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Tag Archives: winter riding
Doris Wiedemann–Amazing ADV rider
Doris Wiedemann – Winter Trip to Prudhoe Bay 2009
Thanks to Richard M. Fellow Blogger for pointing me to this site. 
R1Sjaak and Doris Wiedemann arriving on Prudhoe Bay in winter after a 16.000 km. ride on two motorcycles. http://www.reismotor.nl
Attican Pass and Deadhorse on two motorcycles at -35 Celsius http://www.reismotor.nl
R1 Sjaak and Doris Wiedemann almost in Prudhoe bay at -35 Celsius on two motorbikes http://www.reismotor.nl
There are more videos on the web site…just wanted to give you a taste. Continue reading
Safe & Enjoyable Winter Riding
Source: Anthony from Revzilla
Safe & Enjoyable Cold Weather Motorcycle Riding
By BoochZilla
Changing Seasons, Changing Gears
We all know about changing gears on the bike. Up is “up”, and down is “down.” How about that riding skill called changing gears between your ears? Autumn is a great time for riding. Temperatures are moderate and, in many parts of the land, beautiful color tours await. But the change in seasons also brings some different riding conditions that may require some mental gear changes.
Wildlife
As the leaves change and the die-off of summer vegetation occurs, deer, found virtually everywhere in North America, begin to change their feeding habits and move about more. Likewise, it’s their breeding season and is accompanied by an increasing frenzy of activity. In the autumn, in many states, this is compounded by the fact of their being spooked by hunters. The end result is more movement, more activity, and a greater threat to you as a motorcyclist. Change gears and give more thought to the possibility of deer on the road – especially less traveled two-laners and during the post-dawn and pre-sunset hours. The same applies to areas where our even bigger antlered friends (Antelope, Elk, Moose) wander. Cover the brake and give increased heed to those “deer crossing” signs.
Reduced Daylight
Not only are the forest critters in the road more active around dawn and dusk but dawn is arriving later, and dusk much earlier. If you are a year round rider or commuter, chances are increasing that you will be riding in darkness. You may want to make sure that your motorcycle gear (and bike) is up to the challenge.
Is your bike’s charging system performing correctly? Are all your lights working? Maybe it’s time to think again about that auxiliary lighting you’ve been looking at all Summer. Do your riding jacket or pants have reflective strips or panels? If not, why? Time to upgrade perhaps? You’ve been riding all year with sunglasses. What about your nighttime vision? Is the prescription for your glasses or contact lenses up to date?
Bridge Freezes Before Road Surface
We all know this sign or its cousin “Icy Conditions.” We’ve all scoffed at it throughout the warm weather riding season. Now it’s time to take serious heed. Especially in late afternoon, or early evening, as air temperatures fall toward the freezing mark, the ground can and does retain a great deal of warmth. But bridges and overpasses, completely surrounded by the chilled air, may not. The absolute worst is in light drizzle with temperatures hovering right around 32 degrees. The roadway may be simply wet. Bridges can be something far more challenging. And steel open grate bridges are the worst. It may be time to just go home! Also keep in mind that during the early morning hours underpasses can be treacherous when the sun warms the countryside but the underpass remains in the shade and overnight icing fails to melt. Caution is advised.
Focus on the Cold
When the temperature dips, we all feel it. Typically at 60mph you can add a 20 degree windchill to the ambient air temperature while riding. That means that you can go from comfy to cold in a hurry. Cold hands, feet or other parts or the body are just as bad as a poorly fitting piece of gear – they cause discomfort which leads to a loss of focus.
Wearing the appropriate base layers, mid layers, shell and potentially heated gear will greatly improve your chances for riding fun and safety. Also, take into account elevation changes on longer rides and make an extra effort to check the forecast in the cooler temp ranges as a little rain can produce much more extreme riding conditions quickly, than similar conditions at more reasonable temps.
Wet Leaves
Ice isn’t the only slip and fall hazard. All those beautiful fall colors – the photogenic oranges, reds, and browns that cover the landscape eventually fall to the ground as winter begins to exert its hold. As often as not the leaves fall en mass as a rainstorm drives them from the trees and directly into your roadway! And wet leaves can be as slippery as ice! How do we protect ourselves?
With the same methodologies we use to avoid nasty surprises like loose gravel or decreasing radius corners. Remember that it’s always heads up looking as far as possible into the turns and continue to practice what the Motorcycle Safety Foundation calls late apex cornering. You are less likely to run wide, have better visibility into the corner, and there is more margin for error if you simply practice braking a bit earlier, doing all your turning before the apex, and smoothly accelerating after the apex.
Riding into the autumn and into early winter brings some new challenges but they are all manageable if we just mentally change gears and adapt. Do so and you’ll enjoy another great season of motorcycling and you can always beef up your cold weather riding gear as well. Here’s hoping that everyone gets through the fall season without having to take evasive action on freezing or wet leaves to avoid a deer at sunset. Ride safe!
