Wet weather riding ???

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Henshooter

New Member
Feb 10, 2014
275
0
0
Melbourne au
Hey guys
Well living in Melbourne Au when that time of the year comes around where Jack Frost of Au works his magic it's usually a tad warmer than certain places in the world ,see we get rain and a **** of a lot of it .
Well it's finally here and it's been pouring down for two days straight which as you can imagine isn't conducive of a good riding experience .
I'm yet to purchase a good set of wet weather riding gear although I've got a set ,it's mainly for fishing and as such has a particular perfume not to welcome by fellow riders or store patrons .
This got me thinking though ,we have been in a drought for the last few years and although I somewhat see the rain as a blessing I've never had to prep my kit for wet weather riding because it's not been wet enough to warrent it but the current conditions aren't to conducive to an enjoyable ride and the roads are as slippery as a greased up monkey, despite this I'm still obliged to do the regular run to the store.

Now I've thought about soaking the seals with a squirt of wd40 or a bead of either wax or silicon but am not really sure how I properly prepare my motor for running in this very wet weather.

How do you guys do it that live in the wet and cold snowy conditions ,I can imagine it would be a must to do or motor or magnito failure would be high .

I'll include a great photo of a storm that passed through a while ago that was mean as and feel free to post a pic of your weather conditions .

Regards Henshooter

Any advice or help regarding how to prep my cruiser for very wet conditions would be great
 

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bluegoatwoods

Active Member
Jul 29, 2012
1,581
6
38
Central Illinois
In the American midwest we have storms that look just like that. But they're turned the other way.

But, more seriously....

You're right in thinking that you want to water seal that engine. A dab of RTV silicone where the magneto wires come out is a good idea. Plus the gaskets.

What I do is take the stock gaskets out and throw them away. Then I mimic the gaskets using a narrow bead of silicone. Do the clutch cover as well as the magneto. Water in the clutch is no good.

I haven't found that my bike itself needs any more weather-proofing than that. And I ride in all but the worst storms.

As for weatherproofing yourself, there's always the cheap rainsuit. Or if you want to spend a bit more, then you can get a set of bibs that has actual working pockets, which does come in handy.

I've found that $20 motorcycle boot covers keep my feet in good shape.

For your hands, the best solution I've found is bar mitts. Here's the ones that I made.
http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=50693

Cheap and easy. And dry, warm hands helps an awful lot.

Here's another link to a thread of mine. In the first post, you'll find a photo and description of how I made a weatherproof cold weather helmet.
http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=51799

These things can be done pretty easy. And I can ride in some pretty heavy and cold rains with only minor inconvenience and no real discomfort.
 

Henshooter

New Member
Feb 10, 2014
275
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0
Melbourne au
Want to see rain?
Come to Tropical Far North Queensland!
Yeah it pours over your way , correct me if I'm wrong but your in wet season now ?
When I lived in the Kimberley's and it rained man did it rain hard ,usually in the afternoon with lightening and thunderstorms.

How do you prep your rides Theon

And while I've got you how are you mate , it's been a while since I saw you on the forum ,hope all is well my friend

Regards Sean
 

Theon

New Member
Jan 20, 2014
1,440
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0
FNQ Australia
I'm here regularly,
Preping for a coming cyclone today! so more rain to come, It's usually nice weather before the cyclone, as if it's to the north it sucks everything out to it. But when the rain does come, often you can't even drive in it, let alone ride.
My Jaw has recovered,
I think I have identified the car involved, but still no real help from the cops *$#&^$^&%$
Mate I don't ride in the rain, I got a Landcruiser for that!
I'm a fair weather rider.
I only ride for a good strap, shops and what not are to far away.
I spend far more time 'playing' with my bikes than actually riding them.
And it's way to hot up here to get dressed up in all that fancy wet weather gear.

How you going on building your self a 'racer'?
 

Henshooter

New Member
Feb 10, 2014
275
0
0
Melbourne au
I'm here regularly,
Preping for a coming cyclone today! so more rain to come, It's usually nice weather before the cyclone, as if it's to the north it sucks everything out to it. But when the rain does come, often you can't even drive in it, let alone ride.
My Jaw has recovered,
I think I have identified the car involved, but still no real help from the cops *$#&^$^&%$
Mate I don't ride in the rain, I got a Landcruiser for that!
I'm a fair weather rider.
I only ride for a good strap, shops and what not are to far away.
I spend far more time 'playing' with my bikes than actually riding them.
And it's way to hot up here to get dressed up in all that fancy wet weather gear.

