This section talks about the general principles of dealing with extreme weather conditions. It covers hot, cold, and rainy conditions. I also recommend a wide variety of clothing options to help deal with these conditions.
As your budget allows, you may own a variety of motorcycle clothing. For day trips you can take just that perfect piece of clothing for conditions on that particular day. On tour you won't have this luxury. You'll need to carry with you all the gear you'll need for whatever conditions you encounter. If conditions change and what you need is not somewhere on the bike, you're screwed.
When I tour I bring gear for temperatures between 25°F and 110°F and assume that it could be raining continuously (as in 24 hours a day). I do this no matter where I'm going and no matter what the time of year. It may seem silly to bring an electrically heated vest when touring in northern Georgia in July but that's what I do. I seldom have taken a trip where I didn't use every piece of riding clothing that I brought at least once. You can't bring every piece of gear that you own so you need to make sure that the gear you do bring is as flexible as possible.
As I've said elsewhere, I always wear a full face helmet. A full face helmet is warmer when it's cold out and shades more of your face from the sun when it's hot out. Always ride with the face shield down. When people ride with the face shield up it's usually because it's hot out and they want better ventilation (or they're a dork). If ventilation is inadequate it's because of poor helmet design or there's low speed or turbulent air flow around the helmet. Poor air flow is in turn caused by a combination of bike aerodynamics and helmet position.
Riding with the face shield open does not solve the fundamental problem and adds a new one; you're now more vulnerable to hard flying objects. If you have a ventilation problem, you should get a helmet with better ventilation or a bike with better air flow around the helmet. Note that if it's hot enough, you WILL sweat in your helmet. You can't eliminate sweating. If the sweat drips on your glasses or face shield the helmet liner is inadequate or out of position or the helmet is to large. Either fix the liner or get a proper helmet.
Face shield Fogging
The Fog City face shield liner came out a few years ago and it completely eliminates face shield fogging in both cold and humid conditions. The only down side to the Fog City is that you get a little star bursting of point sources of light at night and some faint double images from inside the helmet - I see my nose, it's not pretty but I can still see the road just fine. Some people consider this unacceptable. Come on, get a life! If you can't compromise this little bit why in the hell are you riding a motorcycle?
If your glasses fog the best stuff I've found is Scott's Anti-Fog cloth. Scott makes goggles for skiing (and motocross). I got my cloth in a Ski shop. This cloth is advertised to be OK for coated and plastic lenses. I've used this cloth for several years and have not done any damage to my coated plastic lenses.
Stinky Helmet Syndrome
Helmets can get pretty a nasty aroma after a two week tour in hot weather. If the helmet liner is not removable you can get rid of some of the nasty odors by stuffing the inside with crumpled newspaper when you're not using it. You can also sprinkle the liner with baking soda. The problem with this is that you really need a vacuum cleaner to remove the baking soda before you wear the helmet. If it really stinks it may take several weeks of the newspaper treatment to get rid of the odor so you'll just have to live with the odor until you get home. At home I always have newspaper in the helmet when it's sitting on the shelf.
Wear them. They really help reduce fatigue.
I always wear at least a long sleeved cotton T-shirt under my leather jacket, even when it's really hot. This makes a big difference in comfort, especially when it's hot. You don't want any bare skin touching the jacket or liner. If you do, it will feel real clammy and yucky. The cotton will absorb your perspiration and then allow it to evaporate. You'll still be hot but you'll be more comfortable.
Unlike most leather motorcycle jackets, my jacket has a regular dress shirt type collar and it's not lined with any cloth so the leather touches my neck and gives that same clammy feeling. I solve this problem by wearing a cotton bandana. It works real well and when it gets hot out I can soak it in water to give a bit more cooling. As with all things, there is a down side to wearing a bandana. You can read about The Hazards of Bandanas if you think you're up to it.
For normal riding in normal temperatures I wear leather gauntlet motorcycle gloves.
On tour you're better off wearing leather pants. They can cover the greatest range of temperatures and offer the best crash protection. I wear spandex exercise tights under my leather pants the full size kind that go from waist to your ankles. There is more general information on pants in the "Selecting Riding Gear" section on Riding Pants.
