Dealing With The Heat

[Uncle Phil]

Since we seem to be in the midst of a serious heat wave, how do you deal with the heat when riding on long rides?
I know there are cooling vests (I have one) but in high humidity like we have around here, they do not do so well.
Just curious (I know about a bag of ice inside a STich also).

 

[dwalby]

in dry heat evaporative cooling works quite well, in high heat with high humidity I'd probably park the bike.

 

[John OoSTerhuis]

Evaporative cooling vest. Works for me, as long as I’m moving, or have been and don’t stay stopped for too long.

Edit: Aerostich RC 2pc, 100% of the time.

Others swear by the phase change packets in vest pockets, a second set primed and ready to go in a cooler with ice and water. TTBOMK the sealed packets are filled with some kind of animal fat that melts at ~59°F, IIRC. If you’ve got the money, there’s some pretty fancy ($$$$) cooling systems out there, many designed for race car drivers.

John

 

[oude geit]

In my mesh its not bad while moving. Of course i got to keep putting ice in the water jug. Ive never added water to clothes to keep cool, i did think about it once or twice in Arizona and Death Valley. I do drink water constantly and will stop for lunch to "recover" if needed...

 

[PmodelinUS]

When I was a young in living in Phoenix I would wear shorts with chaps. Now I just sweat. I have been known to ride bow legged on the ST on hot days to cool the inner thighs. Mostly open all the vents and suffer.

 

[Larry Fine]

I have been known to ride bow legged on the ST on hot days to cool the inner thighs.

I was getting ready to say essentially the same thing.

Spreading my legs out just a few inches makes a surprising difference.

 

[ChriSTian_64]

For Hot record breaking Temps...

Riding at night, or early morning .

Riding with a very short, sport winshield... or even without one.

Dare to wear those white leather, jacket, boots and pants. Specially around Memphis. Yeah. The King is Alive!

How about this trip to Alaska ?

 

[ST1100Y]

During a tour through Spain & Portugal at >40°C/104°F I learned to appreciate long sleeved/legged function underwear...

Joke about "men in spandex tights" as much as you like , but the (quality) stuff really works...

I'm with Dainese D-Core Aero shirts and pants, seamless woven, thin, elastic fabric, tight as pantyhose (Press Structure construction supports the muscles & circulation)...

My GF also took the advise, now she's even wearing this undergarments during her brief commuting to/from her workplace... plus she got herself a 2-piece mesh-suit...

 

[STumped]

@Uncle Phil

Unless it is a short errand, I usually ride in a one piece Aerostich R3 (unlined) suit... in Texas no less. What I have found to work for me is a couple things.

First, I wear jeans and a long sleeve T-shirt under the suit. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but the the long sleeves work as an insulating barrier from the heat. The hot sun bakes down on the R3 suit and the arms are at a perfect angle to soak up all that radiant heat. If I wear a short sleeve shirt then my forearms are in direct contact with the inside of the suit material -- which gets very hot from the sun. But if I wear a long sleeve shirt then the fabric of the shirt prevents direct contact with the (hot) suit and allows air to circulate and cool me off (evaporative cooling). Also, the 'STich is designed with vents in the armpits and at the back. I have found that, while riding, the air enters the suit through the neck area (and up the sleeves if not zipped) and vents out through the armpits/back. But, in doing so, the suit inflates from the air pressure and keeps the inner surface of the suit from direct contact with you -- thereby creating a kind of bubble insulation, if you will. I have found it to be pretty ingenious how it works. Also, it kinda makes me look like the Michelin Man when I'm riding...LOL.

The second thing that helps me is that I keep a tank bag with a hydration bladder inside so I can drink water while I am riding. When the temps get above 90 (especially in the 100s) always, always, always HYDRATE! I use a 2 liter bladder and fill it as much as I can with ice and then top it off with cold water, wrap it in a small towel for insulation, and then stuff it in the tank bag. I have found that it will provide me with at least three hours of (n)ice cold water to sip on while I ride, at which point, I am ready for a gas station to empty one tank and fill the other. At the pitstop I just take the tank bag inside the station with me and ask them if I could pay them for some ice/water from the fountain drink dispenser to top it off for the next leg. They almost always tell me to go ahead without charging me anything for the ice/water. Being able to drink on the fly without stopping is a great time saver at pitstops to quickly get me back on the road again.

As always, YMMV. But that is what works for me.

 

[Chris09]

when the wetbulb temp is high, there's no evaporative effect; it's also easy to loose sight of the condition where your overheating, especially when you're engaged in an enjoyable passive activity.
I never argue with people that tell me they're freezing to death at their computer when it's 22C / 71.6F, that's because they are, same in reverse.

 

[Jethro]

No worries here today in Marmora.46 F. - 8 C.

 

[Mellow]

I typically go with mesh but have done non mesh as well, doesn't seem to matter much behind a full fairing bike other than when stopped.

