What is the coldest temp / worst weather you ever rode in?

Back in the eighties I was stationed at Mt. Home AFB in Idaho. Was about 10deg.... Damn that was cold!

My parents used to live in Pocatello Idaho, I went to stay with them once in Janruary for a couple of weeks. It never got above 20 below the entire time I was there! The weird thing was it was clear and sunny most of the time. You would look out the window and it looked like such a pretty day then you would go outside and freeze your ears off.
Way too cold for a desert dweller such as myself!
 
Cold and wet stories huh.....Lesssseeeehere...There I was....at the 'Heath, Cold icy day and I had to get to work. Missed the bus so I grabbed the helmet and mounted up on the CB175. Somewhere at the first roundabout on RAF Feltwell WHAM! slipped on the ice and landed on the Rt side..Bounced right up and continued to work. 10 miles and a steep humped bridge along the way I arrive to the parking lot on base and turn into the parking lot and WHAM! again on the LT side. Picked myself and the bike up, finnished parking and went to work.
On the next overseas assignment, late '83 or early '83, I made my way to Frankfurt and walked to the BMW dealership and picked up my brand spanking new R-100RS. Red with smoke. Saddlebags. Heated grips. Did the paperwork. Put on my new BMW silk liner under the new leathers and gloves then the new helmet. I think it was Jan or Feb. Cold, overcast and damp. Made my way to the autobahn. I'm new to country and had memorized the route. This is before GPS, smartphones or Garmin or google maps. The further west I went the damper and colder it got. Misting,drizzling,raining flurries snowing. It must have been REFORGER (REturn of FORces to GERmany) as I got behind a troop truck and some of the soldiers were pointing to their heads thinking I was mad to be on a bike at that time. Maybe I was...By the time I got to my base (Hahn AB) the weather was a blizzard! Snow was falling sideways! Swingshift was released early because of it.The only time we had a blizzard in my 5 yrs there. I have a picture of the bike the next day (non digitalized) with a few inches of snow covering her.
 
One last one.....Dec '83.....Thru AAFFES (Army, Air Force Exchange Services) I bought a new'84 H-D Lowrider, FXSB. Took leave to go home to pick it up in Bartlesvill OK.Tulsa had 2 or 3 dealers but they didn't participate in the program, I guess. I think it's about 50-80 miles one way to make the trip. I don't recall the jacket I wore. Probably the issue M-65 fieldjacket with liner and leather gloves and scarf. Helmet too. It was cold and cloudy a a tax collectors heart that day, but dry. Froze my tucass off. I miss that Shovelhead...
 
OK... one more.
Cannon AFB N. Mex. Early spring1973 (I think). Had a brand new (to me anyway) R5C, granddaddy to the RD's Got up Sat. morning and it was about 75 F. Nice! Headed west, deeper into N. Mex. About 2 hrs out, the temp. started to drop. Was wearing blue jeans and a windbreaker. Didn't even have any friggin gloves with me. Headed back to the base. The last 20 min was in a horizontal blizzard. When I got to the barracks I ran my hands under the sink. Full cold water burned the s#it out of em. Frostbite. To this day they turn numb and yellow when it gets below 40 deg.
Younguns these days have no idea what it was like before the days of "The Weather Channel."
 
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Not the coldest nor the wettest. In '68 I did 70 miles in 3 inch's of snow on a 250 Suzuki enduro. Luckly it was not freezing on the road yet. I have since learned better trip planning. The coldest was in the 30's with a wind chill into the 20's for a toy run in Nov.
The wettest was a rain storm traveling from San Antonio to Round Rock. That was when I learned assless chaps are worthless in the rain. The water just travels from the leg's to your crotch and back down to your boots.
 
