| Author | Message | ||
     Dr_greg |
A buddy and I are leaving in a couple days for a two-week trip from New Mexico to Orlando, FL. We'll be going through lots of states with, uh, much more severe weather than New Mexico (which doesn't have any weather except wind). I've got good riding gear, but I wonder about any particular advice for dealing with, say, the odd hurricane? More likely, severe thunderstorms and the odd tornado. Thanks for any tips! | ||
| Jeffs900s |
Dr_greg, Are you familiar with the Adventure Rider website? Not to steer anyone away from BadWeb, but advrider.com might be a good place to ask this question. Good luck! | ||
| Court |
Adventure Rider would be THE place to ask such a question. That is a serious bunch of Uly, and other Adventure bike, riders! | ||
| Dr_greg |
Yes, I'm a member of the ADVrider forum. I'll post there. Thanks. | ||
| Chrisb |
I think I'd be shopping for a Gore-Tex or similar material rain suit or Jacket and pants. newEnough.com is a good place to start looking. | ||
| Gowindward |
The best plan is to avoid any severe weather fronts going across the southern plains. Watch the Weather Channel each morning and plan the day accordingly by changing your schedule or rerouting to avoid the worst of the weather. Rain is a cake walk. A severe thunderstorm is something to avoid or be inside for shelter. On your way east it shouldn't be to hard to stay ahead of bad weather or sit tight and let it pass. On the way home west is another story. You will be running into the fronts most likely and will not be able to out run them. Most thunderstorms move pretty quick, at least the severe portion of the storm, so if you have to wait one out it's not going to be more than a few hours (if not minutes) and then there will be rain on the trailing side of the front. Oh ya, trust your skin and nose. Your skin will feel the temperature changes from a front and your nose will smell the rain coming. | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Here's tip the Frogg Toggs guy gave me. Carry a couple of plastic grocery bags. When it comes time to slip on your rain pants, put the grocery bag over your boot. It helps your boot slide through the pant leg much easier, and has the added benefit of lessening the amount of grime you get inside the pants leg. | ||
| Mikej |
I carry a portable marine/backpacker weather radio on longer trips. Just turn in on at gas/food stops and find the local frequency. Has helped me avoid tornado sightings in SE Wyoming and several severe thunder/lightening storms in SouthDakota and Montana. Eating in truckstop restaurants and listening to truck drivers will also give a good pre-warning. | ||
| Blake |
Greg, I've ridden across the country on a number of occasions and many times into Arkansas and the Texas Hill country, often in rain. One trip from NJ to NY then PA and down the Blue Ridge Parkway had me in rain every single day. One adventure to the Ozarks of Arkansas has me bailing out my tent in the middle of the night and toasting my unmentionables on a stick over the fire to dry them out. The best gear is for sure good quality Gore Tex lined including boots, but Gore Tex socks will work well too. I like the Alpine Stars GPX Gore Tex boots, but they may be more sport oriented than you are looking for. Gore Tex gloves or liners are a must too, or at least an extra set of gloves/liners. When looking for a jacket be sure the collar will zip up and tuck comfortably inside your helmet so that water dripping from your helmet doesn't make its way inside your jacket. The collar should also have some kind of velcro closure to really snug it up in that respect. And the collar's lining must be nice and soft, a nice soft fleece or velvety courderoy work well. If you cannot turn your head from side to side without chafing your neck, you don't want the jacket. I like pants with exterior waterproof pockets to stow my wallet and ear plugs. It is important that your pants zip to the jacket. Not only is this more comfortable, but it helps keep rain out too. The fleece lined velcro closure neck warmers are great for cold protection. The NOJ quiet rider helmet inserts not only significantly quiet wind noise; they also keep the wind out of your helmet, great for cold temperatures and surprisingly effective in hot weather too. I hope you take lots of pics and tell us all about your adventure when you return. You are making me dream of heading out on another myself. I really enjoy biking/camping adventures. As for gear, get yourself some of those hydroseal water-proof stuff sacks. Put everything in them then put them in the saddle bags or other luggage. The Ventura pack is first rate. The big gallon+ size zip-lock freezer bags are invaluable, especially for protecting electonic stuff like camera and cell phone and such. Take a small container of faceshield cleaner/polish. A faceshield plastered full of bugs and/or dirt take some of the enjoyment out of a ride. A pack of foam earplugs! Yes, earplugs do help keep you warm.  Seriously. They really do. They also make the ride so much more enjoyable at speed on the highway. Fun stuff! Blake PS: Please forgive my horrendous spelling. | ||
| Whodom |
The #1 point to remember when riding a motorcycle in a thunderstorm is that a motorcycle provides NO protection against lightning (unlike a car). Rain I can handle (Frogg Toggs rule!) but lightning is nothing to fool around with. | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Bring an extra pair of gloves, waterproof if possible. You alternate as one pair dries. It is also handy to have a glove with the chamois or squeegee on the back of the thumb, this is great for clearing the faceshield and won't be so hard on it. I'll second the hydroseal or generic kayak-type bags that Blake mentioned. Anything that must absolutely stay dry goes into one of those. | ||
| Roadrailer |
Severe weather? Get off the damn road. A cheap weather radio should get you weather reports when you can't get to a TV. If we're just talking rain, start with good quality waterproof riding gear. For some extra protection, a separate rain suit or a set of Frog Toggs will help. I've got a $20 PVC rain suit from the outdoor shop that actually works quite well. Generally, I'll rely on the gear's waterproofness (is that a word?) if I get caught in a shower, but will don the rain suit if I know I'm heading into the wet stuff(keeps you from having to put on waterlogged gear the next day). I like the idea of an extra set of gloves. For keeping your stuff dry, nothing beats hard luggage. The Uly's luggage kept my gear totally dry during 100 miles of gully-washing downpour last weekend. Although I did keep the clothes in dry bags, just in case. | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Roadrailer said: Generally, I'll rely on the gear's waterproofness (is that a word?) I believe the word you were searching for is "Waterproofity", as in "My gear has a high degree of waterproofity." This is more common than the seldom used and more flowery "Waterproofery" often considered less proper and is falling out of usage in the United States. | ||
| Fastfxrs |
I love not having to stop to put on rain gear. I've been riding to work in the fog and pouring rain all week. I stay perfectly dry in my Darian pants from aerostich and my FXRG nylon jacket from H-D. I dress pretty much the same no matter what the weather. The uly bags are nice when it gets too hot and I gotta lose some layers. Tim | ||
| Maximum |
I am seriously considering getting a Garmin 376C and paying the $20/month for NEXRAD color radar and forecasts. Not only would you know what weather is coming, but more importantly you will have a pretty cool gadget!  | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Does the the Garmin possess waterproofity? Would be a cool gadget. | ||
| Biker_bob |
Yes it is completely waterproof and can be read in the brightest sunshine. | ||
| 2old2bfast |
I had read that the weather/radar overlay was about $50 per month... Can you offer your source so some others might get hooked up as well? Just wondering... | ||
| Maximum |
Looks like subscriptions are actually $29.99 per month. They offer weather services for ground, air and sea. The air and sea packages offer both a $29 level and a $49 level. Either $29 package would do the job for riders, with NEXRAD and city forecasts being my main interest, but they have slightly different extra services to make it more useful for someone boating or flying. Here are the marine plans: http://www.xmradio.com/weather/ma_service_pricing.html And here are the aviation plans: http://www.xmradio.com/weather/av_service_pricing.html The ground plan is $100 per month and seems to offer almost everything on the aviation and marine plans. It would be nice to see a $20 plan with only the radar weather and basic city current and forecast information. |
