Hot Weater Riding Gear

[Badbob]

This is posted several places already. Might as well be here too.

http://robertkeeney.com/gallery/d/2500-2/20050524-GZ250-Hot_Weather_Riding_Gear-04.jpg

This is my hot weather riding gear. If anyone is interested I'll add a description.

[Stretch]

I have been using my Suzuki perforated Brazilian leather jacket with the Kevlar pads and back protection in our current California heat wave, and I lose a good couple of pounds of water in an hour-long commute. When I am up to speed (over 35 MPH) I am comfortable, but when stopped for a light my boots start to fill with sweat -- and it is amazing how long lights last when it is hot outside!

Any suggestions might be helpful!
-Bob

[Badbob]

In the photo everything I'm wearing is mesh except the boots. Even the armor has holes in it to let air through. The boots have tongue that lets the air flow through. When I'm stopped in the sun and there is no wind its hot. The black gear can really soak up some heat. Once I start moving I'm fine. Their are companies making riding gear that is lighter colored. Silver and white would likely be cooler.

If you have a choice choose the clothing you wear under your gear with the heat in mind. Cotton is water hungry once it gets wet it doesn't want to give the water up. Notice how much longer it takes to dry you cotton clothing. Jeans just plain suck for hot weather riding. In general you want to wear fabrics that wick the sweat away from your skin and dry fast so they cool you better. You can get microfiber underwear that is designed to do this. It wicks the moisture away from you skin to the out side where it evaporates rapidly. If you look at the photos for the Franklin GA me you'll see me wearing a Hawaiian shirt. The shirt is silk and in spite of the noon sun and the mid 90s temperature its relatively dry. I keep these shirts specifically for riding in hot weather.

Living in Florida I'm alway keeping an eye out for cooler riding gear that doesn't cost a fortune.

When its hot I don't bother with rain gear. Any rain gear that keeps all the water out is going to do a damn good job keeping the heat in and the air out.

[Stretch]

Luckily I have a bunch of silk Hawaiian shirts :tup:

Any companies you recommend for the mesh gear?
-Bob

[Badbob]

The jacket pictured above is by Powertrip. They are Korean company that can't seem to make up their mind about what style of gear they want to make. I really like this jacket but they don't make it anymore. However, they do make mesh jackets in this style. that doesn't have the leather.

The pants are from FirstGear. I've never seen any of their gear I didn't like. This is my second pair of riding pants from them if that tells you anything. They have liners so you can wear them i cooler weather and rain. I highly recommend FirstGear. I have a wish list for them.

I buy all my riding gear from NewEnough.

[Stretch]

I'll take a look at their online offerings-my luck, they'll arrive just when the weather changes. Finally received the 16 tooth sprocket this afternoon, but I am going to hold off on installing it until I get the new tires. I want to see what the bike feels like when it's up to speed with the 15 tooth, a tight chain, and good rubber before I start messing around with it.
-Bob

[jonathan180iq]

Why not just throw it on and ride around for an hour. Then, when you get back in, you can switch back to the original sprocket without any worry. Later, once your other stuff has arrived, you can compare.

[Stretch]

my cautious and basically lazy nature :roll: Since I really don't know how a bike should feel when properly tuned and tightened (yet), I want to remove as many extraneous variables as possible before messing with the standard equipment. That way (IMHO) I learn how Suzuki says it should feel and then decide if I like the official version or the modified one.

I was one of those strange kids that could wait until Christmas before opening (or shaking) the presents. I enjoyed the mystery!
-Bob

[Jaime]

You won't notice a big difference, you could install the sprocket right now and keep it after the tire change. While a good tune up will make things smoother, a 16T sprocket will "only" modify the gear ratios. You can combine both things without interference.

By the way, remember that a bigger sprocket will never make you go faster if you can't reach nearly top rpm in 5th, and that's around 90 mph...

There's a wrong thought about that:
bigger sprocket = less acceleration = more top speed
smaller sprocket = more acceleration = less top speedThere are many more factors involved.

I'm sure that those of you who make a 70 mph top speed could improve it with a small 14T sprocket.

[Stretch]

Right Jaime,

I am with you on that. I know the sprocket will not add any speed to the top end, in fact, it may even cost me some speed. The sprocket will merely increase the smoothness of the ride and the power band of the lower gears. Right now my bike is topping out at around 60 to 65 miles an hour. I need to get that up so that I can safely commute on freeways. So while I do want the smoother and longer lower gears, until I get the top end where I want to be, I don't want to mess with it.

I think it's smarter for me, as a new motorcyclist, to continue working on the major systems of the bike to bring it up to specs first and then make the modifications. I ordered the sprocket because initial reports were that it was so wonderful, but the later reports seem to indicate that in some cases top and performance suffered. I can't afford that at this point.

I hope that makes sense.
-Bob

[jonathan180iq]

If you spend most of your time riding around 40-55MPH, the new gearing is P-E-R-F-E-C-T.

Anything more than that and you are looking at full throttle and maybe 60-65. Mileage is not increased (I'm getting an average of .5MPG better which falls well withing the range of variable mileage). However, the longer gearing will actually make you faster through 4th gear than a standard 15T equipped bike.