do you ride at night, or in the rain?

[Stig / Major Tom]

It makes sense that some would not ride at night, or in the rain.
It certainly is not very relaxing to do so in a city.


Pre-dawn has always been my favorite time of day. For decades.
In a few miles I can go from N of town out into the countryside S of town. There I get to do my riding at night - full dark is the best! Add rain and it gets real Zen-like for me!

With, or without a scooter.
In Florida - I'm driving the rental out while the gang's still asleep.


for a Dunkin D. and this.....moon setting over Blind Pass, G. of Mex.


Scooter riding at night!









Do you ride at night. In the rain?
At night in the rain?

Stig

[Iahawk]

you are a foul weather riding machine!!  I don't ride at night because I can't see the road and all its imperfections well enough. Pot holes? Tar snakes? Manhole covers? gravel, sand?

I don't ride in the rain, either...but I did leave my garage in a drizzle the other day on my little Ninja. I was all geared up, bike was checked and ready to go..I mounted bike, clicked her into first and looked out to see the drizzle start. Said screw it and took off. It was kind of cool..the air smelled different and the bike felt fine. I have zero intentions of riding my 28 year old Helix or 40 year old Nighthawk in the rain. I don't want to give rust / corrosion any foothold on either of these clean old bikes.

[rjs987]

When I was still working I would ride to work any time the temps were above 37F, rain or shine. More than a few commutes were through severe thunderstorms.
But then, I also would ride to work at any temp as long as the road where my tires actually touched was clear of any frozen stuff. That sometimes meant the temps were well below zeroF.
Twice I rode my Burgman 650 when it was 37F and there were BIG snow flakes falling starting just as I was leaving work. The forecast was for 47 and sunny all day. These two times happened 10 days apart from each other in exactly the same way. Mid 30s going to work in the morning but it just didn't warm up as much as anticipated and the snow started falling just as I was walking from my work to my bike. So I rode home in up to 2 inches of slush.

[Neil955i]

I enjoy night riding, but these days I don’t get out to play so often. Made easier by my DTX headlamps which are LED powerful and light up nighttime roads like daylight!

As for rain, I’ll do it, but only if I get caught out when it starts or the wife’s using our one car. Quite like riding in the wet, it forces you to ride smoothly. As long as I’ve got the waterproofs on that is.

[Stig / Major Tom]

When I was still working I would ride to work any time the temps were above 37F, rain or shine. More than a few commutes were through severe thunderstorms.
But then, I also would ride to work at any temp as long as the road where my tires actually touched was clear of any frozen stuff. That sometimes meant the temps were well below zeroF.
Twice I rode my Burgman 650 when it was 37F and there were BIG snow flakes falling starting just as I was leaving work. The forecast was for 47 and sunny all day. These two times happened 10 days apart from each other in exactly the same way. Mid 30s going to work in the morning but it just didn't warm up as much as anticipated and the snow started falling just as I was walking from my work to my bike. So I rode home in up to 2 inches of slush.

Closest I've come to getting hit was a snowy commute home.
I'm watching the road carefully for a second or two....and truck on my right blew through his stop sign. The LIKE200I's superbly powerful and easily modulated brakes saved me! (City Grips might have helped   too)
Stig

[randyo]

before I retired, I had a lot of evening meetings,  almost always, coming home from a planning board meeting in a nearby town, representing a client, there was always a back road, usually gravel, and then I experimented with outfitting my bike ('07 Vstrom 1000) for winter riding, drilling stud pockets, and eventually going to the darkside

even in the snow, night riding sometimes never going above 3rd gear, is relaxing, rain, not so much

[Neil955i]

OK I must've been tempting the rain Gods when I wrote earlier!  Went out this morning and within 2 miles of home the rain started - so much for the weather app's forecast of 10% chance of rain.  On the plus side though it's warm rain this time of year so I just got on with it.

The charity run I'm doing in a week or so https://relayriders.co.uk/ has been absolutely shocking weather-wise.  Torrential rain in the Lake District (NW England) has seen some drowned participants so I just hope it perks up for my outing https://relayriders.co.uk/timetable/?_find_by_leg=237 as I want to stretch the Triumph's legs again.