cold weather riding ?  By  geh3333 (Read 3,014 times)

Layers, layers, and MORE LAYERS! I wear a t-shirt under 2 longsleeve loose fitting shirts, and depending on the temp and conditions I wear either 1 or 2 sweatshirts, both kind of loose, then I use 1 longsleeve soft cotton shirt wrapped around my face works great as a neck guard and it goes all the way down past your chest so it protects you a bit more! Finally ontop of all of that I wear a big fluffy coat.

For gloves I have been wanting to get winter riding gloves but haven't had the money, so instead I have some hand warmers stuffed in my fingerless gloves on underneath simple winter gloves. For boots, I have hardened toe boots to protect from the wind and rain and snow. I also wear a full helmet that both the visor and the front of the helmet flips up, so at stops I can flip up the whole thing and blow my nose! lol

The key to protecting yourself in the winter is to wear clothes that creates air pockets between you and the outside layer of your clothing, your body will fill those air pockets with warm air and the outside layer has to be strong enough to protect the inside from wind so your precious heat does not get swept away!

As far as my craziest winter riding stories, I was riding last year right through the winter here in Boston, MA. I was riding when it was snowing and -20 degrees.

Tips are to go slower, always use all signals even if you don't think you need them just do it anyways, modify your light circuit so you can have both the regular light and highbeams on at the same time, make sure to dim your highbeams when approaching oncoming drivers. When turning on snow lean less than you normally would, make sure to slow down before turning, then apply a very slow but steady increase in throttle while taking the turn, and ease off the throttle at the ends of turns.

Always look for and avoid shiny surfaces on the roads, sometimes its hard to see them though especially when there is already an inch of snow on the ground. If you slip, DO NOT FREAK OUT, remain calm! Depending on which way you slipped from and are slipping to, push your body weight into the direction that you are slipping from, and away from the direction you are slipping to, at the same time lay off the throttle gradually, not all at once, and also at the same rate apply your front brake (only front, do not use the rear brake in this situation or you'll see what a guard rail looks like) increase the front brake pressure as you decrease the throttle, then once you have a good balance throttle up gradually and avoid doing that again! This will all happen in only fractions of seconds, but you can do it!

I'm from Wisconsin so believe me when I say I can dress for cold weather. But living down in Mississippi where the summer temps get well into the 's for months on end, and given that my scooter was broken in during those summertime temps, she doesn't like the cold at all.

For starters, I don't like the way that auto choke thingy revs the engine when she's first started in the morning when it's cold out. In the summer it's fine but when it's 30 degrees, well, that's a different matter. I don't think a cold engine should be reeved that high until the choke lets go. At least not on a single-cylinder 150cc anyway. And when the choke comes off I have to give it some gas for a minute or two until it idles on it's own. Then it takes a few miles for the entire bike to get warmed up. The variator is stiff, the belt is stiff, the wheel bearings are stiff, everything is stiff and doesn't like the cold one bit.

I don't think it's a good idea to subject my cheap little Chinese Scooter to that type of stress and strain so I've decided I'm not going to start her up anymore unless the temps are above 40 degrees. She doesn't seem to mind those temps too much and, ok, I'll admit it. I'm getting too frickin' old for those temps too. Maybe I'm just getting soft to cold temps living down here.

Betsy Mae is just a Scooter. She's not a rock. And neither am I. My two cents worth...

You are absolutely spot on when it comes to the cold starts . many have the same issue , as the auto choke closes off you have to give it throttle for an extra minute or two before it is able to idle on its own. Other then cold starting issues, my scoot runs great in the cold weather

How did he wrap it? This is good information for getting started in below freezing temps. Did he wrap it around the bottom where the oil pan is and tie it up or did he plop it ontop of the engine above the carb and engine? I know heat rises so it would seem to make sense to wrap it on the bottom under the oil pan but I want to know how he did it.

I usually adjust the air fuel on the carb when it gets so cold , however it seems as if the auto choke should run a bit longer in cold weather . I have an oil dipstick with the thermometer built in to it and the oil temp doesn't even seem to begin to rise for a minute of two after the autochoke closes off.

MA get a little colder than NYC , but I will tell you if I go back to the 35 main jet . I will will have to prime my fuel system to get my engine running below 45 degrees it takes 3 tries to get it to idle in the 20's . I do not ride when there is ice on the roads .

John

Just got back from a 30 mile round trip. The temp outside was 17 degrees and again all was well except for my hands . I really have to get a pair of heated gloves !
Well I have off today so back to playing Mike Tysons punchout !!