How to ride a motorcycle in the rain

[Ed-in-Maine]

Originally Posted by alvaro84

I soak. I have rain clothes which keep me pretty dry, but I have to know of the rain before I go to put them on.

I always ride with an Aerostitch one piece suit and laugh at the rain But I'm with you when the temps drop near freezing the bike stays parked.
Ed

[alvaro84]

My 4-year old riding suit is far from waterproof so I have to put on some extra to keep the water away from it. And I won't replace them while they're in one piece (ok, my pants are definitely at the edge, all the zippers are dead, it's held together by duct tape on the left, the lining is peeling), I'm proud of being a bad consumer.

[Ed-in-Maine]

alvaro84 - man you need to pony up for a good suit. My stitch is about 100k mile old and faded but other than Scotch Guard sometimes is still going strong. Haven't had to test the abrasion resistance thankfully
Ed

[alvaro84]

Basically I agree.

[Hal]

I rode to work at 4 - 5 a.m. this morning: about 30 degrees, wet roads, slush on the highway in places. Regardless of the amazing skill shown by the rider in the video, I found it necessary to slow to about 40 in the slushy areas; easy on the throttle and speed changes.... I wear an all season jacket, waterproof insulated Carhartt pants, with longjohns and a fleece jacket underneath. The biggest comfort-enhancer is Hippo Hands - I love those things and wish I had used them 20 years ago! I wear light leather gloves in them and my hands stay warm and dry. On really cold days (like this morning) I slip a Little Hottie handwarmer in each glove and my hands are toasty...

[alvaro84]

Originally Posted by Hal

...about 30 degrees...

I found it necessary to slow to about 40 in the slushy areas; easy on the throttle and speed changes....

This. I definitely don't have his skills... and even if I had, it would be a bad way to go on public roads

...Hippo Hands - I love those things and wish I had used them 20 years ago! I wear light leather gloves in them and my hands stay warm and dry. On really cold days (like this morning) I slip a Little Hottie handwarmer in each glove and my hands are toasty...

I had a pair of something similar. They definitely worked around freeze point, the only problem that they weren't stiff enough. I'd have needed hard plastic handguards on the handlebar to keep the hand bags away from the brake and clutch levers they always kept under pressure because of the wind

[taco]

I have a camo rain suit that is insulated. I usually wear that in the rain on my shadow.

I have been known to lay on the tank and put my feet on the passenger pegs behind me on long straight sections in the rain. I was down to 25 deg on my 65mile ride. Didn't have my winter gloves a pain of cloth gloves with latex under them. Had to stop 3 times to warm my hands up.

[alvaro84]

Originally Posted by taco

25 deg on my 65mile ride. Didn't have my winter gloves a pain of cloth gloves with latex under them. Had to stop 3 times to warm my hands up.

You, Sir, are crazy

I'd have to stop much earlier.
Because the pain in my hands would have killed me

[taco]

Yea it was stupid on my part.
But I rode till my hands hurt. They felt like they were on fire. The rest of me was warm. Also my helmet kept fogging up, so I had to rise with the visor cracked.

[Kincurd]

I rode in the snow at night with my raingear and winter gloves on one time. I had to lift the visor a tad on my full face because it was fogging up like crazy. The snow wasn't settling yet and it was early in the storm. I couldn't really avoid the trip as the snow would have only gotten worse, but I didn't ride way too fast.

Plain rain gear with tennis shoes just doesn't work. Had many soaked socks that way. I'll wear boots next time, or my drysuit with the built-in booties (socks).