Wow, I've never seen one thread with so much :bs: in one thread! I made some wind chill calculations and some of the stories here are beyond belief . OK so who told the biggest whopper?
#1 biggest whopper is Gary................100 mile trip at 0 F , if he drove at 50 mph, is minus 31.1 F wind chill

#2 whopper is JimD54.....................10 F and snow, if he drove at 50 mph, is minus 16.9 F wind chill

#3 whopper is MaxPete..................230 km distance at 27 F at a speed of 100 km/hr, is 5.7 F or minus 14.6 C wind chill

The above 3 make for a good story, but are pure fantasy! The human body cannot withstand those temperatures unless
you had multiple layers of clothing and a good quality snowmobile suit, and a balaclava, which none of the above had.

mailman calculates at 9.4 F wind chill
xjwmx calculates at 7.3 F wind chill
2M calculates at 10.1 F wind chill
WER calculates at 29 F wind chill

The above four while quite cold, are at least believable, if they were short trips only.
 
Wow, I've never seen one thread with so much :bs: in one thread! I made some wind chill calculations and some of the stories here are beyond belief . OK so who told the biggest whopper?
#1 biggest whopper is Gary................100 mile trip at 0 F , if he drove at 50 mph, is minus 31.1 F wind chill
good story, but are pure fantasy! The human body cannot withstand those temperatures unless
you had multiple layers of clothing and a good quality snowmobile suit, and a balaclava, which none of the above had.
.
:poke:
Wow I guess no one has ever told the snowmobilers of your findings.
I did say I was prepared for the temps and trip, it was on a Honda 750 dresser mostly freeway so more like 60MPH Lots of clothes, layers, insulated mittens, pack boots etc.Think
Michelin_Man_Custom_Mascot.jpg


no heated gear. Even with all that another hour probably would have been frost bite territory. Against me in cold weather; I'm 6'3" at that time about 160 lbs.
Thought you lived up Nort RG?
 
#2 whopper is JimD54.....................10 F and snow, if he drove at 50 mph, is minus 16.9 F wind chill
Not sure what you issue your RCAF laddies up there but here's what the Air Force issued me: An Arctic parka, rated at minus 60-70f if memory serves...
Arctic coveralls... same rating. Extreme cold weather mukluks.. same rating. A pair of the finest gloves I've ever used. Topped off with a wool face mask and a full face Bell Tourstar.
Just because you couldn't make the ride, don't assume it can't be done.

Oh... and it was more like 25-35mph. Only a fool would do 50 when it's snowing;)
 
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xjwmx calculates at 7.3 F wind chill
Mine is true, and wasn't really that bad. It was maybe five miles, from camp on the edge of town to the store on main street, and back. All on either dirt roads or in town, so probably 30 mph tops. I'd already acquired some cold weather clothing that kept me very comfortable at -20F, which I encountered later (walking, not riding). The reason I wasn't riding later was SNOW, and of course the bike wouldn't have started. Unless I am using 15w40 or lighter my bike won't crank fast enough to start any lower than 40s.

One thing I did was ride east from Montana, clear across the entirety of S. Dakota to Sioux Falls, being chased by a snow storm. It overtook me and I holed up in Sioux Falls for a week. If I'd known you could ride on snow, I'd have just kept going...
 
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Gary and JimD54..........................neither of you originally said you were wearing "Arctic" clothing, parkas or snowmobile clothing.
Gary............my post did clearly say it can be done with, " multiple layers of clothing and a good quality snowmobile suit, and a balaclava".
The thing is that Canadians understand that bad things that can happen, if exposed to really cold temperatures for very long, and so we avoid it, or dress appropriately. I know a little about cold weather. I worked in northern Saskatchewan, northern Quebec, and northern Labrador when I was younger, where the temperatures were minus 55 F.

JimD54........................any problems shifting gears when wearing mukluks?
 
......neither of you originally said you were wearing "Arctic" clothing, parkas or snowmobile clothing.
I also didn't mention that I took a piss before I bundled up.... I was in Idaho in the winter. What did you think I was wearing, a tank top and Bermuda shorts?
....any problems shifting gears when wearing mukluks?
Was a little harder, but not too bad.
 
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