[3crows]

I hate riding in the rain. Today, it looked like there was a break in the rain, had been fairly dry all day. Did not see anything on the radar and nothing supposedly until later in the evening. So did the 20 mile run to Cabellas just to look around.

So, I get there and it starts to pour. New motorcycle, new tires, not used to the machine yet. Nice twenty mile ride through heavy rain. Plus I live down a dirt road. So, I made it, cold and wet and now my new Yamaha is dirty, muddy and wet. :sad:

Yeah, I cleaned it up but still aggravated. I am not sure my last two motorcycles ever even got wet during my ownership, even from a garden hose. I dry cleaned them :grin:. Well, the new Yamaha got nice and wet lain:.

 

[Calculon]

I had to run an errand the other day that was about a 90 mile round trip. The weather site said zero percent chance of rain until midnight. It looked cloudy out, but I figured I was good. I got about five miles south of house on the freeway and it started raining.

 

[Stablefull]

Welcome from Seattle!!! I have a better chance of getting wet every time I ride than not. It hasn't rained here all summer and I am loving every minute of it because I know what's coming!!!

 

[hogcowboy]

I hate riding in the rain. Today, it looked like there was a break in the rain, had been fairly dry all day. Did not see anything on the radar and nothing supposedly until later in the evening. So did the 20 mile run to Cabellas just to look around.

So, I get there and it starts to pour. New motorcycle, new tires, not used to the machine yet. Nice twenty mile ride through heavy rain. Plus I live down a dirt road. So, I made it, cold and wet and now my new Yamaha is dirty, muddy and wet. :sad:

Yeah, I cleaned it up but still aggravated. I am not sure my last two motorcycles ever even got wet during my ownership, even from a garden hose. I dry cleaned them :grin:. Well, the new Yamaha got nice and wet lain:.

Well now your brand new bike has been christened and is worthy of serious road touring. Provided you are. Always good to get that over and done with.:smile_big: But you also know you need to get some rain gear now.

Around here, especially this time of year, you can get a pop up rain shower almost any day. Some can be real downpours. At least you didn't wreck so it's all good. The bike can handle it. They are made for it. But I really do understand having to clean road grime and mud off.

A few weeks ago every darn time I went out I got rained on. But here, in our Texas heat, I didn't even stop to put my rain gear on. Every single time, by the time I got home, I was completely dry. But I still had to clean the mess of a bike up.:crying: That's really the only part about riding in rain that I hate. Well that and not being able to see very well in downpours.:surprise:

 

[GatorJoe]

Can't remember the last day we actually had no rain in North FL .. Most Days were Scattered T Storms but a few were serious downpours as well .. Best outlook I can say is wear good raingear and in my Case a heavy downpour cleans the Chieftain Nicely ..

 

[Ray'ssporty1200]

I have had those times when a sudden storm popped up and lasted maybe ten minutes, I'd just slow down, this was on the
hi-way anyways and shortly after I was dry. BUT 4th of July 2015 I wanted to go for a short ride, I checked the weather radar
on computer. It showed no rain ONLY because some slider thing I could adjust was set wrong and had I messed with it, I would
have found out a BIG storm was coming. It CAME ! I just got the sporty on the S. side of the H.Franklin Br. and headed North.
Looking back at this I could have taken notice of the clouds but since I checked the weather which wrongly read clear, I did not
bother. DAMN did I get soaked and the litening, Like God was taking a course for welding at the local trade school.

I tried to seek 'shelter from the storm' also a pretty good song Bob Dylan wrote, under route 60 but it was an off ramp and did not
help much, so I headed out again to another exit ramp and hid under rte.275 with a few other bikers. Back then a lot of interchanges
were being rebuilt and getting back on the hi-way was not as it was 1 year before that.

Well I made it home and was grateful for that, the rain and litenin had stopped and it took 3 or 4 days before my boots dried out
enough to wear them again. It's all part of biking, I can dig it.

 

[dilbertrob]

On my first trip to the mountains (We went to ride the Dragon), we got up Sunday morning to head back on our 6 hour trip back home. We got caught in a torrential downpour for 4 and a half hours. No one had rain gear. We arrived home soaking wet and down one iphone (They aren't a fan of being subjected to hours of being drenched. Since then I always carry rain gear and ziploc bags for my phone on trips. I also don't mind the rain that much anymore. It could never rain as hard and as long as it did that day, so anything else will pale in comparison.

 

[Oz]

I don't mind riding in the rain on a Summer day. At night not so much. And just like @hogcowboy I just keep going and enjoy it.

Actually, it reminds me of my younger years of distance running when I'd splash in the puddles when there was a cloudburst during a long training run. It's refreshing!

@3crows I get what you're saying about new tires first time in the rain. I take it easy even on dry roads until new tires are scrubbed in. A new bike is another story. You've got to learn the quirks and limits under different road and weather conditions.

 

[Critter]

I can remember my younger and dumber days getting caught in summer showers. By the time you could pull over and stop, get out and put on your rain gear you were soaked. It also never failed to stop as soon as you started riding again.

Of course if you didn't stop and put on the gear it just continued to rain and rain.

 

[Miss Mercedes]

I love riding in the rain. I especially love thunderstorms as they're extra fun. So long as my hair stays dry I don't care how wet the rest of me gets. I've once arrived home looking like I took a dip in Lake Michigan. I was dripping wet down past my bra!

My mum thinks I'm crazy. And sure, I guess it's silly to take a bike on a day with rain in the forecast when I have a car, but I'd rather ride and maybe get wet than take the car and wish I were riding.

