staying warm...

Some advice for the seriously stingy/unprepared.

1. Workshop or service station gloves are actually helpful as a second layer.

2. Plastic bags over hands and feet keep off the rain and exclude the wind. Downside - slippy and makes you look like a tramp.

3. Cut holes for your head and arms in a bin-bag, helps keep draughts and leaks of your torso base layers.

4. Thick ladies tights are warm, fairly cheap and are sold in service stations.

5. If you are caught out by a sudden drop in temperature, newspaper is a cheap and effective insulator. Just keep it dry.

6. Wear a scarf. It really keeps out nagging draughts that get through necktubes.

7. Remember to eat and drink. Fry-ups, burgers and mars bars are all good for internal warming, and regular use provides a layer of internal insulation. Tea is by far the most effective way of warming up. And if you can't afford a cuppa, you're screwed when the petrol runs out.

[ophic]

Originally Posted by carternd

4. Thick ladies tights are warm, fairly cheap and are sold in service stations.

Anyone know where I can find a thick lady?

Originally Posted by ophic

Anyone know where I can find a thick lady?

I'd have thought that was fairly simple !!

Its finding a smart one that I have problems with

*runs*

[dizzyblonde]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

How long do you get before your hands are numb? Without heated grips 150 miles or so is agony for me.

Well I wore the Held gloves on the Hardy Bikers last year and they were as warm as toast, so whatever that run was in miles, and stops fer photos!!

I reckon those heated grips have turned you into a poof
Although it also maybe something to do with you damaging wrists and bone??

Tbh DB, I don't think the HB last year was anywhere near as cold as this year. I don't remember being cold then either lol. And YC's heated grips must be failing, either that or it's so cold the heat dissipates straight away but they grips don't feel that hot at all once we've stopped (I usually run over and try and absorb the remaining hear when we've stopped hehe).

[dizzyblonde]

oh most definately not as cold as this year

Telll him to get some new grips then...stingy git You need em more than him anyway, suprised he hasn't figured out something for you yet.
It has been expecially freezing this year, so maybe like you say they are working right, its just the heat disappears asap!

Hes still a poof for having them though

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

Well I wore the Held gloves on the Hardy Bikers last year and they were as warm as toast, so whatever that run was in miles, and stops fer photos!!

I reckon those heated grips have turned you into a poof
Although it also maybe something to do with you damaging wrists and bone??

Yeah it's where my wrist was broken that hurts.

Also I don't think my 3 year old/30k mile/4 or 5 crashes gloves are as insulating as they were when new

[dizzyblonde]

lol, I very much doubt they are!

If its anything to go by Petes smashed hand felt awful last time he was on a long journey, and it hadn't even got to temperatures we've had of late. Previous broken bones always feel more cold than others.
When Matt still had his dodgy hip he used to dread this time of year as the pain was excrutiating from the cold setting in and staying there. Petes the same with his knee, both of them contained bits of metal in there, and it don't matter how or what said bones/metal are covered with, they don't make the slightest bit of difference

Originally Posted by rictus01

finish off with a fleece over the top, the cheap nylon ones work best as outside layers, try to get one that zips all the way up to a high collar to.

Now I''m no thermal engineer, but I reckon a fleece as the outer layer is pointless!

My mate insists on riding in one over his leather jacket. Surely as it's not windproof it's doing nothing? I ride with a thermal base layer, then a fleece, then old Alpinestars textile coat with lining, and a relatively cheap, but so far water/windproof jacket from Tech 7.

[yorkie_chris]

Have you tried it? It actually works pretty well, takes the teeth off the wind and stops rain hitting you hard enough to work its way in.