On tour I always wear leather purpose built riding boots. Even though purpose built boots are awful for general walking around I still wear them on tour because they are more comfortable on the bike and they offer superior crash protection. This means that I bring a second pair of shoes for walking. There is more general information on riding boots in the "Selecting Riding Gear" section on Riding Boots.
Besides being comfortable, touring boots need to be waterproof. You can get waterproof boots two ways. Either get boots designed to be waterproof (or can be made so with an appropriate treatment) or bring some sort of waterproof boot covering. Boot coverings can be either waterproof cloth or rubber over-boots like Totes™.
There is nothing special about motorcycle rain gear for touring other than it be comfortable. I prefer two piece
suits.
Remember, you'll be wearing your helmet most of your waking hours while on tour so it better be comfortable. That means proper fit!
I always wear a full face helmet. A full face helmet is warmer when it's cold out and shades more of your face from the sun when it's hot out. Always ride with the face shield down. When people ride with the face shield up it's usually because it's hot out and they want better ventilation (or they're a dork). If ventilation is inadequate it's because of poor helmet design or there's low speed or turbulent air flow around the helmet. Poor air flow is in turn caused by a combination of bike aerodynamics and helmet position.
Riding with the face shield open does not solve the fundamental problem and adds a new one; you're now more vulnerable to hard flying objects. If you have a ventilation problem, you should get a helmet with better ventilation or a bike with better air flow around the helmet. Note that if it's hot enough, you WILL sweat in your helmet. You can't eliminate sweating. If the sweat drips on your glasses or face shield the helmet liner is inadequate or out of position or the helmet is to large. Either fix the liner or get a proper helmet.
Face shield Fogging
The Fog City face shield liner came out a few years ago and it completely eliminates face shield fogging in both cold and humid conditions. The only down side to the Fog City is that you get a little star bursting of point sources of light at night and some faint double images from inside the helmet - I see my nose, it's not pretty but I can still see the road just fine. Some people consider this unacceptable. Come on, get a life! If you can't compromise this little bit why in the hell are you riding a motorcycle?
If your glasses fog the best stuff I've found is Scott's Anti-Fog cloth. Scott makes goggles for skiing (and motocross). I got my cloth in a Ski shop. This cloth is advertised to be OK for coated and plastic lenses. I've used this cloth for several years and have not done any damage to my coated plastic lenses.
Stinky Helmet Syndrome
Helmets can get pretty a nasty aroma after a two week tour in hot weather. If the helmet liner is not removable you can get rid of some of the nasty odors by stuffing the inside with crumpled newspaper when you're not using it. You can also sprinkle the liner with baking soda. The problem with this is that you really need a vacuum cleaner to remove the baking soda before you wear the helmet. If it really stinks it may take several weeks of the newspaper treatment to get rid of the odor so you'll just have to live with the odor until you get home. At home I always have newspaper in the helmet when it's sitting on the shelf.
Wear them. They really help reduce fatigue.
I always wear at least a long sleeved cotton T-shirt under my leather jacket, even when it's really hot. This makes a big difference in comfort, especially when it's hot. You don't want any bare skin touching the jacket or liner. If you do, it will feel real clammy and yucky. The cotton will absorb your perspiration and then allow it to evaporate. You'll still be hot but you'll be more comfortable.
Unlike most leather motorcycle jackets, my jacket has a regular dress shirt type collar and it's not lined with any cloth so the leather touches my neck and gives that same clammy feeling. I solve this problem by wearing a cotton bandana. It works real well and when it gets hot out I can soak it in water to give a bit more cooling. As with all things, there is a down side to wearing a bandana. You can read about The Hazards of Bandanas if you think you're up to it.
For normal riding in normal temperatures I wear leather gauntlet motorcycle gloves.
On tour you're better off wearing leather pants. They can cover the greatest range of temperatures and offer the best crash protection. I wear spandex exercise tights under my leather pants the full size kind that go from waist to your ankles. There is more general information on pants in the "Selecting Riding Gear" section on Riding Pants.
On tour I always wear leather purpose built riding boots. Even though purpose built boots are awful for general walking around I still wear them on tour because they are more comfortable on the bike and they offer superior crash protection. This means that I bring a second pair of shoes for walking. There is more general information on riding boots in the "Selecting Riding Gear" section on Riding Boots.
