winding mountain roads are always dangerous under winter conditions.

If you are on roads that have been treated from snow and ice, remember to really wash your bike well when you get it home. I have a shower mixing valve in the garage that lets me wash the Dyna with hot water, which beats the hell out of trying to wash it when it is below freezing with cold water from a hose bib.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by stevensondrive

say 30-40 degrees.....

with the "new" Ultra I am looking forward to riding thru most of the winter. as long as the white stuff subsides.

Here is what I plan to wear from boot up
tall leather work boots
flannel lined jeans
shirt, sweatshirt (or 2), heavy leather jacket
leather gloves, may end up wearing the heavy insulated gloves
full helmet
and of course the large windshield and lower fairing

the only thing I need to work on is adding some wind cover to neck
what works for you??

Steve

[Zelrick]

Originally Posted by Rdromero

I just tried the heated jacket from Lowe's that somebody mentioned. I left it turned on for 15 minutes (including a 5 minute warm-up cycle) and was pretty disappointed. I could hardly feel any heat after 15 minutes and was in my house with just a tshirt on. So it doesn't seem like it's powerful enough to keep me warm, especially with wind blowing on it. So I'm taking it back.

The Lowes Jacket I have works well as long as it's under leather or a windproof textile jacket. However, I've found that for my ~30 minute commute that my Xelement's Jacket and Pants work well enough to get me down to the low 30s as long has I wear my FR Hoodie under the jacket.

The FR Hoodie is freakisly warm for a light jacket on it's own, and with the Xelements jacket over it I stay toasty. For my relatively short commute the Xelements pants work well enough, but they do fit a little odd and do yell dork for some distance.

I also swapped from my HD thinsulate gloves to a pair of Bass Pro 100 MPH boating gloves, they stop the wind and do a better job of keeping my hands from going numb. Still electric gloves are on my wish list.

I were to need to ride longer than an hour, I would look into snow mobile bibs or a suit and invest in some electric gloves.

Also I ride with a Scorpion EXO-1100 full face and with the high collar on the jacket I haven't had the need to get out my neck gator.

Back to the Lowe's rechargeable jacket, I may not be wearing it but, my wife has kept it charged and it has went with here to all the high school football games and band competitions, she wears it under her HD rain jacket and loves it. (Yes, we are "that couple" with the trunk full of Harley gear that came with my last bike, we now have HD branded gear for almost all occasions... )

[icy]

Originally Posted by RAD_Softail

Well, I bit the bullet and ordered the Firstgear Thermo 1 piece suit, $170.99 from Amazon.com. It came in yesterday. I tried it on and it fits pretty well. I only wore it for a few minutes and was already sweating my a$$ off . Got it just in time too...Thursday and Friday are forecasted to be in the mid 30s with rain on Friday. It'll be a good test for this suit. I'll report back on how it fared this weekend.

Rad, you already know the conditions I ride in with that First Gear one piece. For the rest of the group: I vouch for that suit to keep you warm and dry in the harshest of conditions: a nor'easter

This is me, riding through the nor'easter thru Manhattan, Manhattan Bridge (wind gust ~20mph with heavy snowfall, in the low thirties, whilst riding including self inflicted gust I recon I was in the low 10s) did not feel the cold at all. I am wearing but just a t-shirt under this thing, and a pair of underwears; not even a thermal, a pant, nothing.



The rest: Sidi boots, Rev'It gauntlets, and a Iron 883 with Michelin Commander II.