| Author | Message | ||
     Mrd |
I ride my '06 XB9SX rain or shine. I live in Southwest Florida and it rains quite a bit during the summer. Most recently I had to battle through tropical storm Fay.  Not fun considering I have a 44 mile commute to and from work. Boy did I catch quite a few double takes from the cagers. I was interested in hearing some stories about what others have been through. Ride Safe! | ||
| Firebolt32 |
Right there with ya...Live in Lakeland and commute to Tampa everyday. Majority of those days are on the 9r. Hell if we didn't ride the days we think it would rain, we'd never ride. Makes us better riders in the end... | ||
| Moosestang |
You actually rode through the storm? I can see riding in the rain, but rain and 50+mph winds is just asking for trouble. I'm still waiting for all the rain to stop. I can ride in the rain, but I choose not to. | ||
| Mrd |
I respect your decision not to ride in the rain, but to elaborate more on what Firebolt32 said. I believe it does make us better in the end, especially for those of us who live in a part of the country where we know it is going to rain on pretty much a daily basis for a good part of the year; I would rather ride in the rain whenever I get a chance to learn how to handle the situation better each time rather than have it suprise me and I don't know what to do and have to hide under a bridge on I-75 or hunt for a shelter somewhere.} BTW; by the time I had to leave for work the wind was 25 - 30 mph at best. | ||
| Rpm4x4 |
Hell if we didn't ride the days we think it would rain, we'd never ride. When I owned my last bike I would never ride if there was rain in the forcast. I sold it and barely put any miles on it. I wasn't going to buy another bike and do the same. When I decided to buy the Buell I told myself if it wasn't raining when I leave for work I would ride. Somedays the weather forcast will show bad storms but I ride anyway. 99% if the time I will miss whatever storm that was forcasted for my way home. I have only actually been caught in the rain a handfull of times in nearly 7,000miles. (Im not counting the couple sprinkles here and there) I no longer look at the weather. I still do not own rain gear. | ||
| Fastxb12r |
Mrd whats up im in fort myers... | ||
| Mrd |
I'm in Naples. Work in Cape Coral. | ||
| Fastxb12r |
we should hook up for a ride it will be a couple of weeks tops as im painting my bike right now. | ||
| Samcol |
I've rode on 1000 mile trips where it rained more than it didn't. This ain't badweb for nothing  | ||
| Bombardier |
07 XB12R - 24000km in 12 months with 2 of those in the shop for a new swingarm. 45 degrees C to -4 degrees C. 240 km to work day or night, rain or shine. Kangaroo central. My only transport. Its not a job, its an adventure! (apologys to the USMC advertising dudes.) | ||
| Sticks |
My City and my Sporty are the only vehicles I have any more. I live in Seattle close to work but I used to commute 40 some odd both ways. I've been caught out a few times for sure. It was snowing pretty good on the way home once, fun but kinda scary. I remember one trip into work when it was supposed to only be around 20 or so which is very atypical. Anyway, after parking my bike I just about fell on my ass in the parking lot. Little slicker than those Syncs let on. | ||
| Ducbsa |
MRD - what raingear do you use? | ||
| Moosestang |
There's not much to learn about riding in the rain. Ride slower, turn slower, take off slower, don't touch the back brake while turning, period! I've been riding since 93 and that use to be my only transportation. I fell in the rain once due to applying to much rear brake. There's nothing to learn about being blown off the road, that was my point. | ||
| Mrd |
I have a Motoboss 2 piece rain suit (jacket/pants) that I picked up from cycle gear 2 years ago for about $20, a waterproof windbreaker and a inexpensive pair of waterproof boots. | ||
| Chainsaw |
I was interested in hearing some stories about what others have been through. Rode thru a hailstorm last year. Was coming back from a multi-day trip from Colorado to Maine, and I was near the Kansas-Colorado border when the Heaven's opened up. Nary a tree or an overpass to hide under within 100 miles. Figured parking on the shoulder in poor visibility was more dangerous than riding thru it. Tucked into my Sporty as best I could, and covered my left leg/knee with my armored left hand and arm. I was cursing pretty good for about 10 minutes till I passed the storm. Hail makes a heck of a racket on a helmet! I've ridden in snow a few times...mostly caused by inaccurate weather forecasts. Luckily, not enough to stick to the roads at the time. On my way to Alaska in 2005, I got rained on for 3 DAYS STRAIGHT, in British Columbia to Hyder, AK and back. Possibly the most miserable I've ever been on a bike. Everything in my luggage got soaked, and my leather jacket absorbed it's own weight in water. Resorted to using a Hefty Bag as a waterproof jacket liner.  | ||
| Guell |