On long trips I'll take the camelbak. You aren't going to be cool, it's hot lol, so you hydrate so your body can do what is supposed to. Comfort wise, I may wet down a shirt or my head liner but that's usually only good for 30 mins, it's a nice 30 mins though lol

 

[mjc506]

Living in sunny Wales, I tend not to have much of a problem with heat, but I do wonder if it would be possible to rig up a small-ish 12V AC unit from automotive components and blow cold air into your jacket. Actually, car AC is probably overly powerful, and would need too much current from a 12V motor to drive, perhaps a caravan fridge? (the car 'refrigerators' tend to be Peltier units, probably not powerful enough)

 

[Uncle Phil]

Thanks for the ideas - please keep them coming.
Locally back and forth to work I use a Draggin Shirt/mesh Bohn body armour over my street clothes - but I'm not doing any high speed stuff.
I've tried the evaporative vest but they just don't work well around when the humidity is high.
I knew of an old farmer that wore an overcoat in the fields in the summer.
His saying was 'What keeps out cold will keep out heat' but I don't think it worked that way!

 

[ST1100Y]

... I do wonder if it would be possible to rig up a small-ish 12V AC unit from automotive components and blow cold air into your jacket...

Normally a car a/c is driven by a belt/pulley at the engine crank...

however...

COMPCOOLER Motorcycle Rider Solo ICE Chest Cooling System 6.0L Chest 12V ON/OFF Mode

The Compcooler ICE Chest Cooling System combines a tubing-lined vest with a liquid cooling system housed in an ice chest to form a tethered thermal regulation device. Although this cooling system is highly transportable, it is designed for use in stationary applications whereby the ice chest is...

www.compcooler.shop

this one ducts cold air into your jacket

Motorcycle Air Conditioning by EntroSys

Personal and portable Eco-friendly air conditioning system for motorcycle, ATV, snowmobile and other applications. Pre order your motorcycle air conditioner directly from EntroSys.

entrosys.com

this, belt carried one, is even smaller

MiClimate - the wearable air-con unit for bikers (yep, it's real...) | MoreBikes

MiClimate - the wearable air-con unit for bikers (yep, it's real...). No, we're not making this up. This is called MiClimate and it's a USA c ...

www.morebikes.co.uk

 

[nicksacco]

Normally a car a/c is driven by a belt/pulley at the engine crank...
however...

I love these ideas!

I never was a great rider in the heat - even when I was younger living in TX. But living in NC is worse I think due to the high humidity.
Basically my summer riding is curtailed from June until late Sept.

I've tried the cooling vest and so far used it once. It worked, but you have to keep it wet. How - well, you have to stop often enough to do it.
Probably wise to stop often and drink water yourself.
Use a large baggie or container and douse the vest with water. Save the water in the baggie or container and there you go.
You have to get the vest wet through and through and pouring water over it just wastes the water.

Having a choice, I don't really enjoy riding in the summer heat

 

[red one]

Worse thing is getting stopped in a construction zone on the highway. Temperature at 100 and hot pavement temps of 120. Moving along at 2 mph and your ST fan is blowing out that hot air and U can feel it. Can't ride along on the shoulder of the road because of the glass nails and screws and other debris also seen a state police car light up a motorcycle when he tried to do that. Best thing is plan accordingly and hydrate.

 

[dduelin]

For day rides I get up and out on the ride early and back home before the major heat of the day. Foundation is polyester/spandex flat seamed boxer briefs, long sleeved poly/spandex shirts and long pants made of a nylon shell with a polyester lining. Microfiber neck gaiter. No cotton. I'll sometimes wet neck gaiters and shirt sleeves exposed to wind that gets around the fairing or windshield. Wetted stuff feels great but doesn't last very long. I have a cooling vest but it doesn't work very well in high humidity climate here. It was great out west in low humidity though. Accessible drinking water handy in fairing pockets or tank bag. The 700X has a handy 21 liter storage compartment where the gas tank would be and I can carry two or three bottles. The RT can handle two in the fairing pocket. The Wing can only tote one stuffed behind me in the cut-out where the back rest [I don't use] would plug in. Modular helmet that allows drinking a little very often so it doesn't go right through me.

I generally wear mesh in the hottest months on day rides where I am home by 1 or 2 PM but if the ride involves traveling all day I wear my 1 piece Aerostich over the same foundation. If the trip involves temps close to 100 I always wear solid textile even on local rides. As long as I am moving and can get air flow through the suit it cools well enough.

I have stuffed 3 - 4 lbs of ice in the bag it comes in against my chest and zipped up my Aerostich when riding tank to tank on long trips in 95F plus. Half a bag of hard frozen ice lasts about 3 hours and the melt water is super cooling. By the end of the third bag even my socks are soaked. On these IBA distance rides I use a 1 gallon Coleman cylindrical cooler filled with ice water. A long hose with a bite valve gets the water from the passenger seat up to my mouth.

 

[the Ferret]

I wear a mesh Jacket, and a C9 shirt and keep a bottle of water in the tank bag some of which gets poured on my chest and neck ocassionally and some of which gets swallowed ocassionally.

 

[diferg]

Possibly something like the Ice Man Cold Therapy System? The current systems have a very simple (valve) temp regulation. Manufacturer is missing a great market potential by not providing a vest type cooling pad. Iceman