Besides being comfortable, touring boots need to be waterproof. You can get waterproof boots two ways. Either get boots designed to be waterproof (or can be made so with an appropriate treatment) or bring some sort of waterproof boot covering. Boot coverings can be either waterproof cloth or rubber over-boots like Totes™.
There is nothing special about motorcycle rain gear for touring other than it be comfortable. I prefer two piece
suits.
The most important thing to remember in hot weather riding is to STAY HYDRATED. This means that you need to drink lots of water - not coffee, not Coke - water. Gatorade or the other sports drinks are ok but I think that they have too much sugar. I prefer plain water. I've been told by people who know a lot more about physiology than I do that orange juice is also a very good drink for restoring water and a reasonable balance of minerals. I don't know that this is true but it seems reasonable.
Your body removes excess heat by sweating. This seems obvious but I can't believe how many people forget it. If you don't want to sweat stay away from motorcycles and get an air-conditioned car. The evaporation of your sweat removes heat from your body and keeps it from overheating. In order to sweat and cool your body you must have enough water in your system to sweat and that sweat must be able to evaporate enough to have a cooling effect. It is not possible to not sweat if it's hot. Actually, there is one condition where you'll not sweat if it's hot out, that's if you've got heat stroke.
If it's really hot out and you stop sweating STOP NOW. You've overheated and if you don't cool down real soon you will die. Don't ever allow things to get so bad that you get heat exhaustion. It's very difficult to effectively treat heat exhaustion on the road so if you get it you're in deep do-do. The best thing is to prevent it from occurring in the first place. If you keep hydrated and air moving over your body you can take some pretty extreme temperatures but don't push it. If you think that it's just too hot, stop at the next air conditioned motel.
My rule of thumb for adequate hydration is urinating at least twice a day. If you don't have to stop and relieve yourself once in the morning and once in the afternoon (at a minimum) you're not drinking enough water. In addition, the clearer your urine, the better. If your urine is a dark color, drink more water.
So, what can you do to mitigate the effects of high temperatures? Here are a few hints. Open all the vents on your helmet to get as much air moving through it as possible. This is where the more expensive helmets help because their ventilation tends to work better. The extra air flow will dry out your lips so wear some sort of lip balm otherwise On tour you your lips will dry out and start cracking and bleeding. You're miserable enough just being hot, you don't need chapped lips too. If you have a tall windshield that significantly reduces the air flow to your helmet the best helmet ventilation system in the world is useless. Cut down the windshield so that you have adequate air flow.
Keep as much of your body covered as possible. In hot weather I see a lot of riders with T-shirts and their leather jacket strapped to the passenger seat. Skin directly exposed to the sun evaporates water MUCH faster than skin which is covered plus you now are exposing your skin to all that UV light. This will tire you more quickly than if your skin is covered. Why do you think that the Bedouins wear those long flowing robes? Furthermore, you're not any less likely to have a crash just because it's hot out and if you crash with a T-shirt and shorts you're in for SERIOUS road rash. The physiology of road rash behaves much like a burn. If you get it over enough of the surface of your body you won't need to worry about the scars because it will kill you.
Wear a long sleeved cotton T-shirt under your jacket. Wear a bandana around your neck. Some people get a sheet of that synthetic chamois (at any auto parts store) and cut then fold it so that it's about ten inches long, and inch wide and about four or five layers thick. You then soak the chamois in water and then wrap your bandana (also soaked in water) around it so that you can use the bandana to tie the whole assembly in place around your neck. The water in the chamois will slowly evaporate cooling your neck. Depending on the temperature and dew point it can work for up to an hour.
Just before you leave from a gas stop, completely soak your long sleeve T-shirt in water. Then, immediately put on your leather jacket and zip up the front vents. Leave the jacket's rear vents open. The water will slowly evaporate through the neck opening and cool you. If you open the front vents the water will evaporate faster and cool you better but the shirt will dry faster and the effect won't last as long. Experiment with the optimal vent opening. After the T-shirt dries, open all the jacket vents all the way. Repeat at the next stop.
If you have gauntlet style gloves, put on the gloves first then put on the jacket. Do not zip the closures at the end of the sleeve of the jacket. Since the gauntlet is not covering the sleeve opening you will get some an additional air flow up your arms. It will somewhat compromise the safety function of the jacket but IMO it's a relatively small compromise. You could wear shorter gloves but if you crash your wrists are more vulnerable to scraping.