-Jack Broomall
Jack Broomall is a lifelong motorcyclist. His motorcycle adventures have taken him across the North American continent several times, to Alaska, the Alps, the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man. He is a member of the Iron Butt Association and also owns several motorcycle Land Speed Records set at the Bonneville Salt Flats where he is a member of the Bonneville 200 MPH Club. He has been known to do occasional restorations of his favorite bikes from the 1970s and enjoys track days as well.
2012 BMW R1200GS Rallye Edition
Have you heard? What do you think?
2012 R1200GS Rallye Limited Edition
Additional form and functional changes that differentiate the 2012 BMW R1200GS Rallye from other GS motorcycles include:
– Alpine White with BMW Motorrad Motorsport graphics
– Black engine with matching black fork slider tubes
– Red frame
– Black and white covered seat
– Enduro ESA (Electronic Suspension Adjustment)
– Chromed exhaust system
– Wire-spoked wheels
– Heated grips
– Onboard computer
Gerbing’s Headquarters Tour (Nov. 6th, 7th & 8th 2011)
We headed out from Maple Ridge to Shelton, Washington on Sunday morning, Nov. 6th with our goal to be at the Gerbing’s Headquarters on Monday, Nov. 7th. The whole purpose of the trip was to get to Gerbing’s, trade in our old liners for their new micro-wire liners and to deal with some warranty items like our Y connectors. So, we decided to make a trip out of this and carry it over 2 nights. We are trying to get away on the bikes every 5 weeks for fun rather than just commuting.
What’s with Heated Gear Anyway? Heading to the Gerbing Headquarters
This coming up weekend, Nov. 6th, 7th & 8th, we will be taking a 2 night road trip down to Tumwater, Washington to see the Gerbing headquarters and to trade in our old technology for their new micro-wire heated liners. I ran a poll a few weeks back and asked if you guys ride in the winter. I am amazed that the majority answered yes with NO HEATED gear.
Maybe we are getting soft in our aging process because to be honest I can not ride without heat when the temps drop below double digits Celsius.
Perfect example was today, 1 degree Celsius when I left my house for work at 0520 and got down to 6 on my way home. Just a turn of the dial and even a little heat makes for such an enjoyable ride home. We love our heated liner and gloves but that is just us. This is the best time of year for me to ride. Especially when the rains stay away.
So….since I still have my tracking subscription on my SPOT Connect I will be turning it on for this trip. We are going to finish off the Olympic Peninsula. There is a section that we still need to ride and will do it this time around since we did not over the weekend of October 3rd.
Oh, and there are other companies out there that make heated gear like:
Powerlet
Mobile Warming Gear
Tourmaster
First Gear
Widder
Warm & Safe
WarmGear
Tips about using heated gear:
Heated gear is worn as close to your body as you can without actually touching your skin. You can wear a vest or full liner. We prefer the full liner and heated gloves. Most companies sell glove liners too. All heated gear is meant to be worn under you riding suit. We presently own the KLIM Traverse suit that is made for the rider to come up with their own lining system. The suit does not come with an internal rain or thermal liner. The Traverse is waterproof on the outside, Gore Tex and Cheryl and I always use our Gerbing as both a liner with no heat and of course with the heat on. Also, one thing to point out is that we keep our lining slim, no bulk and real easy to do shoulder checks.
Keeping our core body temperature consistent allows us to focus more on riding rather than being cold and shivering. Being too cold can be very dangerous and so far with the set up we have we are able to comfortably ride in weather well below 0 Celsius. The coldest we both have been out has been -8 C but I think that will be the coldest we would ride. I like -5.
We also use a temperature control rather than an on/off switch. Our controller is permanent and built into our bikes. Here are a few pics of our set. Both our Beemers are set up the same exact way and Yep, Cheryl did the install. 
We know people who use just an on/off switch and they find themselves having to keep turning the heat on and off all the time as their gear only has 2 temps. HIGH and off. By using a controller you can adjust the heat as you ride. Much easier to stay comfortable we feel. If we were to do it all over again we would add a dual temp controller, one for our gloves and liner.
Some companies sell heated pants, socks, insoles for boots, neck warmers, some use rechargeable batteries, wireless temperature controllers or like us, we are hard wired to our battery and plug in.
Most gear uses anywhere from 15 watts to over 100 watts depending how many items you are using at one time. Important to know what your bikes battery can handle.
It’s important that you research what cables you need and adapters. Not all gear comes ready to plug and ride. For example since we have a liner and gloves we need to make sure we bought a Y connector cable that runs from our jacket and attached to the two connectors on the liner and then plugs into the bike. Our gloves plug into sleeves. You need to find a set up that works for you.
So, that’s it. I actually started this post just be to an announcement about going to the Gerbing Headquarters and look what happened. This is typical as I am Italian and from New York….we talk a lot. Hope some of this info is helpful or useful and I will be taking some pics this weekend. Going to be trying out my new Panasonic T3 camera. Supposed to be waterproof. We shall see. 
Curbsyde Vimeo Page & YouTube Channel
Get to know this team of talented riders/cinematographers you will not regret it!
RECONNECTING CANADA – THE NORTH
Brilliant ride! Curbsyde Productions. I follow these guys when I can…top notch videos and of course unbelievable rides.
My dream job!
