Heatwave! My thermometer says, it's 34.4°C (94°F) outside.
Just picked up my Honda at the workshop where it has gotten new rubber and a TÜV inspection (i believe it's MOT in the UK).
I rode home (just a few kms) with only jeans and t-shirt on (helmet and gloves, too). I can't understand how anyone can ride with just a t-shirt on. From 50kph (~30mph) onwards, it was so unpleasant to ride. It felt like the hair on my forearms gets ripped out and the shirt gets torn apart, too.
I wonder if squids have strengthened t-shirts and shave their arms/legs (when riding in shorts) to make it less uncomfortable ...
In the evening, i rode with my Mesh jacket on which was way better. But i have to admit, it was still almost too hot to ride. On some days, it might be a better idea to leave the bike in the shed :dunno
(i.e. too cold, too hot, too much sunshine, rain ... )
As an alternative, i have a fun car with a detachable hardtop parked in front
I have to agree with LoVel. They're just tougher than you. That or they're stupid...
Anything above about 93F (depending on what you read), your skin will actually absorb the heat and raise your body temp. You never see nomads on camels in just their undies, for a reason.
Plus, your body regulates its temperature by perspiration and then the evaporative effect of that sweat. That's why riders should drink lots of water in the heat, so you can keep that cooling system of yours working.
On hot days though (over 95F), I'll ride with a cooling vest. It seriously makes the ride more comfortable under the well-vented Tourmaster Transition-4 jacket that I wear.
I just checked...its 91F and with humidity it says it feels like 101F. The good part is that I don't get off work until 6pm and it will cool off some by then.
The only thing that bother me are the stop lights. The heat from the road, the bike, the sun, and the other cars around me, combine to make it rather uncomfortable.
When working on my bike I sometimes jump on without gearing up and ride to the end of the street and back to check things out. It feels weird every time I do it....and I live on a short dead end street.
Well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Summer has arrived in Blighty with a vengeance, been riding in my leather jacket etc, OMG, sweating like a mother f*cker.
Don't ever get on a motorcycle without putting on the correct gear, you will only do it once!
Biggsy
Anything over 90 deg F, you actually want to STOP the wind from touching your skin, as opposed to wearing a T-shirt allowing more wind to get to you. At those temps, sweat evaporation can't keep up with the amount of convection heat you're skin is absorbing (think of how a convection oven works).
It may sounds crazy, but you'll actually feel better wearing a light leather jacket (not to mention the added protection). It helps keep away convection warming and let your sweat actually have a chance at cooling you.
I went to a ballgame last night, so the thought of being in the stands on a hot evening in my leather jacket forced me to get a mesh jacket out of The Closet.
I can tell you that my leather jacket is cooler to ride in than my mesh jacket when it is really hot outside. It keeps the heat from the pavement off of me. The mesh just lets it on in. The mesh is nice when it cools off in the evening, but the leather is ok then with the vents. Just my $.02 .
It's getting warmer all the time in northwest Europe, which is one reason I haven't gone there in the summer for many years. At least here in the US, the air conditioning is ubiquitous.
It is still winter here with average temperatures around 25C during the day at the moment. Great riding weather. During summer is it around 32-36C and humid - but the mornings and evenings are great.
I always ATGATT as I have been down the road when i was 18 with normal jeans on and it was a bit ugly when i had finished sliding. I had a leather jacket, boots and gloves on with a full face helmet but my knees copped a hiding and took months to recover from.
I sometimes ride my DT175 on my land with no jacket on (to go down and turn on the irrigation pump) and always feel a little uneasy. Funny how it effects you mentally.
Well it is a balmy 108°f. here in the California desert today. Riding here in the summer, it is a real challenge to find comfortable and safe riding gear. Living on this desert for almost 40 years, I am a t-shirt and open face helmet kind of guy. But I know it is not safe. ...J.D.
No bugs in the desert? Recently an insect hit my lip, while i was riding through the city with the visor up. *ouch* Can't imagine to wear an open face helmet (maybe in a car or on an offorad bike). And i would fear a face down crash with no chin protection.
During my first crash, my jaw and probably more would have been broken. The marks on my helmet are on the lower end (Advertisement: Caberg helmets - save your chin and jaw in case of stupidity )
Do you know the friendly biker? Wind in your hair and bugs in your teeth? :wink2:
Trying not to be a hypocrite, while I'd like to say that I ride with my gear all the time, it just doesn't happen. Fickleness of disposition, I reckon. Complacency kicks in, tho' I know better.
I agree when it's too hot (and for some illogical reason you're riding), the leather-vented jacket and full-faced helmet is the way to go as the direct heat that's hitting you is eliminated while riding. Having said that, you're still inside the gear burning up (mentally), but knowing that you'd be hotter in a tshirt and an open-faced helmet. I liken this kind of riding to 'riding in a dryer vent'.
If I'm out riding, I wear full gear. If I'm going to the gym or running to the store than it's shorts, t-shirt, sunglasses(no helmet law here) and tennis shoes. I guess I'm a part time squid.
Very rarely do we get the heat in the UK were talking about here, for the majority is cloudy, cloudy with rain with a week or two of sun around the 29.
We just don't get the wide highways the deserted roads or the mountain roads you guys do.
Standard summer heat wave here. It usually cruises around 95-100, but in recent years 105+ is common. When its this hot, I don't usually gear up for the 15 minute side street commute to/from work, or when running errands. Like today.
But if I'm riding hard or far when its this hot, I jump in the pool with a t shirt and boxer briefs on, then gear up over it while still soaking. Buys you about about an hour and a half of "moderately tolerable"
People have asked me why I'm so white and don't have a tan. I tell them "cause I rides bikes". They just looked puzzled.
And to the road rash Queen...Oh No! Not the boobies! That's some mess she is now. Brought me back to reality, as if I needed it, but in this heat here these days your mind will play tricks on you....
Well, the worst of the heat is over here in the land of fruits and nuts, as well as the Northern Hemisphere.
Like many of the others on this forum, when the thermometer gets too high then out comes the mesh riding jacket. Agreed, the jacket helps retain skin moisture, plus, importantly, it provides some armor padding in the event there is an accident to deal with.
After about 98-100 degrees the riding mostly stops here because there is no longer a 'wind chill factor' while riding. In fact just the opposite occurs, there becomes something of an inversion, the wind starts to become somewhat like a 'blast furnace' putting more heat on the rider rather than helping to cool things down. Sacramento gets to 105 degrees and even hotter, but fortunately there's only a couple of weeks a year of those temps. The side benefit is that there's year round riding including the upcoming motorcycle Christmas Toy Runs where thousands of bikers turn out.
Like some sage said, over the course of a year, most places where riders live there will be some type of adverse weather, high or low, to deal with as a biker.
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