Wear ankle length spandex tights under your pants. Do this even if your wearing jeans instead of leather pants. The tights are much more comfortable. There's not much in this world that's more miserable than the sweat soaked seams of pair of jockey shorts digging into a sweat induced rash on your skin at the end of a 500 mi. (800 km) day.
Carry water with you and rig up a way to drink it while you're moving. Some people put the bottle in their tank bag and hook up a rubber tube to act as a straw. Another possibility is to buy a Camel Back drinking system. The Camel Back is a water bag inside a small back pack with a tube running out the bottom (pressure feed) and a cool "bite to open" valve on the end so the water doesn't run out. These are real popular with mountain bikers and are available in most bike shops that cater to the "crash and burn in the dirt while wearing neon colored spandex" set. I tried the Camel Back but didn't like it. I didn't like the weight on my back and its weight made me sweat a lot more where it was located on my back. Plus, I don't like wearing hard things on my body. If you crash while wearing them you're likely to be more seriously injured. If you're wearing something on your back and you land on your back you'll likely hyper extend your spine, never a good thing to do.
Stop more often for breaks. Normally I stop about every 150 mi. (240 km) because that's about when go on reserve but when it's really hot I shorten that to 100 mi. (160 km). When I stop I get gas (even though I don't really need it) then get some water and sit in the shade for a while.
If you do any touring in the summer months you'll encounter hot weather. I define hot weather as any temperature where you need to worry about dehydration and heat exhaustion. This can happen at any temperature above 85°F (29°C) although it usually you don't have to worry about unless it's in the 90's or higher (above 32°C). Don't forget to consider Dew point. Eighty five degrees (29°C) with a 60°F (16°C) dew point is still pretty comfortable but raise the dew point to 75°F (24°C) and it gets pretty uncomfortable.
When it's really hot out some people like to wear warm weather gloves. I've not yet seen any warm weather gloves that I think provide adequate crash protection so I don't wear them.
When it's cold I wear my Widder electric gloves with silk glove liners.
If you haven't already read it, read the section on general cold weather riding.
This section covers general information for cold weather riding. For specific recommendations on what to use on tour see Cold Weather Riding Gear for Touring.
Living in Minnesota I have more than a passing familiarity with the cold and can deal with it just fine. For motorcycle riding, the cold isn't really the limiting factor - it's the lousy traction conditions when you get snow and ice are on the roads. If temperature were the only limiting factor no one would be riding snowmobiles in the winter. Even so, there are limits and I don't ride if the temperatures drop too much below freezing even if the roads are clear of ice. OTOH, there is a select group of nut cases here who think that screwing about 400 sheet metal screws into their tires (dirt knobies) and then racing their motorcycles on a frozen lake is just the thing to pass the time in the depths of winter.
I ride until October or November depending upon road conditions. I resume riding in early April after the spring rains wash off most of the road salt left over from winter deicing. I wait for the salt to be gone because it's highly corrosive and motorcycles, unlike cars, have zero corrosion protection. You can ride in a salty environment if you like but give your bike a good wash after each ride and make sure you remove all the salt from the various nooks and crannies.
What temperature constitutes cold varies among individuals and depends on the amount of wind protection you have on your bike. I define cold as when I have to do more than wear a long sleeved T-shirt under my leather jacket with the liner installed. On an unprotected bike (i.e. no windshield) this happens for me at about 60°F (16°C). Below this temperature I have to do something to keep warm.
Heat will always flow from an area of high temperature to and area of lower temperature. The rate of flow is proportional to the difference in temperature and the thermal conductivity of the materials between the temperature differential. For motorcycling there is an additional effect. You've probably heard of wind-chill factor. Wind-chill is the cooling effect of moving air and it is significant. The faster the air is moving the faster it will cool.
Given the principles, what can you do to stay warm. Keep as much wind as possible off your body as you can. Install a windshield if your bike allows. The more you are protected from the wind the less cooling effect it will have and therefore the warmer you'll be, all other things being equal. If you've been paying attention you've noticed that this is the exact opposite of what I said you should do in hot weather. Hey, it's not my fault, it's just the way it is. Motorcycling is like the rest of life - it's a big optimization problem and in most optimizations anything you do to make one characteristic better makes all other characteristics worse. The best you can hope for is to minimize the bad stuff and maximize the good stuff. It will never be perfect!
