Y'ever hanker for a dark & rainy ride during a high winds advisory?

[Stig / Major Tom]

Yeah, me too!

Forecast last eve was for steady rains and 20>30 MPH winds with gusts to 40.
It did not disappoint!

Sat under the Tom's Market awning on the Group W bench to get out of the rain and had my coffee from Dinos (Mexican bean today).

Anyway, the 8 yr old LIKE200I and the Michelins performed flawlessly in the wind and rain. Only hit one tree branch in the dark - and got it at a 90 degree angle. Always enjoy the LIKE's quick EFI starts in would could be trying circumstances...
it was bucketing down at times!
The wind gusts kept my visor pretty clear even in the heaviest downpours. Pretty 'sporty' ride, altogether.

My hands, shoes, crotch and cuffs were soaked nicely. (3 applications of ATSKO repellent on my leather gauntlets did nothing to repel the rain - Frogg Togg rain pants are getting tired I think) Nevertheless - I was glad to have had the experience.








another street before heading home....


Stig

[Neil955i]

Stig you hero! Getting caught out in those conditions is one thing, but deliberately settling out on a discretionary trip in them is something else. I salute you.

By the way, no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear!


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[Kansas kymco]

Stig you hero! Getting caught out in those conditions is one thing, but deliberately settling out on a discretionary trip in them is something else. I salute you.

By the way, no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear!


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I agree Neil, not my cup of tea.

[Iahawk]

wow..we've had similar rain and crazy wind, lately. I didn't enjoy driving a car in it yesterday, let alone riding a scooter in it!
You are a true scootering mad man!  In a good way..

[Neil955i]

wow..we've had similar rain and crazy wind, lately.

I recall riding home (a 50-odd mile journey) from work one evening in horizontal rain and 60+mph gusts.  The worse bit was on the M6 (a freeway here in the UK) where you leant left into the wind until overtaking a lorry (truck) when you were upright for a spell, then get ready to lean again as soon as you left the lea of the overtaken lorry! 

Not pleasant and made even worse by the fact that on the run up to the overtake, you were effectively blind because of all the spray.  Happy days, not.  Far prefer it now where all my riding is leisure(ish) and I don't need to use motorways at all.

[Kansas kymco]

I recall riding home (a 50-odd mile journey) from work one eveining in horizontal rain and 60+mph gusts.  The worse bit was on the M6 (a freeway here in the UK) where you leant left into the wind until overtaking a lorry (truck) when you were upright for a spell, then get ready to lean again as soon as you left the lea of the overtaken lorry! 

Not pleasant and made even worse by the fact that on the run up to the overtake, you were effectively blind because of all the spray.  Happy days, not.  Far prefer it now where all my riding is leisure(ish) and I don't need to use motorways at all.

I can relate, when I bought a new BMW in 1998 the ride home was a extremely  strong crosswind for the 60 mile ride home on the interstate  (freeway). I thought to myself what the heck have I done? It was a miserable ride home but not raining.

While the majority of my Scooters would not have a issue with freeway speeds I avoid the freeway like the  plague .

[Stig / Major Tom]

I can relate, when I bought a new BMW in 1998 the ride home was a extremely  strong crosswind for the 60 mile ride home on the interstate  (freeway). I thought to myself what the heck have I done? It was a miserable ride home but not raining.

While the majority of my Scooters would not have a issue with freeway speeds I avoid the freeway like the  plague .

Scariest 'ride' I ever had was when my father in law drove us 60 miles on I-70 to the airport. The man drives FAST everywhere - and he was tailgaiting a semi in the fast lane for a few miserable miles in a pounding rain storm. We could see nothing in the blow-back except the truck's tail lights a few feet in front of us. Nothing. For way too long. I was only just married to his daughter - so I hadn't the nerve to tell him to stop what he was doing.

Then he stopped at the airport "for breakfast" - leaving us just barely enough time to catch our plane.
The whole experience was totally nerve-wracking and unsettling.
If the plane had been hijacked to Cuba - it would just have been frosting on the cake!
I NEVER rode with him again....even if I have to fake 'brain fever' to avoid it.