 

[TriPlay]

Rain, heat, wind, sun it's what makes every ride an adventure. The trick is to be equipped to handling it. For rain #1 is a full face helmet and shield to keep your eyes protected, low windscreen so the air can keep your face shield clear and not further obscure your vision. Rain gear is nice but not mandatory. Rain gear is no use if you can't see where you are going. Sunglasses don't cut it neither do goggles. Over 30 mph raindrops turn into rocks. Snow? now that takes a different approach altogether

 

[SemiFast]

I like riding in the rain but I don't like ruining the electrics on my bikes.

I have waterproof rain gear that really is waterproof.

It's kinda like being in your own private little world in a heavy rainstorm, and staying dry, I like it and used to do it often.

But after replacing several switches and two main wire harnesses on two bikes I try to stay out of the rain when possible these days.

 

[GatorJoe]

I can remember my younger and dumber days getting caught in summer showers. By the time you could pull over and stop, get out and put on your rain gear you were soaked. It also never failed to stop as soon as you started riding again.

Of course if you didn't stop and put on the gear it just continued to rain and rain.

Could write a book on that Topic .. You just left out in Summer Heat you will get just as wet leaving your Rain Gear on after it quits ..

 

[Porky]

The OP lives in Wichita, Kansas, currently in a bad drought situation and SW Missouri where I live has been down on normal rain amounts and we are just working our way out of the same drought in the Heartland:sad:

It seems for at least the last couple of months, rain clouds are always overhead, like they are now and it may rain so hard for a couple of hours and stop, just to drizzle every other hour continually:sad:

This pattern has caused me to ride very little this year and I bet I haven't put a thousand miles or less on each of my bikes:surprise:

I never intentionally start a ride when it's raining, unless it's a group ride that has been planned for a long time. If I get caught in the rain then I just 'Man up' and keep going.:wink2:

Sam")

 

[Ray'ssporty1200]

Down here in central Florida I got used to checking the weather before I head out for a ride, it is accurate about 80%
of the time and I figure I'm better off going out and getting a good ride in, than staying in and it not raining that day,
yeah I lost a few days due to the threat of not so much rain but a real down pour only to have nothing happen, so I still
check the weather, look for dark clouds and go where they are not there.

Going for the Plant city ride has been interesting, if the weather showed rain along rte. 4 I figured it would be gone by
the time I was in that area, not always ! I'd be heading East and then I saw it, that big-ass dark plum like color of a cloud,
I had no rain gear on nor the time to put it on, so I just put on emergency flashers slowed down and knew I would get
a real good rinse job. I also knew that after the rain I'd be fairly dry a short time later, way I felt is maybe a higher power
thought I needed some freshening up, it really didn't matter, usually the temp dropped a bit, the sun was out, the bike was
running fine and I was glad to be riding.

 

[3crows]

I like riding in the rain but I don't like ruining the electrics on my bikes.

I have waterproof rain gear that really is waterproof.

It's kinda like being in your own private little world in a heavy rainstorm, and staying dry, I like it and used to do it often.

But after replacing several switches and two main wire harnesses on two bikes I try to stay out of the rain when possible these days.

You would think now in the 21st Century we could have motorcycles at least as waterproof as an automobile. That is part of my concern, motorcycles are really not especially well weather sealed.

 

[hogcowboy]

You would think now in the 21st Century we could have motorcycles at least as waterproof as an automobile. That is part of my concern, motorcycles are really not especially well weather sealed.

I know what you mean. There is even a recall on my bike for that very reason. Possible water intrusion could cause brake light failure. And yet they are all so proud of their computer controlled **** on these bikes. Just ride and do the best you can. I always figure that if it's my time it's my time and I'm not going to fight it.

 

[mike721]

I ride in rain all the time, occasionally something that shouldn't get wet does and acts up but at least for me it's never anything serious, a turn signal switch, the cruise control, things like that. They always dry out and start working again, sometimes with the help of a little WD40.

WD40 is great stuff for waterproofing and drying out electronics, a lot of people don't realize the story of just how Water Displacer formula #40 was born.

https://www.wd40.com/cool-stuff/history

You would think now in the 21st Century we could have motorcycles at least as waterproof as an automobile. That is part of my concern, motorcycles are really not especially well weather sealed.

 

[Porky]

Harley's have a problem with their switch gear getting wet and shorting out until the water dries out.

The one effect that was problematic was the KILL SWITCH, that would get wet and cause the engine to intermittently misfire, backfire etc.

This could happen in a bad rainstorm or more often from a coin operated 'power washer,' or an over zealous water hose.

Large 'Sandwich' bags and some rubber bands put over the controls solved the problem for the most part.

I have done something for years that keeps the gauges dry: Coat them down with a good, thick wax and let it sit there before buffing, especially if the bike is going to be left out in a rainstorm.

NEVER squirt water from a hose or power washer anywhere near the bottom of the gas tank, where most of the electrical stuff resides:surprise:

Sam:grin:

 

[Miss Mercedes]

Oh, so switches shorting out is more common than I thought. My Buell Blast had an issue where the any switch you used frequently in heavy rain (primarily turn indicators and high beams for me) would short. They would still do their job, however the speedometer cluster would go crazy falsely indicating a turn or high beams. Sure enough, if you let the switches dry everything goes back to normal like nothing happened.

Meanwhile, my 36 year old Suzie has the best switches (shoot, handlebars, even) I've ever used on a bike. The GL1100's switches probably need replacing, though the jury is still out on that until I find replacement turn indicators that seem to satisfy the expected load.