It's Too Loud

Somebody turn the silence down on the form, man......it's too loud!

Are we having fun yet?

I can hardly contain myself.

With the slimey roads, I've been sidecarring and Cub Ninetying. Haven't Swung in two or three weeks.

Loosemarbles wrote:

Somebody turn the silence down on the form, man......it's too loud!

I think it's refreshing that so far there hasn't been the usual annual and repetitive maxi forum posts on here about heated grips, fitting handlebar muffs, and complaints about the weather getting colder.

Monday for me is Shopping Day as a rule.
I've been using the Forza up until now in spite, on occasions, of the heavy rain and gale-force winds we've been experiencing lately on the North-East coast.
However, this week I took Digit Dick (my Jimny) as it was quite frosty and I thought it was a good reason to give it a run.
The engine was slow to turn over when I turned the key but started almost immediately.
The roads seemed okay -frost free - although there was some at the edges where there was no kerb.
When I approached the River Wear Bridge the whole area was shrouded in fog!
I expect there was fog on the Tyne, too; the River Tyne is the next major river to the North.
My return trip started in fog but I found clear air as I left the bridge behind, driving directly into bright sunlight.
It's cold and damp here today. The forecast is for strong winds and rough sea; we shall see.

Aah, the fog on the tyne.... So it's actually true.

I've had a couple of short rides out between the wind and rain. On my latest ride I decided that it's time for the heated gloves.

That's interesting, I've been wearing my cold weather textile suit and flip front adventure helmet for a few weeks now, and despite the recent wet weather haven't needed rain gear over it as my Giv equipped Forza's weather protection is so good.

Neither have I needed to wear winter gloves yet, I'm still wearing the unlined gloves I've used for most of the year.

I've gone to long underwear and 'medium' gloves - but I'm not using the swing with its really effective givi hand deflector bits on the screen. It's a summer gloves bike most of the year.

I found the side wings on the Givi Airflow lower screen worked in the rain to a certain extent. If I was travelling at 60+mph for long periods, normal gloves only got damp and not wet.

Although in winter the same wings weren't all that good at preventing wind chill to the backs of my hands even wearing winter gloves.

The machine as a whole is great if you're moving along nicely in rain but I think scooters in general are terrible when you stop in traffic in rain.

We've still a lot of leaves on the roads here and I don't feel comfortable without real footrests at the moment. A third wheel is nice too sometimes. I took the tractor up to St. John's Point in Co. Down last week to deliver an old JAP engine to a friend. You won't get that under the seat of a SW.

I went on a Poker Run with the Legion Riders a week or so ago and it was in the low 40's outside. Not freezing but got my attention! I switched to my winter gloves (BMW Kevlar gloves) and wore my chaps and was quite comfortable. Some of my friends complained all day about the cold!!! HAHA

Of course we are in Arizona so cold to us is not relevant to what some of you experience!

Oh, but it’s a dry cold…

Cosmic_Jumper wrote:

Oh, but it’s a dry cold…

LOL, that's 1st for me, good call. One would have to had experience the opposite to appreciate it.

We get people coming to Ireland from central and eastern Europe and complaining about the weather in winter. Typically it's 5-15ºC and we rarely get snow (summer is 15-25). Occasionally midwinter's day is warmer than midsummer. We're about the same latitude as Edmonton or Goose Bay.

smellybeard wrote:

We get people coming to Ireland from central and eastern Europe and complaining about the weather in winter. Typically it's 5-15ºC and we rarely get snow (summer is 15-25). Occasionally midwinter's day is warmer than midsummer. We're about the same latitude as Edmonton or Goose Bay.

When they complain remind them of Buffalo Ney York recent weather

It can be unpleasant with wind and rain and the dark and the muck.
We had one day last week where wind generated 80% of the electricity on the island. A guy I know in the biomass supply business says business is very bad with electricity plants just ticking over most of the time.