Stig

[Stig / Major Tom]

Stig you hero! Getting caught out in those conditions is one thing, but deliberately settling out on a discretionary trip in them is something else. I salute you.

By the way, no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear!


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Might not have done it - but, it was Sunday so very light traffic ("0" out in the sticks) - overnight lows were as high as predicted for more than a week ahead, that new  Oxford rain over-jacket is the berries in the wet, and I expected my new water-proofing (Amazon raved about it!) was going to keep my hands dry....plus I have a dry place to enjoy my coffee on the Group W bench.
A n d...I was out and back while the ladies were sleeping in. Only all the stuff hanging to dry gave me away.
Stig

And the big rear lighting gives me confidence that a deer won't hit me from behind.

[Kansas kymco]

I should have stated the BMW was a 650 GS motorcycle.  Crosswinds can be extremely dangerous. Every year we have semi's blown over on I-70 and a few RV'S.  I was coming back from Colorado  on I-70 pulling a very heavy Toy hauler travel trailer behind my truck. I new it was going to be extremely windy with high wind warnings issued. I had to get back home to be at work so I went anyway.  70 mile an hour Crosswinds gusts  scariest drive of my life. I took extra precautions before I left Colorado. I filled the 100 gallon water tank along with the 40 gallon black tank and 40 gallon grey tank along with the 26 gallon fuel tank for ballast.  I beleive this was the only thing that prevented the trailer from being put on it's  side. My nerves were shot by the time I made the 5 hr drive.

[Neil955i]

Might not have done it - but, it was Sunday so very light traffic ("0" out in the sticks) - overnight lows were as high as predicted for more than a week ahead, that new  Oxford rain over-jacket is the berries in the wet, and I expected my new water-proofing (Amazon raved about it!) was going to keep my hands dry....plus I have a dry place to enjoy my coffee on the Group W bench.
A n d...I was out and back while the ladies were sleeping in. Only all the stuff hanging to dry gave me away.
Stig

And the big rear lighting gives me confidence that a deer won't hit me from behind.

Well done.  Reminds me, I have a pair of Italian Baleno overtrousers that are 30 years old and are STILL waterproof!  No longer made, I assume because they only ever sold one pair to every biker in Europe?!

[Kansas kymco]

Stig you should be safe from deer hitting you from behind. You said you ride 30 to 35 mph and a deer can only run about 30 mph, just don't stop to quick if one is tailgating you.

[randyo]

I like riding in extreme weather (snowstorms in the dark), but not wind

[CROSSBOLT]

Stig reminds me of that guy in the 1930's I think that drove a Citroën motorcar a buncha miles every day for 100000 miles as some kind of private endurance test. Rain, shine, hot and cold, snow and wind there was no environmental reason not to make the run. I would bet he did a cuppa coffee at the turn-around point!

[Viper254]

I don't hanker after bad weather riding anymore at all.

When I was delivering pizzas etc (Deliveroo, 2015-2018) I was a bit of a sadist for it; the filthier the evening, the less riders would actually turn up and less people would go out, so the money was always silly on those evenings. Wet and windy evenings always made for the best tips too.

You would only admit defeat if you got to the point where it was no longer possible to get your soaking wet gloves on and off!

The hairiest couple of shifts I did, it must have been the winter of 15/16; I had my (must have only been a month or two old) Suzuki Address 110 and it was snowing hard and gusting hard down near the estuary.

I had Heidenau K66 winter tyres pretty fresh on the bike and that's probably the only reason I was able to stay sunny side up for that evening. I made an absolute killing but it was a very stressful night. Twist and go's are susprisingly good in the snow, especially the ones with narrow tyres. Nice and smooth power delivery as long as you can keep the front end down where it's supposed to be!

I can't deny I do enjoy taking the C70 out when there's been heavy snowfall, but we haven't had that for a couple of years now, and that's just to trudge around the estates and slide about a bit.

[Neil955i]

I can't deny I do enjoy taking the C70 out when there's been heavy snowfall, but we haven't had that for a couple of years now, and that's just to trudge around the estates and slide about a bit.

Good to keep your hand in!