My normal winter riding gear is leather jacket, leather pants, gloves, boots, modular helmet, and base layers underneath. Depending on how cold it is, I wear warmer base layers plus fleece and/or heated clothing. I recommend Rukka, REV'IT, and RS Taichi for brands. I live in Houston, but have a place in China where I like to ride fast because the roads are empty for hundreds of miles and clear of snow despite being very cold. Even in the US, I do track days in Arizona and California where 55-60 degrees at 160 mph feels very cold without the right gear. Haha I know plenty of riders that feel like you. I just love it too much for weather to deter me unless it's a hurricane or tornado.
I ride a naked mostly so if you have fairings and a windshield don't hate. I looked into riding in China and there were serious engine size restrictions. The best I could hope for is a CB400. How did you get a bike there?
No hate from me. I like standard/naked bikes too. I test rode a Speed Triple R a couple years ago, and it was fantastic. However, at high speeds I really need fairings. I have two sportbikes and one dual-sport. Not only are there serious engine restrictions, I can't even ride in many cities. The public there considers motorbikes a nuisance because too many riders in urban areas act like idiots to create mayhem. Luckily, I live near Mongolia in an empty border province far, far away from the cities. Getting a permit wasn't a problem nor was importing a motorcycle that was well above 400cc (hint: this wasn't strictly legal). You should definitely ride in China even if you refuse to ulterior methods. I had a 1992 CBR 250RR before I imported the larger bike, and it was very capable despite the small displacement. 45 hp, 19k redline, ~5s 0-62 mph, topped out at 115 mph. I'd say China is one of the best countries to see via motorcycle because of the dynamism of the scenery. This is why in a few years, I plan to ride from South Africa through Pakistan into China and end in Russia.
As much as I hate to freeze I like the feeling of the holidays. Once a year when everyone is happy and pretends to care about everyone else. Nothing like it. Plus, Christmas music
I moved to DC and thoroughly enjoyed the Summer (Spring and Fall were basically non-existent this year), but now that Winter is back, I feel like this. If it snows again through May, I may end up going insane.
I'm looking at forecasts that have temps in the mid to high 60's as highs through the next 10 days or so.
I have to go to central Wisc in mid Dec and mid Jan for training with my new company. I don't have clothing for cold like that. At least they're going to take us curling on one of the trips.
I got a bad feeling about what's coming over x-mas break. It's just been way too warm here in Texas. I think Mother Nature is planning on screwing us for the holidays making us be stuck inside because travel conditions are too dangerous. We will see.
Just hope any Arctic front holds off leaving Canada until after the 19th. I have to be in central Wisconsin all of next week. Right now, it's looking reasonable considering the location (temps in the mid to high 20's). I can live with that. It's the teens and below I don't want to deal with.
LULZ!! It was a 240 hour model run which is 10 days out! It was pretty chilly this morning Models have been hinting at a significant pattern change starting this weekend and lasting through the rest of the month. I am waiting on the Euro ensembles today to see if they are on the same page as the GFS. The GFS ensembles show an Alaskan ridge with potential cross polar flow setting up towards the latter third of the month. The CFS, for the last two cycles, has virtually all of North America with below to much below normal temperature anomalies. The active southern stream storms will likely lead to a stepping down process with each storm system dragging a bit more cold air S into the Lower 48. This fast moving parade of storms will move across California, the Desert SW, Northern Mexico, the Southern Rockies and the Southern Plains into the foreseeable future. As the Polar jet buckles in about a week, look for the process to accelerate the whole scale pattern change across much of North America. Time will tell but this weekend appears to be the start of a significant pattern change. I do think the latter half of this month will be below normal temperature wise with higher than normal precipitation.