The fine rain over in Ireland is something I've never got used to on the occasions I've ridden over there. One time I even prepare by treating my visor and windscreen with some Rain-X before setting off for the Cairnryan to Larne ferry.

Sure enough within a hour or so of getting off the ferry it started raining and didn't stop for the next couple of days. The Rain-X treated visor and screen was effective for a few hours tops. My Burgman 650 which I had to park outside my accommodation ended up with condensation inside one of the headlamp reflectors.

But when the rain stopped and the roads dried, riding round the Antrim Coast of Norn Iron was great.

It's interesting that you mention Rain-X Meldrew. I've got the screen and the visor stuff in my garage and then I started questioning putting 'foreign bodies', (chemicals)?, on my perspex and so never used it.

I reckon I'll give it a try. The demos I've seen on YouTube looked quite impressive. However, they didn't allow for the dust and grit that flies up among the water spray.

Loosemarbles wrote:

It's interesting that you mention Rain-X Meldrew. I've got the screen and the visor stuff in my garage and then I started questioning putting 'foreign bodies', (chemicals)?, on my perspex and so never used it.

I reckon I'll give it a try. The demos I've seen on YouTube looked quite impressive. However, they didn't allow for the dust and grit that flies up among the water spray.

I was informed by a dealer NOT to use regular Rain-X on the windshield as it is not for use on these. He said to get the Marine (for boats) version of Rain-X instead...

Because of this I never tried Rain-X on mine.

Good luck.

I've no experience with Rain-X but do love a product called Plexus Plastic Cleaner and Polish. It is the bestest stuff on fairing screens, but not cheap.

Plexus, I've had three cans of the stuff for years. I bought the first one way back in the Nineties when I used to buy weird stuff mail order from the States like SAENG Stealth Edging.

Then a few years later I snapped up the other two cans very cheaply on the clearance shelf of a kitchenware store.

They'd started selling Plexus as a wonder plastic polish and it didn't sell as Plexus was a lot more expensive than household polish like Pledge and was a totally unknown brand. So I've got more of the stuff than I'll ever use.

I do use Plexus on Tupperware and screens occasionally, it buffs up to a great shine and is anti-static.

I’ll make a little noise- I rode the SWing ~ 100 miles yesterday- 60 degrees as the high- nice on the way out and a little cool on the ride home. I used my mesh jacket with the airbag vest and a Neotec. I need to remember to take my battery heated vest and gloves now that it’s later in the fall. Scoot runs great with the 26 sliders and a new belt- needs some cosmetic work but otherwise runs fantastic!

smellybeard wrote:

The machine as a whole is great if you're moving along nicely in rain but I think scooters in general are terrible when you stop in traffic in rain.

We've still a lot of leaves on the roads here and I don't feel comfortable without real footrests at the moment. A third wheel is nice too sometimes. I took the tractor up to St. John's Point in Co. Down last week to deliver an old JAP engine to a friend. You won't get that under the seat of a SW.

I read an article from Canadian Biker years ago from a guy who was riding on a down slope and his motorcycle crashed from sliding on a wet leaf.

He went back and took a photo of the leaf that took him down, I felt bad for the damage that happened, but he wasn't seriously hurt apparently.  Was really thankful he shared this experience and to this day I am extremely weary of loose gravel and wet leaves, wet conditions in general.

Manhole covers, particularly on roundabouts, always scare me too. It's OK when riding locally because I know where they all are.

NUTS Walnuts are the worst, Acorn and Hickory next. We have a LOT of these trees, and one must be careful especially in the blind corners or over the crest of a hill. Much to my woe I have cured this problem, oh well.

MUCHoldERwingguy wrote:

NUTS

Sugar beet. It sticks to the road and sucks in water and far too much of the stuff falls off trailers.

Can you hear me now. Winter and Holidays things slow down.

Yeah, I bet that's what they say on all the forums. Anyway, this topic is 10 days old, where have you been?