Another principle here is that the key to keeping your body warm is to keep your torso warm. If your torso gets too cool it will start restricting blood flow to your extremities (hands and feet) and they will start to get even colder. Therefore, as strange as it sounds, the most important thing you can do to keep your hands and feet warm is to keep your torso warm.
After you've stopped as much wind as you can from passing over your body, the next thing you need to do is wind-proof your body. In general, the outside layer of whatever you're wearing must be covered with a material that will stop the wind. Stopping the wind also means sealing all the openings in whatever is covering your body.
The most important opening to seal the neck opening of your jacket. A relatively large amount of air can flow into the neck opening and cool your torso quickly. Next, cover your neck. Your jugular veins are very close to the surface and have a large flow of blood. Cold air flowing past your neck will quickly cool the blood in the jugulars which will then cool your torso. An Aerostich Wind Triangle works well for this. It does two things at once. It will seal the neck opening of the jacket and cover your neck. The Wind triangle is a triangular piece of gortex lined nylon (stop the wind) backed by polar fleece (insulator). A scarf will work but not as well because it doesn't stop the wind very well.
The next opening to consider is the end of the sleeves of your jacket. If you don't wear gauntlet gloves, get some. If the gauntlet is cinched tight it will effectively seal the sleeve opening. Next is the waist opening of your jacket. If the jacket has a waist belt tighten it up. If there is no belt and it still leaks air (usually up the back) add clothing underneath. The bulk will usually seal the opening as long as the jacket isn't too big. Next, seal the opening at the bottom of your pants. The easiest way to do this is to tuck the pants inside the top of your boots. This is another reason to wear purpose-built motorcycle boots. They usually have enough adjustability and are tall enough that you can tuck your pants into the top. Of course, this is only effective if your pants are wind-proof.
If all openings in your clothing are sealed and you're still cold, you need to start adding some sort of an insulating material. Good insulators are any material that traps dead air and inhibits the flow of heat. The old principle of layering works well here because layers of material will trap dead air between the layers. Cotton is a decent insulator as long as it's dry - wet cotton has zero insulating ability. Wool is the best natural fiber insulator and it retains most of it's ability to insulate when it's wet. Down is probably the best natural insulating material but is so bulky that it's not practical to use on a motorcycle unless you can wear it over your abrasion protection (leather jacket) and under the wind proof layer. Also, down has zero insulating value when wet. Synthetic materials like Polar Fleece ™ Fiber Fill ™ and Thinsulate ™ work well and are less bulky.
I wouldn't even consider not wearing gloves - they just give too much protection from small rocks, June Bugs (not that different from a rock in effect), and the like. Over the years I've tried just about every kind of glove there is and none seem to be perfect. Right now I wear Z-Custom Deer Traks. They are the most comfortable and sturdy gloves I've ever had. They have external seams which are much more comfortable when you are wearing them all day. The deer skin seems to breath better and is much softer than cow leather. The Deer Traks are also a gauntlet style glove. Gauntlet gloves give much better coverage than a regular style glove.
I really dislike gloves with studs on the palm. I know that the Ricky-racer types think they're cool but I don't like the way they feel on the controls, they feel too stiff. From what I've seen the studs don't protect any better than a properly attached extra layer of leather in the palm.
When it's really hot out some people like to wear warm weather gloves. I have a pair of O'Neal gloves that are pretty nice. They have leather palms and a slab of leather over the knuckles. I'm not really confident wearing these gloves because I'm not all that sure how well they'd fare in a crash - not too well I suspect. I don't wear them unless it's really hot out (like over 95° F).
I won't ever wear those wimpy fingerless gloves with the paper thin leather. Those would shred in about 0.5 seconds if they hit the pavement at speed, stupid. Those are a complete waste of money.
I only buy white or natural color gloves. The dye used in leather gloves is somewhat water soluble and if they get wet (like in the rain) the black (or green or blue or red or whatever) dye will dye your hands and it will not wash off. It takes about a week or two for it to wear off. White gloves do not have this problem. I've heard of ways to remove the dye so that gloves won't bleed but I can't remember the details. It just seems easier to get gloves that don't bleed in the first place.
Rain - the bane of motorcyclists everywhere.