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Warm in the draft
Last Post 10/18/2013 09:13 AM by jacques anquetil. 8 Replies.
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jmdirt

Posts:775

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10/15/2013 02:47 PM
I had one of those "WOW...DUH!" moments this AM on my moto ride to work. It was about 35 degrees so I was expecting a cool ride. I followed a lumber delivery truck onto the express way and was thinking that it wasn't as cold as I expected it to be at 65 mph. The truck exited and then it was as cold as I expected! I know on those cold January group rides that its a little warmer behind the group but on the moto it was glaringly obvious.
79pmooney

Posts:3189

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10/15/2013 08:35 PM
For years I commuted in the winter with a Zzipper fairing. (A real blessing when my commute was 15 miles south through Seattle's waterfront with the winter storms coming from the south and usually at their max in the early morning. Also saw service for Boston's and Ann Arbor's winters. Very early it got drilled into my brain that I had to dress a full layer less, top and bottom.

Ben
Yo Mike

Posts:338

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10/16/2013 11:06 AM
I think there are different ways of calculating 'wind chill' but 35 deg and ambient wind is a LOT different from 35 deg and 65 MPH wind (on the moto).

Even a (cheap) plexiglas fairing will make a cold ride a lot more tolerable, esp if it shields your hands as well.
longslowdistance

Posts:2886

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10/16/2013 12:03 PM
Of course a motorcycle with a large fairing and windscreen can be just like drafting the tuck, but without the buffeting.
jmdirt

Posts:775

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10/17/2013 02:54 PM
Yes, plastic would block some wind but 95% of the time I want the wind (that's one of the reason I ride instead of drive). My knees get the coldest and a windscreen won't help that anyway.

Aerodynamics is my new game on the way to work. I'm taking mental notes of how the shape of the auto in front of me affects the pocket I have behind them. Some things are obvious, some not as much. Today's main observation was that the small sprinter vans have a nice pocket if I am dead center and a little too close. If I get even a little off center the side air slams me. If I follow at a comfortable/safe distance the top air blasts me. The lumber truck from a few days ago had a wide and very long pocket. It would be interesting to do some calculations to determine if the difference is proportionate to size. Without doing the calculation, I would say that the lumber truck had more pocket per size.
longslowdistance

Posts:2886

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10/17/2013 04:56 PM
FWIW, it's Easy to keep the knees and arms warm with various fairings on just about any moto.
jmdirt

Posts:775

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10/17/2013 05:26 PM
lsd, I know, but I'm not going to set my moto up for 5%. I could also wear windfront longhandles or ski pants.
longslowdistance

Posts:2886

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10/17/2013 11:16 PM
Don't get me wrong: I'm removing my windscreen now, realizing that clean air is the smoothest. (full disclosure:  I have an electric jacket for winter).
If I rode a Goldwing (that's the ultimate uber-plush freeway and pavement cruiser for you non-motorcyclists, think Cadillac limosine with 2 wheels), I'd get all those fairings - in for a penny, in for a pound. But I'm on an adventure/dual sport and national forest gravel roads are beckoning
jacques_anquetil

Posts:245

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10/18/2013 09:13 AM
best drafting experience ever on a bike was going downhill on the Island Highway from Goldstream into Victoria behind a big-ass tanker truck doing a steady 80km/hr for 10k. what a thrill.
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