I rode 16 miles in mid 20 degree weather this morning & decided my hodge podge of assorted stuff to protect from the cold just isn't good enough.Question is, What do you wear for cold weather protection. How effective is it? How cheap can I get by? Aww, you knew it was gonna get down to $$$.

Living in in the Houston area, it doesn't get as cold for me as it seems to for mornhm, but it drops into the 30s and occasionally 20s.

A windshield helps.  Lowers help.  For clothing, I'll typically wear a normal pair of socks under a pair of wool socks, all jammed into my leather boots with a 17" shaft.  Long johns under jeans under chaps (on occasion I've wrapped my legs in fleece between the jeans and chaps).  Leather jacket zipped up.  Fleece scarf tucked into the jacket and high enough to cover my nose.  Full face helmet.  Tourmaster Cold Tex gloves.  Most of it can be found for fairly low prices if you look around.  It's pretty makeshift, but it works well.

justin_o_guy wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:12:



How much colder below that mid 20s do you intend to keep riding?

I can ride down that low comfortabley without a windshied wearing a Tee Shirt; Sweat Shirt, and Jeans all uder insulated cold weather work coveralls (Like Carhart's but I buy cheaper D1ckies). Couple of pairs of socks and high top leather boots. AGV gauntlet style cycle gloves with thinsulate insulation. Oh... And never without my FF helment.

If I was going to ride a Savage reguarly below 20ºF I'd want a National Cycle fairing style windshield. Not as good as a real fairing, but way better than nothing. JCW carries them.

Another alternative is to search the storage room of local cycle shops for all of the Vetter and Windjammer fairings that they took back off in the last 20 years as they've fallen out of favour. They offer good protection, and since they bolt to the frame, the steering effect of that big sail in the wind isn't as bad as handlebar mounting IMHO.

In fact, I've found a local independant shop that has about 30 of these old fairings in a back room. They said I could have my pick from between $100 and $200. JCW still carries the replacement shield for them if needed. I had one on a Yamaha SR 500 once a long time ago, and that bike was about as fast WITH the big fairing as my Savage is without one. They are heavy though... 40-50 pounds or so I'd guess. When summer rolls around you can always pull the fairing/shield off.

What is the matter with you? Get the hell out of the north! We in the south never see 20 degree weather. Our tax load is a lot lighter, and we can ride comfortably all year.

Well, pay your taxes and slide on the ice. ???

Wow mickthelimey:
You are older than I am. Are we both spending our Social Security Money on our bikes?

Hey, I went to sears today and bought a new set of long johns. Now these are not the old fashoned waffle look l.j.'s, these are the 2 layer kind under the brand name Covington. They were about 26 bucks for the pair. And they actually have tall sizes. i bought the 34-36 waist because my waist is 36 even though I wish it was 34 and the xlt for my monkey size dragging knuckles arms and not only do they fit well and I might add look very sexy ,(i considered riding in just them but all the chicks would have attacked me especially since I was wearing Hi-Karate), but they kept me just as warm as my duo-fold great value for the value concience. my $.02 worth      john