How cold can you ride in?

I rode to work once at 9 degrees .
Just did it on a whim to see how bad it would be.
At about 5 miles it got very painful.
I ride year round here in Pa. Never put the bike away
If its in the 40s and roads are clear I'll go ride . Might not go as far but i get my riding fix.

I've ridden to work in the low 20s (F) before. I wasn't comfortable though. I dont have heated gear and my hands were freezing.... I held them down by the engine to warm up at stops.

There have been two times when I noticed it snowing at work, so I hopped on the bike and rode home before it got bad.

I spent some time in freezing rain once. I was really glad I had heated grips, but not nearly as glad as I was to get to the hotel.

14 degrees F was my record, but I'll never do that again.

Heated gear had to be set too high to fend off the cold, and I paid with some minor second degree burns on the top of one foot where the heated sock burned me (Through my liner sock). I had it hooked to the same controller as my jacket.

Apparently I needed much more heat on my upper body than I did on my feet.

I'll ride all the time in the 20's though; Its absolutely amazing what a difference 9 or 10 degrees makes.

I don't like using my headed grips because I've found that I grip the bars too hard which in the past has given me bouts of Angry Carpal Tunnel. So I use either my Gerbings gloves or Powerlet liners.

32.001

ah, if I only had the cash for electric gear. I haven't had a car in 9 years. The coldest I've been out is the -20 a couple years ago in Chicago. I bundle up, a Sportsmans Guide ice suit, and a big Russian overcoat. Lots of wool inside and out. The neoprene knees on the suit are great for breaking wind.
chriso

I dont use heated gear either .Ive just got a thing against wires and gagets.
I wear an olympia suit with sweats underneath and if its too cold for that I dont need to be out there.

My temperature threshold has always pretty much matched my age. In my 'teens, there was virtually no such thing as "too cold" ...

... and now I do not even think about actually going out on the bike when the temp is below 60!

4 Degrees F was about the coldest I've been in, 25 miles or so. The problem was trying to kick start the ole DR350S ! After about half an hour and 40 kicks (this was after 10 minutes trying to get my key into the ignition and turn it on, finally used a lighter) I had a nice layer of sweat built up and that seemed to fog my old Shoei helmet horribly, which instantly turned to ice. My cold weather gear was flannel lined jeans, sweatshirt, leather jacket all under a hunters camo 0 degree one piece field suit with matching Red Head gloves and a balaclava. Smart wool socks in the boots. I ride year round and this inexpensive setup has always kept me comfortable.

The coldest I've ever been was taking a early morning trip to El Centro from San Diego back in the 80's.
The leather gloves, jacket and jeans setup was just not up to the task. By the time I got to where I was going I could barely move. Seemed like the bone-chill I had lasted for days.

Not sure why it matters to anyone, but for 20+ yrs. I've been riding regularly down to ~25F (seldom gets colder here) without any electrics. My "record" low without electrics is (to the extent one can know these things) 62 miles @ 8F. This isn't because I think I'm tough; it's largely because my bikes haven't had much spare electrical output, and because I don't like to mess with electrical systems very much. However, at age 50 I've finally bought a pair of Powerlet glove liners, so we'll see that that works this winter.

15 degrees F is my absolute lowest temp.

V-Strom, handguards, Gerbing jacket liner, heated grips, balaclava, wool socks, thermals, Snowmobile gloves. I want Gerbing G3 gloves (next year?) and heated socks. Nothing like a warm neck and hands. But the tops of hands freeze even with grip heaters, thus my wish for Gerbing gloves.

Actually very comfy at 25 degrees for short distances. In fact at 25 degrees I'm no colder than when skiing (up here). Then straight into my hot tub (101 degrees).

I draw the line at 35 degrees. Riding in the cold is no fun, and black ice adds additional risk.

The question really depends on your equipment and gear.

I rode a 1050 Tiger over 850 mile in about 16 hours from Louisville, Ky to Dallas last winter, and the high temp until I got within an hour of dallas was 34*, and the low was 15*. I had good boots with two pairs of good socks, long underwear, jeans, and my FirstGear HT Air overpants, with the liners in. Longsleeve wicking fabric shirt, longsleeve sweatshirt, and my FirstGear Kilamanjaro coat with the liner. A fleece neck gator, and gloves. The heated grips kept my hands fine, but my feet got alittle cold after about 2 hours on the Slab, so I just stopped and warmed up in a coffee house, and then headed on. My moving average speed was over 68 for the trip. Frankly, I didn't notice any difference between 15 and 30, it's friggin cold, but it can be done relatively easily.

