On cool days when the weather is great and you want to get out and ride your motorcycle instead of reading Motorcycle Info online, make sure your cold weather motorcycle gear is ready to go. It feels way colder on your motorcycle than it does outside on a chilly day because of Wind Chill.
If you don’t have the proper riding gear to fight off the wind chill, you’ll probably not enjoy your ride very much. 45°F seems like a reasonable temperature to go riding on a nice clear day, right? Maybe so, but only if you are dressed for 32°F. Why? Because according to the National Weather Service, 60 mph wind at 45°F equals a wind chill of 32°F. In case you forgot, water freezes at 32°F. But maybe you’re thinking, I’ll only be riding at 45 mph, not 60 mph, so it won’t be so cold. That won’t help much because 45 mph wind at 45°F equals a wind chill of 33°F, or only 1°above freezing. Wearing the right kind of cold weather motorcycle gear is a must!
Denim jeans, and cotton clothes in general, are among the worst choices in terms of protection against the cold. We at Motorcycle Info have put together some cold weather motorcycle gear ideas to help you.
Let’s start at your head and face. If you wear a full-face helmet, then you’ll already have pretty good protection against the cold wind, except for your neck and under your chin. A neck warmer is perfect for this and comes in at number 1 on our cold weather motorcycle gear list. These are also called a neck gaiter or a neck tube. I wear a black fleece one that my wife purchased for me online at a site called etsy.com for less than $10.00. It’s very well made, does not pill, and works extremely well. When you’re off your bike, you can wear it on your head to keep your ears warm too. If you wear an open face helmet on your Harley Davidson motorcycle, or even on an old Harley Davidson scooter, then wearing a Harley Davidson Neck Tube pulled up over your nose and cheeks to just below your glasses will do the trick. These cost a bit more than mine, but are cheap compared to other Harley Davidson clothing. The nice thing about this simple piece of cold weather motorcycle gear is that it is very inexpensive and works great.
If you want more protection for you face and neck, then a balaclava is the answer. A balaclava is a type of sock, almost like a ski mask, that you wear on your head, but it also covers your neck. These are usually long enough to actually tuck in under your jacket far enough to really lock out the cold air. Unlike their racing counterparts, a motorcycle balaclava is not worn to protect from fire, but instead to keep the head, neck, ears and face warm during cold weather riding season.
Balaclavas are available in many different types of materials. River Road makes a nice one that has a great combination of features. On theirs, the part that is on your head is made from stretchable Coolmax, a type of material that keeps keep you dry from perspiration. The neck area is a fleece material that works great to keep you warm while blocking the wind. Theirs also has flat stitching, which should help reduce irritation you can sometimes get near your ears and cheeks from stitching found in a lower quality balaclava.
The type of motorcycle gloves that you choose can make your ride a comfortable one or a miserable one. Go for gauntlet motorcycle gloves that extend up over the ends of the sleeves your jacket to keep the cold air off your wrists. Gauntlet motorcycle gloves should be part of everyone’s cold weather motorcycle gear. It’s wise to get actual motorcycle gloves designed for riding rather than wearing just any type of winter gloves or ski gloves.
Motorcycle gloves usually are not as thick and stiff as regular winter gloves so that you can safely feel the grips and operate the clutch and brake levers. Motorcycle gloves also often have extra protection at the knuckles and are designed to naturally be in sort of closed fist grip. Don’t be surprised to find prices of around $60.00 US and higher for popular brands as I have seen both online and in motorcycle shops.
The variety of motorcycle jackets and motorcycle pants is too lengthy to get into here, but there are a few examples that are well worth considering. If you’re into leather, then you know that it’s great for cool conditions, but not so great on cold mornings that turn into reasonably warm days. Textile motorcycle jackets provide excellent all weather riding comfort and are generally also breathable. Many are water resistant, breathable, have removable liners, and some have adjustable vents that you can open on warm days to get some cooling air flowing through. A good example of a versatile all-weather or cold weather motorcycle jacket is the Kilimanjaro jacket from Firstgear. This could easily be described as the Swiss Army Knife of motorcycle jackets and comes in different colors and all black too. It’s probably not what you would wear if you ride a custom chopper, but for touring, commuting, or rides to the mountains, this has it all. Tourmaster also makes some nice cold weather motorcycle gear, including their Saber motorcycle jackets and pants.
Motorcycle pants for cold weather riding could be either regular motorcycle pants, overpants, or chaps. The overpants are the ones that you can put on right over your regular clothes, even with your boots on, and they zip up almost the entire length f the legs. Good ones will have heavy duty zippers, maybe some Velcro to cover over the zippers to keep out the cold air or rain, and also have a removable insulated liner. Really good ones will also have armor protection, usually at the hips and knees. Some motorcycle pants, including overpants, have zippers at the back along the belt line, that allow you to attach a matching jacket at the back to keep cold air out and to keep you jacket from floating up with the wind. Firstgear has a decent pair of cold weather motorcycle pants called HT overpants. This isn’t an advertisement for Firstgear products, and I am not paid to write this, but I have personally tried both the HT pants and Kilimanjaro jacket and think these are fine examples of what to look for when shopping for cold weather motorcycle riding gear.
Finally, there are all sorts of other cold weather motorcycle accessories out there such as heated motorcycle grips, heated motorcycle gloves, heated motorcycle vests, even heated pants and jackets. I’m sure all those are well worth looking into if you do a lot of winter motorcycling, but for the average rider that just wants to go out for a ride to the mountains, or maybe commutes to work in the cold, then all the heated motorcycle accessories are nice if you want to enhance your cold weather motorcycle gear, but are mainly luxury items.
What kind of cold weather motorcycle gear works best for you? Leave a comment here at Motorcycle Info to let fellow riders know.