How you going on building your self a 'racer'?
I'm glad you have healed up ok , my knee is still giving me some trouble , damn the cops , we're having trouble here with one of them too , stated to me on the phone the guy that wrote our car off has accepted full responsibility but won't give me a statement to that effect and the idiot driver has given me full fake details ,the cops won't give me his correct details , losers the lot of them

Racers on hold for a bit until we can organise another car ,the upside for us is his insurance policy has been voided due to giving false information at the scene

What happened with the car and you , I don't recall hearing what happened ,hope all is ok , if you need anything don't hesitate to ask

Regards Sean
 

Theon

New Member
Jan 20, 2014
1,440
6
0
FNQ Australia
Mate, I didn't hear about your car being written off, that sucks!
The car I have identified that the person who attacked me was in belongs to a 'hi profile' local! He was not the one who attacked me, it was a mate of his.
Have not seen him at the bar for 8 weeks now, when he use to be a regular.
Not sure what to do about it, as I think the cops have just gone 'too hard'.
No point 'beating it out of him' as I will likely just get sued.
But karma has a funny way!
 

Henshooter

New Member
Feb 10, 2014
275
0
0
Melbourne au
Mate, I didn't hear about your car being written off, that sucks!
The car I have identified that the person who attacked me was in belongs to a 'hi profile' local! He was not the one who attacked me, it was a mate of his.
Have not seen him at the bar for 8 weeks now, when he use to be a regular.
Not sure what to do about it, as I think the cops have just gone 'too hard'.
No point 'beating it out of him' as I will likely just get sued.
But karma has a funny way!
Yep idiot doing 80 in a 40zone on his mobile phone ,didn't notice my wife pulling into my driveway and hit the car at full speed ,luckily Lisa was ok and being she is 4 months pregnant I was pissed big time but luckily bub and mum are fine.

That sux with being attacked mate but I totally agree ,from lessons learned myself karma has her ways of back handing with vengeance and it usually doesn't fair well for the guilty party

Hope all goes ok my friend and you heal up good

Take care of yourself
Regards Sean
 

CTripps

Active Member
Aug 22, 2011
1,310
1
38
Vancouver, B.C.
Henshooter... for riding gear have you looked at the sort of outerwear that traffic flaggers use for bad weather? I have no idea how common or hard-to-find that sort of thing is there, around here there are easily a dozen places that sell that sort of gear (and hi-vis vests, etc).

Beyond that, all I can recommend to you is to seal everything up the best you can, and keep a cover of some kind over the bike when it isn't locked up inside (or sheltered) somewhere. Oh, and when sealing the mag make sure you put a glob of sealant into the space between the wires where they come out of the housing or water will wick down them and right into the mag. I put the end of the tube of silicon/RTV sealant into the white "sheathing" and squeeze a blob in from the inside of the housing, then do the same from the outside (and of course spread a good glob around the outside of the sheathing so it seals between it and the casing also).
 

Henshooter

New Member
Feb 10, 2014
275
0
0
Melbourne au
I do my best to stay out of the rain. I check my weather app before riding.
Unfortunately due to the area I live when it rains it does so for days at a time and constantly ,no breaks whatsoever ,apparently because we get costal cold winds that meet inland hot winds directly over the city and with this comes constant drizzle ,it's annoying because it's not a heavy rain ,it's the light type where it's not so bothersome but stand in it for 15 mins and you get soaked without noticing ,and cold ,damn it's cold rain ,it makes your extremities go numb
 

Theon

New Member
Jan 20, 2014
1,440
6
0
FNQ Australia
When I use to do forest night walks for a job, we would often get wet.
One night in torrential rain with two pretty young Canadian girls, the rain was so heavy that it was impossible to speak normally over the noise, As a bit of a joke, I lent in to the prettiest girls ear as you would in a night club to talk over the music, and said" And who's idea was this anyway?"
She replied with " Oh, this is great!", I looked a little puzzled, She continued "If we were in Canada we'd all have hypothermia by now."
 

CTripps

Active Member
Aug 22, 2011
1,310
1
38
Vancouver, B.C.
Unfortunately due to the area I live when it rains it does so for days at a time and constantly ,no breaks whatsoever ,apparently because we get costal cold winds that meet inland hot winds directly over the city and with this comes constant drizzle ,it's annoying because it's not a heavy rain ,it's the light type where it's not so bothersome but stand in it for 15 mins and you get soaked without noticing ,and cold ,damn it's cold rain ,it makes your extremities go numb
That sounds a bit like what we deal with here in Vancouver.. we go for weeks sometimes with it varying from that light rain you describe to what I would call rain without it ever actually stopping. (Unfortunately there's also no sign of the sun for weeks at a time here, as well). They call it rain here, even though it would take 15 minutes standing in it to get wet. Where I grew up, we called it "Skeeter (mosquito) piss".

When I use to do forest night walks for a job, we would often get wet.
One night in torrential rain with two pretty young Canadian girls, the rain was so heavy that it was impossible to speak normally over the noise, As a bit of a joke, I lent in to the prettiest girls ear as you would in a night club to talk over the music, and said" And who's idea was this anyway?"
She replied with " Oh, this is great!", I looked a little puzzled, She continued "If we were in Canada we'd all have hypothermia by now."
I wonder where they were from.. when we lived in southern Ontario, I used to love the summer storms.. they'd come up quickly when the warm and cold fronts met and there would be rain as you describe (so hard you couldn't see the hood of the car you were sitting in). Actually that's one thing I really miss out here. I think in the 6 1/2 years we've lived here I've seen two, maybe three thunderstorms.