Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Its too hot to ride...

So...a bit of heat going on in the great NW. Yesterday coming home driving up the hill the thermometer in the car hit 101. That night it was verified...101 in Sammamish. Sonfoamotherfreakingbeach!

So...what is your cut off?
Too cold for me is below 40 (man I love my heated gloves).
Too hot depends on wheather Im riding for work or pleasure.
Pleasure allows me to reduce the layers to a minimum and low to mid 90s are ok as long as Im moving (and have my cooling vest). Normally this isnt a problem.
If I have to be dressed for work (long sleeve shirt and jeans) then my cut off is low/mid 80s.

Part of my cut off is due to the fact I dont want to ride without my safety gear and that I truly want to enjoy being on my bike.

So...whats your cut off?

Well you're right Z, it is pretty hot in this part of the world. I've been riding a bit but mostly to get to higher elevations on any of the local passes. Once there I can chill out (pun intended). But I usually don't ride below 40 or above 95ish. I don't wear the gear you do but still in this weather no matter how I dress it can be like riding in a hair dryer!!!

I will agree with below 40 as being to cold, but I have never see it to hot

Z,
It's funny because some friends from your state were just here visiting and complained of our weather. They said we had swapped, which we have apparently. It rains here all the time this summer, been 8ºF below normal, and they tell us that Seattle area had driest and warmestJune and now July since like forever.
So we're a rainforest now, and you get our summer extreme heats.
Give it a year, we'll swap back again.

With 11 days over 100 here already this summer, I'd have to say I haven't reached the "too hot" temp yet. After living in Texas most of my 61 years, I'm like an old lizzard basking in the heat. My Mom lived to 84 and never owned an air conditioner even though I tried many times to talk her into it.
It's what you get used to isn't it?

There really isn't a too hot or too cold. I guess if it's 20 degrees outside or better I'll ride.

I've never seen it too hot to ride. There were days where I think I'm riding into a hair dryer, but that's still ok. You've got heated gloves and you won't ride below 40? I do that with just normal leather gloves.

I look forward to summer.When it gets hot at home there is always a place to go. One of my favorite rides is up hi-way 20 along the Skagit river.No matter how hot it gets there there is always a cool spot or two.I'm working in the northwest corner of Colorado & regret leaving my bike at home. The temp is is cool and the roads are like nowhere I've been.There are a lot of deer & elk on the roads & the bugs are as big as avacados....but I still wish I'd brought the bonne....Oh well next time.....

Big fat sissy.

Never too hot or cold--sometimes too wet, though! I pull over when I can't see the road.

Ride to work regularly in 18-20F (no heated gloves) in winter and have been up to 115F (so far) in summer. Baltimore seems to get a little of both ends, but most of our weather is very tolerable. The key for me is hydrating and to keep moving at speeds in the 30-65 MPH range. Some sort of thermal -vs- speed bubble I can tolerate, I guess.

It get's too hot here sometimes and I'm in northwest FL. With high humidity, 92 can feel like over a 100. If you never have to stop it's not so bad, but riding in traffic with a heat index over a 100 is no fun. Between the road and engine it feels like you are in a crock pot.

I never ride without jeans, boots, and helmet which makes it feel even hotter.

On the other side, it's never too cold to ride here although I rarely ride when it's below 50. Fortunately, a week doesn't go by I can't ride any time of the year.

Pat's right, we've got 9+ inches of rain in June and July the temp is rarely above 70, its just like living in WA.

Here in the Sunshine State if we didn't ride above the mid 80's, we would hardly have a riding season. I try to take canopy shaded roads instead of superslabs, makes a big difference.
Has to be close to freezing before its too cold. I don't have windshield or heated anything, just put on more layers.

I don't know what too hot to ride is (doesn't happen here). just last weekend on the way back from the Muskegon bike fest, via the UP I was wearing thermals, an extra shirt, and my glove liners. It was low 50's until we hit the fog, then it started to cool off some. End of July, it is not going to get much warmer. I would like to try too hot every now and then.

San Antonio I think is at 37 days over 100 this year. Yes it is hot. Phoenix is just a tad cooler than the surface of the sun though all year.

