Winter Weather Riding Tips?

[burkbuilds]

Originally Posted by bonehead

Instead of buying all this high dollar riding gear, I take the truck that I have invested thousands of dollars in. Simple, if it is cold and rainy=I take the truck to work. No sense in being uncomfortable.

No sense being uncomfortable, but the truck will be over 100 miles away from me, so it's kinda tough to get to it to drive it instead of the bike. Otherwise, I pretty much agree, when the weather was really bad last winter I did drive the truck, but it was in my driveway and available then. The truck will still be in my driveway, I just won't be anywhere near my house to get to it.

[mrlmd1]

Look at this post - I found it accidentally on a Harley forum (geez, I know) but it's pretty comprehensive on cold weather riding.
http://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/show ... hp?t=44225

[Water Warrior 2]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

Look at this post - I found it accidentally on a Harley forum (geez, I know) but it's pretty comprehensive on cold weather riding.
http://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/show ... hp?t=44225

Excellant find. Already owning guantlets with Thinsulate I can say they work well. As for the feet I wear Merino wool socks in actual tall riding boots. Having a wicking insulated liner and being waterproof the boots are all I wear even at high temps. Too cold to think straight ????? Been there done that. Last year I allowed myself to get too cold to remember that I had a rain suit on board that would have cut the biting wind and warmed me up. When I finally did stop to warm up I just dropped the bike for no apparent reason. I certainly was not operating at 100% efficiency that day. You really have to have the right gear or risk the elements doing you in.

[burkbuilds]

Hey Water Warrior, I went on line to where I bought the heated liner and gloves and checked out their electrical requirements. The gloves draw 15 watts each and the liner tops out at 83 watts for a total of 113 watts. That's just under 10 amps at 12 volts. The 4 accessory jacks that come on my vulcan are rated to deliver 10 amps each, so I think I am safe with that load applied. The only other accessory load I have is the heated grips which draw about 5amps.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by burkbuilds

The 4 accessory jacks that come on my vulcan are rated to deliver 10 amps each, so I think I am safe with that load applied.

I think a little clarification is needed. Just because you have 4 jacks and they each have a 10 amp fuse does NOT necessarily mean that the system will support an additional 40 amps of load; far from it, I suspect. I'd think the limit is 20 or less on a bike that size.

Do you have any other information that indicates what the recommended max. additional load IS ??

[burkbuilds]

"Do you have any other information that indicates what the recommended max. additional load IS ??"

No, I've looked in the manual's and on the Vulcan Forum and although several guys have posted things like "I've heard that the maximum output is..." nobody seems to have anything verifiable from Kawasaki or a repair manual so far.
My bet is that you are probably right about only having about 20 amps of additional capacity but that still leaves me in the okay range with what I've added to the bike. I guess I might find out the hard way this Winter or maybe my dealer will have that information and be willing to share it with me.
At least it will roll start on a dead battery if I drain it. (Ask me how I know.)

[Water Warrior 2]

Sounds like your heated gear will be maxing out the available power. Of course that is if the gear is on max settings. The max on the vest will likely cook you in a short time.

[burkbuilds]

That's a good point WW. I doubt that I'll be running this stuff at the maximum output here in Georgia. Probably a lot more likely in your territory I'd guess. I'm hoping that the windshield will knock some of the air off my hands for one thing. Any amount of heat going to my fingertips would be a big plus compared to none and the rest of me was fine even at 18 degrees without any heated equipment. I've also got the option of using some controllers that I bought but haven't installed that use a "pulse" wave of on and off multiple times per second which in theory cuts the electrical consumption in half without actually reducing the heat output of the equipment. We studied a little about this in class last year and it's still beyond my complete understanding but the theory is sound. I guess if I have a problem with overloading the alternator then I'll have to use them. I just couldn't come up with a clean looking way to mount the controllers before I had to head off to school and since the vest has a 4 stage adjustment I just decided to go with that for now. Maybe I need to give the controllers a little more thought though with the points everyone has made about the load on the system.

[burkbuilds]

I decided to try "justanswers.com" and see if one of their motorcycle experts could answer the question about how many available accessory watts there were for the Vulcan 500. The answer, 10 amps for a total of 120 watts available for accessories on the Vulcan.

[alanmcorcoran]

When I was 18 I had some financial and legal difficulties involving auto transportation and essentially lost my ability to own, operate or insure a car. At the time, a drivers license was not required to operate a 49cc moped. (These will do 45 on a flat road, a little more if you tweak them a bit.) I drove a Peugeot (and an American made replacement after it the Peugeot was stolen) for almost three years through some very harsh winters (Ithaca New York, sub zero temps, late seventies.) Having very little money, I rode with no special gear, crappy (sometimes no) gloves, work clothes (crappy cheap suits) and a crappy thrift store Army jacket. I can't say I enjoyed freezing my ass off (those years are probably why I will be a California resident until I croak) but I don't remember any serious accidents. You get a little wind protection on a moped - they're like a scooter in that you stick your feet and knees behind a fairing and you can crouch down a bit to reduce wind chill. It was a bit hairy going up and down hills on snow, but northern cities are pretty aggressive about plowing, sanding and salting so there usually isn't ice except in the middle of a freezing rain storm.

Just mention this because there are often financial/legal reasons, bordering on economic survival, that lead otherwise sane people to ride year round in cold climates.

I've been riding year round in CA too, which sounds like a joke, but I can tell you there are far more bikes out in the summer here than in February.