What are your limits?

Woodswoman

Member
Finally took 'Flicker' out for a ride yesterday, after leaving the kickstand down for 2 weeks due to the unusually high heat and humidity here in upstate New York. Personally, when it's that hot, I take the car instead of my motorcycle. (Contributing factor: I wear ATGATT when I ride.)

My personal upper limit on riding in the heat is 90 degrees. My lower limit is 30 with heated gear, and 40 without it.

How about you?
 
My upper limit is 90 degrees, but more dependent on high humidity in this area...respiratory issues. The low limit for me is 50 degrees now...just not fun below that for me.
 

Glen e

New member
I don't really have a lower temp in S Florida, it's always fine in the winter, in the summer as long as I'm moving , I can do 95 to 100°. I looked for over two months, tried several mesh jackets until I found one that really works well, a joe rocket. It has better flow than any other jacket I've ever put on. Honda approved with logo too.

https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/joe-rocket-honda-vfr-jacket
 
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ponydrvr

Member
My upper limit is ~95. That depends on the humidity in large part. I've been thinking about a COOLSHIRT system for the hot weather. Hoping to hold off. I don't know what my lower limit might be. The limiting conditions for me are ice and snow at any temperature. I have ridden in 5 F temps for several hours with no problem. It seems as though my abilities might be narrowing a bit though as I go past the 70 year age point.
 

kujawskir

Member
Somewhere below 90° I'm guessing.
- edit: No, maybe 100°?

My wife an I left Aberdeen to come home (2.5 hrs) at 96° because she insisted we needed to be here by a certain time. We both insist on ATGATT, mine all leather, hers non-breathable textile, all vent flaps open. That is hotter than our limit now, no matter the cost of staying.
Half way she had heat exhaustion, we had to stop, cool her off, rest over half an hour, polish off the water and Gatorade we had. Tried to get her a place to wait overnight, but her symptoms were gone and she made it home with no problem. We were too late for what she wanted to be home for. Nope, never again.

Now I just got a new Built Techno Jacket (ultra high air flow mesh with armored elbows and shoulders) and moved my back protector from the leather to the mesh. Several reviews claimed it saved skin well, some sliding up to 40 feet. I feel 20° cooler, but I'm still thinking 90° is the highest I'd go till I can prove that's OK.

- Edit: First work day with the mesh jacket. Just came home from work in 91°. Now if I was comfortably warm in 10 minutes I'd still say that's too hot to go on a real ride. Instead, I was mildly cool, where-as at 65° this morning I was cool enough to wish I had put in the removable liner.

(And she STILL can't go over 80° till she gets a mesh jacket, and maybe 85° then. I won't take her into heat again.)

Two years from now we'll be in the market for a larger bike for longer trips. Mesh all around, and Camel-backs are on the list, and I just heard about a form of air conditioning in the Spider, who knows?

Cold? She won't try under 40°, she does NOT like the cold. I've been fine at 17° up to an hour and could go longer but there's just nowhere that's fun to be without the lady. I do ride to work (10 minutes) all winter when the roads are dry/clean. Just add a couple layers.
 
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mtvic

Member
When I use to take long trips I could take almost anything. Now I simply pleasure cruise and near 90 is out, hate all the gear needed below 60 and last bike week in FL was 38. Did it since short trip, 3 hours. Forget rain. Kind of same conditions for golfing.:D
 

rickster

Member
Out here it's difficult to do any distance riding and to worry about an upper limit. I'll explain. This morning I got on the CTX and headed up Hwy. 50 to Lake Tahoe. I left in high 70 degree weather and rode to over 7,000 feet before descending to the lake at 6,225 ft.. It was nice up there...sunny, bright blue sky and temps in the low 80's. I rode around the west shore of the lake, through Truckee and got on I-80. By the time I hit Alta, CA at 3,700 ft. I was ready to load up my evaporative vest with water. But, the rest stop that I use for this was closed, so I decided to just keep moving. By the time I got to my house, it was 103 degrees. (That's why I used the Interstate...no stops, more air through my mesh jacket.) We get temps in the high 90's and into the triple digits all of the time here. In the winter, I can't get up into the high country because of snow and ice. But, down here I'll ride at 40, which is about as cold as it usually gets.

IMG_0003.jpg
This is Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe. The bay is in California, but the other side of the lake in the image is Nevada.
 

randy1149

New member
Getting the highs and lows range I used to have no longer apply as I got older. I was 30-90 F but into my 70's my band has reduced to around 40 - mid 80s.

I still have my mesh jacket for the summer and heated jacket, pants, gloves and heated grips. The grips are the only thing I still use. If it's cold enough and I need the heated jacket... I go back inside.

There's other factors why not to ride in the winter in lower NY. The pot holes created are in the thousands thru out Westchester County. So it's not only cold it's dangerous. I went out yesterday morning around 85F and I hit one that still has not been repaired.
 

rickster

Member
Do any of you use evaporative cooling vests? (OK, Glen e rides in Florida at 100 degrees, so everything he wears qualifies) What do you think. Especially those of you who, like Glen ride in high humidity. They work really well here where it's bone dry, but they're kind of a mess to deal with. That said, I do use mine a lot in the heat.
 

ponydrvr

Member
I tried to use mine once this season when the temps were in the low 90's. With 85% humidity and Dew points at 75 F all it did was to get my clothes all wet and sticky. I didn't cool down till after I went in the house and took a shower. Now I'm looking at a real cooling shirt using chilled water.
 

Glen e

New member
I actually used a cooling shirt, the kind you get wet and then put on, several years ago, when I did long-distance on my BMW. It worked pretty well I never had any real problems with it, but as long as air is flowing through my riding equipment, I'm fine with just a coolMax T-shirt. It works good.
 

Spirit 4

Member
Good plan on temps and gear. It slows me down a bit, but from experience it can save your life! PS the family demands!

Jimmy
 

ponydrvr

Member
I expect to receive a Veskimo cooling system today. I'm eager to try it out next week s the temps rise to the mid 90's again.
 

ponydrvr

Member
I took my first ride with my Veskimo Cooling system. I didn't turn the cold water pump off for the better part of my ride. I felt like I was in a meat locker! The water was cooled with one five lb bag of ice and a quart of water. I am installing the timer to keep from getting frostbite on my body! The only good thing was that I wore my mesh jacket instead of my Kilimanjaro All Weather Jacket. They say to close all vents and turn down the pump to minimum when starting out.

I thought about getting this last fall. I waited though till Veskimo was in the biggest part of their season to order so I had to wait a bit. I had some health problems crop up and could not ride until this week. If I had had this it might have helped reduce the overwhelming fatigue from the heat when I did try to ride.

Anyway, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this cooling system.
 
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