Ive been through a few severe thunderstorms. Rain where you cant see 20ft in front of you, and 15 miles away a tornado supposedly touched down. | ||
| Lost_in_ohio |
There was an adventure thread here showed a guy with an inch of ice on his uly. He was in utah if my memory serves me. I was impressed and even a tad jealous. I think he was just about out of gas too. A neat ride post. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Ride in the rain like you're driving in the snow. No sudden anything on the controls, nice and gentle, increased following distances...my bikes are my main transportation as well (well, not at the moment LOL) and weather doesn't affect my bike-or-car choice; I'm too dumb to come in out of the rain or cold, LOL. Also, I wear the Buell packable rain suit over my gear. Works great, and packs TINY (pants and jacket both stuff into the jacket hood; I haven't tried because I have the cases, but I think it'll fit under my Uly seat if I needed it to). | ||
| Cityxslicker |
52 days of straight rain. 18 Inches of rain in 12 hours, I rode to work, I rode home from work. Heres your pics.   3 feet of standing water, hitting just below the air duct intake, my feet have never been soo damn wet | ||
| Blk_uly |
mrd I live in cape coral would love to join you and fastxb12r for a ride. I have never sent or recived a pm please since i am a noob after all. please advise. thanx | ||
| Kyrocket |
A group of about 10 of us had to wait out a thunderstorm/tornado under a picnic shelter in northern Kentucky at BIG BONE LICK STATE PARK (I can't make this stuff up). There were trees all over the road on the ride home and we had to take multiple detours because of the debris. One guy dropped his cruiser when he rode over a small stick and it rolled out from under him dropping his bike, no damage though, just his pride. | ||
| Xl1200r |
I've ridden in more severe storms than I'd like to admit. The worst was on my way back from MBV, when it was raining and 30 degrees out. Turns out my waterproof gloves aren't all that waterproof. And the speeding ticket didn't help matters. | ||
| Coops53233 |
Tstorms the entire way back from Deal's Gap to DC during my trip last spring (~500mi or so). Had to be to work on Monday, so no choice but to ride it out. The rain liners on my JRocket suit actually worked pretty well - body-wise, I was damp around my collar and from wrist to elbow (mostly because of seating position on the bike with stock bars). Waterproof boots and gloves would have been nice though, as my feet and hands were thoroughly soaked. It was pretty dangerous at times. I could hardly see two car lenghts in front of my bike, but with the trucks hauling on I-80 through VA throwing spray and clogging things up, you cant even think about slowing down behind one of them on a bike. Doesnt stop some of the cagers though - you'd think it was the first time some of them ever drove in the rain! Ended up hooking up with some other sportbike and later a sportster about halfway through VA so we created a bit of a space-cusion between the three of us. | ||
| Steeldrummerj |
I'm in melbourne, fl. the only reason i didn't ride is the cops wouldn't let me out! Apparently I'm crazy or something... | ||
| Greenlantern |
Rode From Front Royal VA back to Long island in a all day steady downpour. Ok except for the detour through PA Amish country. Those little buggies leave quite the slippery mess!  | ||
| Sub65chris |
rode for about 30 min in a hurricane so i would not get stuck on base. as soon as i got to the house where i was going it was down graded to a tropical storm. I had to ride through about 3 feet of water. teh scoop was halfway under water and the bike still made it! had to change all teh fluids after it quit raining. never again, but it was an interesting experince. | ||
| Macbuell |
I don't have bad rain story but more of a funny one. I went riding up in the north Georgia mountains one sunny afternoon last summer. The forecast was for scattered thunderstorms which is the forecast for every summer afternoon in Georgia. I headed out thinking I might get a little wet, but no big deal. Well, the only way these were scattered thunderstorms was if I was like one of those cartoon characters where the cloud follows you around. I rode for over 4 hours and literally got rained on the entire time. I started out stopping at gas stations and what not to wait it out but everytime I started back on the road the rain started back up again. I finally just said who cares, I was already drenched by then, so I rode the last two hours home in a downpour. By the end of the ride I was just laughing it was so comical. I wasn't wearing rain gear so it took me a couple of days to dry out and my cell phone was destroyed. This was especially problematic because I don't have a home phone. I actually had to use a pay phone a few times before I got a new phone. | ||
| Jlnance |
The day I became a real biker.   | ||
| Greenlantern |
That there is awesome!  | ||
| Jimduncan69 |
Jlnance is my HERO! |
