How bout a little video.


Why let some snow stop you?

Just kidding ya...this was on 3 wheels, not two.

Hope all is clear for you this weekend!

 

Your hands will feel the pain pretty early. Best to prepare for that cuz if your hands give out then you need to pull over at a 7-11 or equivalent and warm them up.

 

Coldest I have ever done was 30 miles at 30 degrees, bluejeans, boots, leather jacket and helmet. Froze my butt off was grabbing the jugs every time I stopped and no thanks on the snow ride even if it is 3 wheels. We have morons around here who crash and slide off the road with 6 wheels plus

 

26. Had a friend back in the day (70's) that had a Honda 500 four. At the time I had a Triumph that I was making winter repairs on and couldn't ride it. We doubled up on his bike and took off. He made himself my bitch and jumped on the back where the wind would be blocked off, he's no idiot just an *******. We headed for the Blue Ridge Parkway not knowing it was shut down for the winter, at least the section we were headed for. Well the ride getting there wasn't the most fun ride I've ever been on. We stopped at a rest area on I-26 for a break and I believe my hands were frozen around the grips, I still have trouble straightening them,LOL. We went in the restroom and thank god for electric hand warmers, I mean hand driers. To this day when someone talks about how much they hate electric hand driers I feel the need to defend them.

We made it to the parkway only to find it blocked off so we found a spot on the gravel road we were on to spend the night. We unrolled our sleeping bags, perched above a couple of trees on the ground to prevent us from sliding off the mountain and broke open a bottle of scotch. It wasn't long before we didn't even notice how cold we were. Antifreeze makes a difference.

 

Rode mine home after purchase in jan., 27* for about 10 mile dodging ice on rode and almost froze. But couldn't wait with new toy.

 

21 degrees on my 2005 1200 XLC. Bike doesn't care about the temp. If you plan to keep the bike, and ride in the cold, go electric. Heated grips rock and aren't just for baggers. It is often the difference between ride and no ride. Quick detach windshield too. Electric jackets raise temp by about 20 degrees and are worth the investment if you ride year round. Baklava too to keep wind out of helmet and cold of neck. No issues at 21 degrees like that. I ride year round but won't ride at that temp if rain in previous two days cause I worry about black ice.

 

The Friday and Saturday it was windy, sunny and in the teens. Did about 60 miles each day.

Had heated gloves and three layers of apparel. The rides were very satisfying and rewarding. I do have the Polaris snowmobile grip covers. Just had to cut a hole for the mirror shaft. They help the Gerbings keep warm. When it gets into the low twenties and lower the Gerbings can't keep up so wind protection is needed. I did a second mod on the grip wind covers. The leading top edge had POLARIS in bold white letters. A felt tip black marker pen took care of that.

The bike is a 14 XL1200T. Looks like a rat bike now with several layers of scum and crud on it. I detail my winter bikes in the spring and not after each ride. They do dry out in a heated garage.

You have never felt the increase in power that there is in an air cooled H-D engine unless you have run in in temps in the 20's down. It felt like my 120R.

I started riding in the winter of 56/57 to school and to work to pay for the bike.

Last winter from Nov. 1 to Mar. 31 I did 9,740 miles. I am a little behind this year at just under 8,000 mile but have plenty of time yet. I put more winter miles on than most sun belt riders do in a year. Lost a week to go to SC to pick up a 97 Heritage Springer I located on the internet. Then a week when I twisted my knee.

 

I try to commute year-round as long as the roads are free of snow, ice, excessive sand and salt. If like the past couple mornings the roads are cold and damp due to the borderline thawing temps I just go super easy.

Lowest temps for me have been into the low teens and probably single digits.

Now my commute is only about half an hour in mixed traffic so there is some relief. However, when it is below 35 I am generally well layered all around but not excessively. Up top is whatever shirts I would wear for the day, layer of fleece, Patagonia thinner down jacket with my HD wind/waterproof, lightly insulated, impact protected riding jacket over it all. Keeps my core pretty damned warm and I can still move my body.

Full face helmet. Hardest part is moving my head with all the bundled up neck layers, plus it fogs super easy when it's cold. I spend more time managing that ventilation and it is quite distracting.

Bottom: my usual pants with a really nice pair of overpants. I forget who makes them but they are very thick and have impact protection built in and reflective piping. They came with extra zip-in inserts for rain and wind but I have yet to need them. The overpants alone are amazing.

Feet: Decent thick wool socks and Blundstone safety toe boots. That is it. Seriously, my feet never get cold like this. I've ridden this combo for as long as 90 minutes in the cold and I never think about my feet getting cold.

Hands: HD gauntlet gloves. Leather, windproof, water resistant. I forget which model they are but I am very impressed with them. I used a thin liner with them once on one of the coldest days. Otherwise hands are warm with the occasional warm-up on the jugs while waiting in traffic.
Great grip, movement, sensitivity and warmth. I've tried other gloves and they are usually only one or two out of those three criteria, i.e. great grip and warm but I can't move my hands or feel the levers.

My job is a mix of indoors and outdoors on boats. So, I am able to ride to work and take off my HD jacket and overpants and be comfortable and not stuffed and immobilized by too many layers.