My Swing is my daily commuter rain or shine, hot or cold. The only thing that will cause me to park it is snow and ice. There was ice on the roads this morning when I left for work, so I had to drive in, but now the sun is out and the roads are dry and I am thinking I could have ridden if I was extra careful...

It used to be if it rained I just headed home. Now for some reason I don't mind riding in some rain, as long as it's not coming down cats and dogs. Now that I have better gear the cold is not a problem either. Maybe this year I will see just how long I can extend the season

My Oh My, how things change so quickly...

especially since my initial post on the previous page. This is a lengthy report that I was hesitant to put on the forum but posted it anyway.

Being a newer rider of some 15 months now, I had 'never' ridden
in the rain before and wasn't sure I'd be able to put up with it.
Anyway, a Patriot Guard mission (some 300 miles round trip) came up and
storms were in the area. I had already agreed to give it a go and this
is an edited report I put in at our American Legion Forum:


The PGR mission to Parsons, Kansas in honor of Army Specialist Cox,
KIA, Afghanistan, was memorable but wet. It was Monday, 21 Sep, and
rain was in the forecast but hadn't started yet; at least when I first
got up at 6:45 a.m. When I did get ready to go the rain finally
started... and heavy too! Waited for it to slack off then, with my
little emergency poncho on, I headed out on my trusty Honda Silver Wing
to meet Ken Nelson, Glitch, and Darrell (other Post 400 ALR riders who
decided to chance it) at a gas stop in Lyndon, KS.
Having
"never" ridden in the rain before, I was apprehensive to say the least.
Between my home in Harveyville and Lyndon(about 25 miles), I got enough
rain to tempt me to turn around and head back. But I figured I'd meet
the guys in Lyndon as predetermined and see if they had decided the
same thing. No way! They showed up right after I did and had hit some
hard showers too. So I gassed up, got rid of my flimsy poncho, put on a
standard raincoat, got placed right behind the ride captain (Glitch)
for safety's sake, and away we went. My main downfall was that I didn't
have rain "pants" on. And yes, I got soaked; at least on the bottom
side. A problem I have since remedied.

The ride down there was
uneventful but we hit some horrendous downpours and nasty lightning for
what seemed forever. Visibility got really limited in spots and the
rain never really quit despite fooling us a couple times when we
thought it was going to let up. When we finally did arrive at the
Parsons truck stop meeting point, it was pretty dry there too. We got
split up into 'large' flag or 'no' and 'small' flag groups as normal
and it was pretty dry at the time. 'Course, about 5 minutes later the
clouds opened up and dumped again. And it rained hard as we watched
other large groups of bikers rolling in.

Finally it was time to
form up and get to the funeral and cemetery areas. Those who had large
flags (which must have been somewhere around a hundred(?)or more of
them) filed out first to head to the funeral. And I must say, when you
consider the reason, and see that many flying flags stretched out down
a main highway into town, you get the real feeling of exactly what
these missions are for. And yes, the Phelps's were at the ceremony as I
understand it. While we had been waiting to leave, someone announced
there were some 375 bikes present (or a figure near that number). And
you know that soldier deserved every bit of it.

I wound up going
with the cemetery group to set up flag lines and the other 3 of our
group went to the ceremony. We got that all set up and started a very
lengthy waiting period with hard rains on and off. Glitch and Ken
showed up later at the cemetery just before the main party was to
arrive and we decided that because of time and darkness constraints
that we'd better get headed home. Which was a good idea since it was
about a 150 mile trip for me and maybe a little more for them. So we
left and headed home. I believe Darrell was staying down there
somewhere to attend a funeral the next day in Arkansas City for a
second Kansas soldier that had been KIA in the same fight as Cox was.

Anyway,
we got headed out; still in a continuous rain by the way, and headed
for a gas stop in Yates Center. Probably the first third or fourth of
the return trip was still in the rain and then tapered off. But... the
wind started picking up just out of Yates Center plus the temperature
started dropping down into the low 50's.

Boy, was I ever glad
to get home. Unbeknown to me, the rain had worked its way up under my
raincoat sleeves thru about halfway of the long sleeves of the shirt I
had on. No wonder I was getting a good chill. I slowly peeled of all
the wet stuff I had on, got redressed in my 'jammies' and took about 2
hours to get warmed up again.

