How cold is too cold to ride?

[Urs J]

I bought 12V heating stuff in AliExpress [car seat heating parts], fixed it in my jacket and bought for 80$ heated gloves. 110W allows me to drive at 10°F. 

Electrical heat is not a nice heat. 

[angrygirafe]

20 hours ago, maximNikenGT said:

I'm curious as to what temperature does the LCD display no longer work because of the cold...?

 I don’t want to personally find out 😂

 

I bet @Wintersdarkmight know 

[Wintersdark]

3 hours ago, angrygirafe said:

 I don’t want to personally find out 😂

 

I bet @Wintersdarkmight know 

It reads down to -9C, after which point it just says "Low"

[Wintersdark]

4 hours ago, Urs J said:

I bought 12V heating stuff in AliExpress [car seat heating parts], fixed it in my jacket and bought for 80$ heated gloves. 110W allows me to drive at 10°F. 

Electrical heat is not a nice heat. 

If you get proper heated gear, it's very nice.  Spread out across your arms, torso, back of neck, with temperature control.  Quality does matter

[maximNikenGT]

59 minutes ago, Wintersdark said:

It reads down to -9C, after which point it just says "Low"

that’s -15.8 degrees F for the Americans. Way too cold for me. 

Actually when I was asking at what point the LCD display no longer works because of the cold I was thinking of an interview where Leonardo Dicaprio was giving after he filmed the movie the Revenant. They were discussing how the authentic and very challenging camera shooting conditions due to the severe winter Canadian cold affected production and Leonardo made the comment that at  one point it was so cold that the cameras couldn't even operate correctly e.g. Power on...

I was assuming at some point the LCD hits a freezing point and refuses to display numbers...not that the temperature sensor lower limit would be exceeded but this is fascinating to know. 

Edited December 31, 2021 by maximNikenGT

[Larz]

ridden in 20' weather when I lived in North Idaho. Depends on factors like clear roads, humidity, recent weather events like snow or rain, state of mind ie, PMS: parked Motorcycle syndrome

[Heli ATP]

[texscottyd]

39 minutes ago, Heli ATP said:

The dude in jeans on a bicycle in the background… 🙄

[lolocastsb]

you guys are crazy! I think the coldest I've ever ridden in was 32F/0C

[1moreroad]

Planned a moto ride last weekend when temps were going to start in the high 30s. Ended up being 14 F at the ride start time - in Mississippi. 

We went anyway! We "boldly" drove cars to lunch. 😗

[roadwarrior]

I've ridden snowmobiles in -40F with windchill so there is no reason you couldn't ride a motorcycle in those temps as well. 

The problem is by the time you see those temps there is also three feet of snow and plenty of salt on the road. I ain't taking my new bike out in that.

I do ride down into the 30's on occasion later in the season before the snow comes.

[NormR]

17 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

I've ridden snowmobiles in -40F with windchill so there is no reason you couldn't ride a motorcycle in those temps as well. 

The problem is by the time you see those temps there is also three feet of snow and plenty of salt on the road. I ain't taking my new bike out in that.

I do ride down into the 30's on occasion later in the season before the snow comes.

Not to mention the icy roads 

[Wintersdark]

On 12/30/2021 at 9:37 PM, maximNikenGT said:

that’s -15.8 degrees F for the Americans. Way too cold for me. 

Actually when I was asking at what point the LCD display no longer works because of the cold I was thinking of an interview where Leonardo Dicaprio was giving after he filmed the movie the Revenant. They were discussing how the authentic and very challenging camera shooting conditions due to the severe winter Canadian cold affected production and Leonardo made the comment that at  one point it was so cold that the cameras couldn't even operate correctly e.g. Power on...

I was assuming at some point the LCD hits a freezing point and refuses to display numbers...not that the temperature sensor lower limit would be exceeded but this is fascinating to know. 

So, my LCD's have worked down to -40C, but they respond very slowly then so the tachometer is largely useless.  Like ~2 seconds for the display to fully transition from one state(light/dark) to another. The TFT displays (Tracer GT for example) work better in the cold, but they slow down too - just not as much.  Having a phone on the handlebars typically stops working around 20C when it's in the wind; they'll usually just shut down.  They will refuse to charge under around -10C.

[Wintersdark]

49 minutes ago, NormR said:

Not to mention the icy roads 

Depends on where you are.  Cold and frosty roads are find if you've got good tires for it - that is, tires that are designed for lower temperature and wet use, such as in rain.   Road 5's (and presumably 6's) work very well, I ran 4's and 5's for years riding all winter here.  If you're somewhere where it's more humid and there's actual ice from freezing water, then things are different.  Frost is rough and doesn't make the roads nearly as slippery.  

 

For you, though, in Quebec?  Yeah...  Your icy roads are kind of legendary.  I'd be grabbing some Anlas Wintergrips, then slapping in iGrip SS08 studs. 

[texscottyd]

Ok, which one of you is that over on the right?   🙄