I’ve been out for a ride today. Relatively mild (10c) but windy. Givi screen and heated grips sorted that. Happy new year everyone

Keeps bloody raining here in Essex.

mottza wrote: ↑Sun Dec 31, 2023 12:48 pm Keeps bloody raining here in Essex.

Yeah - it did when I was there last week. However the place still looks like a desert, with all the grass looking like its struggling to survive!

Trouble this year it's been lots of rain, no rain for several weeks etc which isn't good. My grass still hasn't recovered from the 2022 heatwave.

Desert? I’ve been taking bids from Chinese who want to plant rice in my paddy field, sorry - garden.

New years day. As i said before there is a gathering of bikes in Southport on New years day,and today i was there, several bike clubs (mainly) Harley Davidson owners clubs turned up. About twenty -thirty Harley's all shiney and noisy. Amongs all this lot Me, on my Cruisym 300i. As i sat having my usual cigar, a couple saw me and asked if they could take my picture. I told them i was not part of the Harley group but, they wanted a picture of the harley's with me in the foreground smoking my cigar, as they said i looked like a Harley rider and the cigar added to the illusion of a bad biker guy.Just shows you cannot judge a book by it's cover. FAME at last.

I've been riding all year forever, Elefant rally, that sort of thing. There is no such thing as bad weather only the wrong gear. Honestly I'll choose some parts of North Yorkshire or the Peaks at low temperatures over months that are warmer but bring out PowerRangers/Lycra mobs/tourists etc.

Thoughts

Motorcycle waterproofs are generally rubbish compared to fishing/military/sailing/outdoors stuff. You also need a bigger pair of boots to get thick/multiple socks under.

A heated jacket and gloves make a huge difference. Cold people can't concentrate. Eat before you ride.

Tyres are massively important. OE fit made-in-Brazil need to go. Good branded all year tyres are fine down to freezing, but below about 5 degrees Silicone M&S are massively better.

Fresh snow is like sand, so actually fun if the tyres are knobbly enough. Don't be subtle with power. The lowest weight machine wins. You usually meet frozen slush and total idiocy though.

Andy

" but below about 5 degrees Silicone M&S are massively better."
Didn't know Marks and spencers did tyres , sorry being facetious as usual.
I've always ridden through winter and have done for years the type of bike can make a masive difference. I used to have a CZ 125 that was absolutely brilliant, the XJR 1300 on road tyres not so , CX 500 was good VFR 750 not so, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. The VFR was stunning in the rain it didn't seem to bother it at all, as long as you were careful with the right hand, it had Bridgestone BT? can't remember which ones. Always fancied trying a Suzuki van van in the snow, looked like they might be fun.
Never done the Elephant or the Dragon not my idea of fun, though I can see the attraction, don't like camping and staying in a hotel kind of miss's the point.
Agree about clothing always used to use Fishing/military/sailing stuff, back in the sixties used to wear those yellow "oilskins" lifeboat men used to wear. you could see me coming from a mile off. Always liked Derri boots with thick socks.
These days I don't ride in the snow, cold I don't mind so much, as long as it stays above freezing. I wear motorbike clothing and if it's cold I wear a one piece waterproof suit over the top and stay warm and dry. I think it's a RUKKA, which brings me to gloves as handlebar muffs don't suit the burgman I bought a pair of RUKKA two finger gloves which work quite well with the heated grips, strange to say but Oxford would be than the Suzuki ones.
If I ever ride in the snow again it'll be on an outfit, which I quite fancy