All-in-all it turned out to be
quite an experience for me; one that I'm not so sure I'll jump at quite
so quickly the next time if storms are threatening like that. Having
gone from "never" having ridden in the rain, to spending several hours
enduring heavy downpours and lightning, I believe my indoctrination is
now complete. The next time???? A simple rainstorm might be doable now
that I have a proper rain suit but heavy thunderstorms? I don't know
for sure. Anyway, was glad to do my small part for one of our Army
heroes. <<

So I learned the value of a good full rain suit
plus something to go over the boots too. Oh yes; will be getting some
waterproof gloves also. That's a must-do thing. I was basically warm
because I had on my full armored mesh riding outfit replete with rain
and insulated liners. The hooded rain coat added another "windbreaker"
level too. Along with the full helmet, I had the topside "basically"
covered. I got a little tickled at my 'veteran' riders who, although
in full rain gear, had 3/4 helmets on and received an all-day face
wash. Or at least that's what one of them complained about.

Well,
that's it for my "rain" experience. Can hardly wait till I get to
stand a flag line in the middle of a blizzard as some of my PGR cohorts
have unaffectionately referred to from past experiences.

Oh...
I almost forgot to mention... The SWing performed flawlessly. Hit one
area where a ditch had flowed out over half the road. To late to
swerve so just held steady and the bike cut through about 4 inches of
water with no problem at about 40 MPH. Also, that big Givi windshield
was a blessing. Enough water rolled off (thanks to Plexus?) to help me
keep a view but wasn't perfect. Looking up over the edge would have
been better but didn't "have" to do that.

DickO,

I know that you don't ride for this, but - THANK YOU!

Rain or shine, our troops are out there, it's the least we can do.

Riding in the rain may be really dangerous when the way surface is damaged (I experienced), But riding during hailing is a real challenge! (I experienced too)

Not by choice! Took the safety course and both days it was nothing but rain the whole time, just a couple of short breaks in it. Since then I've rode in rain and snow, won't set out on purpose to do it but if necessary I know I can . But as I said not by choice. We have rain here quite often scattered showers and thunder storms, so if your gonna ride with any frequency you need to carry rain gear with you.
Craig

In Puget Sound, if you don't ride in the rain, you don't ride much. I also prefer it to sunny Fridays in the spring and summer when coneheads are not thinking about driving home and are already mentally at their weekend destination.

Rainy drivers are, in my experience, more alert and less likely to drive recklelssly than cagers on a nice day. Besides, on rainy days, there are usually less of them out there which makes it safer and gives me more road alone

The "Conehead" analogy is great!!!! We have those afflicted with that condition, but not just in Spring, all year long, and in the rain, it is safer to stay at the house.

Ride safe!

And for those of us that don't speaka da American!!!!!!

"Conehead"??????????????????

'Coneheads' comes from some comic skits on Television. They were Space Aliens who misinterpreted everything and always got it wrong.

Google Coneheads and you can get some information.

Thanks Gary, Dan Ackroyd was in a film of the same I believe?

To bring this back to topic - I believe the Coneheads would refer to rain as: "thermatically induced moisture inversion" I loved trick or treating with the coneheads - they gave out consumables and beer, Zappa was at his best on that Saturday Night Live episode.

Rain, shine or snow. Doesn't matter to me. Course you could probably tell that from my username. Look at my signature. That's actually the way I feel. Ice, however is another story. Can't keep her on the wheels on ice. But snow is no problem, if you need to go somewhere and it's snowing. I wouldn't recommend it just for the fun of it. Just dress properly, give yourself enough time, go slow and don't lean in a turn. Course I don't lean on anything other than dry pavement. And for me, it's all the gear, all the time.

I prefer riding in the dry but if I am out and about or on a long club ride out then I do not have a problem and just get on with it in the hope the sun will come out at some stage in the day to dry out my gear whilst riding rather than staying soaking wet for the duration

Ironically I prefer heavier rain / good wet roads rather than showery rain or drizzle / damp roads which are more slippery and dangerous.

I ride in the rain - I have a Gore-Tex ex-navy coat and Gore-Tex ex-army over-trousers, both totally waterproof.
The coat is a great wind-stopper, too.

I avoid going out in the snow on the Silverwing and always stay off the ice.

I've ridden in rain and wind and snow and had my windshield completely ice up on me in the Smokeys this past February. Going over a chunk of ice can be a VERY harrowing experience, definitely not something to play around with. The other thing besides the Gore-Tex or waterproof gear is to make sure your boots have good non-slip or grippy soles. My boots tend to wear out in the soles (my other 'emergency brakes') and those have led to quite a bit of a dance trying to hold up my other bike on slippery ground.

As for trying to make sure everything stays dry... scoot more than a couple hours in torrential rain and it really won't matter what you've got on, water will always find a way. I usually have to make sure my gloves go over my sleeves fully (I have gauntlets) and that I wear my water-resistant wind gaiter over my jacket instead of under as usual.