-20ºC

Seems to me the how long is determined by how far at what speed for what length of time.

Speed adds wind chill that lowers body temps faster, that results in the hypothermia we all know occurs.

I was at 80 at 36-38 on a long trip at nite, electric vest and handles. The temp was dropping; at 30, I was at 60-70; at 26 I was at 50: my hands were trembling and I was getting less than alert.

I pulled into a motel, took a bath to get my body temp up.

BTW, I hate to ride at 32 or less, because of road "crackle". Ice formation from precip. or dew.

Smart move getting off the road

its hard to recognize the symptoms when your the one affected, just like being drunk, slowed reactions, distorted cognative function

I've ridden down to -15°f (-25°f if yer just talkin around the block) and learned how to keep warm, as it gets colder, no matter how good heated gear you got, you have to slow down, or your helmet will become an ice cube, an heat escapes, if you close the ventilation everything fogs & frosts, you have to vent off your humid breath, every time coling your brain, a snowmobile helmet /visor helps tremendusly, antifog stuff that works at 30° doesn't always work after a hour exposure to -75 or colder windchills I keep my feet warm with Sorels, never had a problem at any temp, you may have to modify your shifter

my goal this winter is to complete a Sub Freezing Saddlesore 1000, I know I wont be able to maintain a 16 hour pace, my plan would be to take an hour break in the middle shoot for 21-22 hours, would be nice if I could get a turn around point to not only get a good sit down meal, but a place for my bike to stay warm for an hour as well, I don't wanna have to get back on a cold mike in the middle of the ride, off 5 minutes for gas isn't a problem but an hour is (maybe I need a heated seat, add that to my Russell Day Long option wishlist)

Live/Ride in NYC. I'm really not tough but unless its snowing, sleeting or possible black ice then I ride. Its a combination of having the desire to ride - which, to me, is a far better alternative to the subway or a cab for many reasons - and the right gear. Its not the temp - per se - its the temp plus your speed - essentially you are creating your own wind chill - that is the factor. So... if you have the right combo of wind blocking and thermal I think you can ride in very low ambient temps and still be ok.

It's a challenging ride you're going to do. The halfway stop is a good idea, you need at least an hour. I had a sport fairing, hopefully you don't.

Good luck (don't forget to shut off your electrics when you stop... don't ask me how I know... )

Winter seems to be rearing it's ugly head here early this year in the NE. Snow in the forecast in upstate NY and parts of eastern PA are supposed to get 4-6 inches this weekend. I whimped out and drove the car the last two days because of cold rain in the morning. Maybe I'm not as badass as I think I am. I'm chalking it up to just not being winterized yet. I have a bad feeling about this winters weather...
Gloves are key, I think I have that covered...

Feel like a sissy compared to some of these posts, but here goes:

No fairing, small windshield, handguards, heated grips, thermal liner, textile jacket, and textile overpants for an 18 mile commute is comfy and safe down to low/mid 40s without heated jacket and gloves. Found that the same set up is only good down to mid-50s on all-day road trips.

For the commute, if it’s going to be 40 or lower, I plug in the heated jacket liner and gloves. Even with handguards and heated grips, my fingers got painful numb much below 40, so heated gloves have been a life-saver. Low 30s adds the Klim balaclava and heated gear gets cranked to stun. Mid to low 20s adds a fleece liner between work jeans and textile overpants.

I only did mid teens maybe six times last winter on the 18-mile commute and had issues with visor fogging. Tried not to breathe, but that didn’t work out so good. Will probably try the pinlock visor deal this winter.

Even though I can’t stand fiddly electronic stuff (no ipod, gps, bike-to-bike comm, etc), heated gear is definitely worth the hassle. It adds lots of riding days to the winter, as long as the roads are clear (or mostly clear).

It’s just a hoot riding in the cold – it makes you feel ALIVE!