I dont know how some of you folks in the SW do it when it gets into the three digit teens.
I guess you do become a product of your enviroment. I grew up in So Cal and dont remember ever being bothered by anythign but the wind (santa anas).
Now, as FJ so kindly put it, Ive turned into a big fat sissy...and proud of it!

Hey...more power to you all if you can deal with it but I hate this kind of weather...Pat, please send the cold back anytime. Hold the rain though!

btw...3:00 and its 103...WTF!

Sorry, Z, but that's basically every day in late August and early September around here...mid to high 90s anyway...sure makes those cool mountain passes even betterer. Even the vented mesh jacket sucks...but ya just gotta ride
now if it'll just stop raining...

You just ride faster and wind chill will do the rest.

Here in Tejas, we've been hit with about 30+ days of close to 105*. Still riding though I have to keep up with the lip balm. Now - cold and wet? I am not down with that; even in the younger years I didn't like ice and snow blowing in the horizontal and riding. But heat, nah, just go faster.

We are leaving for Deadwood Friday morning, early! I bought cooling vests from ridecool.com just for this ride. The temptures crossing the deserts in California and Nevada are hot. Baker is predicted to reach 117 degrees, Las Vegas 107, till it finally cools to the 90's in Beaver, Wyoming. We have tried the vests in 100 degree heat and they seem to work ok for a couple hours, which, in this heat, is all we want to ride before a stop. As far as cold, Robin has a heated vest and I just ride with layers, until the roads freeze. Then its time to stop.

Mid to higher 90's usually gets me into a vehicle with A/C.

The wife keeps the home @ 72, so I'm "conditioned".

It was gorgeous here today. Sitting at 73 degrees right now. Breezy, partly cloudy. Supposed to get back up to the low 90s by Sunday. Too bad that rear sprocket is backordered...

Not only is it too hot to ride, but it's uphill bothways!!!

My only concession to heat is I'll switch to an open face and ditch the full face.

Just a quick question to the folks who wear a full face helmet all of the time. I wear a full face in the winter, but in the summer time, I switch to a hat. I have a full face HJC helmet and I can't feel any differance with the vents open or closed. How do you guys wear one in the summer?

Havnt found it to hot to ride, sometimes at a stop it gets a bit on the warm side. My cold cut off is about 40, cause you ad in the wind chill at 70 down the highway it get a bit nippy.

Too hot or cold to ride?




Sell all of your four wheel cages so all you have is a bike and you'll be surprised at how the parameters for acceptable riding conditions change.

I had a full face Bell in th 80's and decided that it wasn't safe to be that hot. Now have a 3/4 HJC and it is tolerable.
trying to figure out how to hook up a mini ac unit to keep head cool,

I've actually thought about going to look at full face helmets so I can ride when it's in the 20's without getting brainfreeze. Just thinking about it though, nothing too committal!

+1 on never too hot. The hotter it gets the more i want to ride. my truck gets too hot inside from sitting in the sun all day. I wear shorts to work when it gets really hot because I have to wear coveralls at work but I wear chaps over the shorts on the ride so I don't burn my legs on my pipes. There's a lake about 15 min from my work and on hot days I like to ride by there and see how many bikini's are walking around before I head home. . I took my bike on that route the first time I rode it and nearly crashed...

Been up to 112 here recently; jeans, boots,full finger vented gloves, mesh jacket and full face helmet.
The full face checks the blast furnace effect and the jacket keeps the radiant heat from the skin while allowing air flow while moving. And in case one ends up laying on the 150+ degree asphalt keeps said skin intact.

That said, I don't think I'll ride to Death Valley in the Summer. It holds the record for hottest recorded temperature in the Western Hemisphere-134F (56.6C).

Apparently 105 isn’t too hot for me. That was the temp at work in Renton yesterday, then I rode home (back to Beaverton). It was a very warm 175 mile ride home. I did stop a few times for water. I would buy two bottles, one to drink and one to pour a bit in my helmet and drench my jacket.

It was even warmer here today than yesterday and I rode to work (only 13 miles rather than 175).

One last thing, I wear a full face helmet. I kept cooler with the shield closed than when open. When it was open it was like sticking your eyeballs in front of a hot hair dryer.

My paramaters : wont ride when Ice on the road or when metal gets soft

OMG
i would give anything to ride in this heat guys! just be safe and stop in the shade