Ridin' in the rain

How many of you guys intentionally take off for a ride in the rain ?
Up until know, I've avoided doin' that - I'm retired, don't have to commute and can be picky !!
Today, there was a light rain, I wanted to see how my 30mm bar risers worked, so off I went. I had a waterproof top, MX helmet with goggles, and wow - it was kinda fun. Waterproof pants and some kinda face protection woulda been nice too, but, wow, I had a good time !!
Up and until now, I've avoided the rain, but now, I'm thinkin' with the right gear, it's no big deal...........................

*looks around for Shewolf* Careful, or she will have you riding in the mud next.... Anyhoo.... Glad you enjoyed the rainy ride. hopefully it wasn't too chilly for you.

I don't intentionally do it because of the gear issue. Most of the time I can't see anything with glasses and visor fogging up.

I like riding on rainy days. Many, many mornings over the years I
wake up to a soggy, rainy day, load the bike in the back of the
truck and go ride some of the places around here that can handle
lot's of water on the ground, ie: wet, sandy stuff.

Here are some pics from a rainy day ride a month back. It rained and
drizzled all day this day.











For me, rain and dirt riding is fine - good fun. I try not to mix rain and the
R² with knobbys and pavement though.

I've ridden enough in the rain. I avoid it if possible. In general I won't start out for a ride in the rain, but if it rains while I'm out, well, that's part of riding. We do a lot of touring so rain is just a part of it, but it's not pleasant for a whole day, even with good gear.

Off road I'd sooner stay home as I have an aversion to mud. Too many experiences getting stuck in various things, but that's another series of stories.

Neat looking terrain scottmac. I wouldn't likely go there in the rain, but where is that?

inspector wrote:

I don't intentionally do it because of the gear issue. Most of the time I can't see anything with glasses and visor fogging up.

My experience is: Rain + Pavement + Rear Trailwing = NOT SAFE

Rain + Dirt = FUN + Bikewash time

ZED wrote:

Neat looking terrain scottmac. I wouldn't likely go there in the rain, but where is that?

Those pictures were taken out at the Hollister Hills State Recreational Vehicle area. A little
over 3000 acres of terrain open to motorcycles and atv's. The soil in the upper section is
decomposed granite - think really grainy sand. Very fun to ride in when it's wet.

There's also the East Garrision out at Ford Ord - it's a decommisioned army base now and
the east garrision is nothing but miles of sandy hills and scrub brush. The army used it
mainly for training manuevers. The only time it's really fun to ride is when it's pouring down
rain and the sand has soaked it up.

On the sportbike....no damned way. On the R², it handles a lot better on the 606's amazingly enuf.

scottmac wrote:

Here are some pics from a rainy day ride a month back. It rained and
drizzled all day this day.

Many people over here would pay considerable money for being able to ride at such locations. This looks really nice. We used to ride at some sludge pit for years. Both riding and cleaning bike used to be exhausting and cumbersome mostly.

I ride in the rain a lot..... sometimes everyday

I grew up on the Wet Coast so you end up getting used to riding in the rain. I have even raced in the rain, on DOT race tires, which is a sketchy experience. Last summer I raced sumo in the piss pouring rain and loads of standing water. Ended up being tons of fun and the supermoto bikes with rain tires are more than impressive in terrible conditions.

You got red plastics for your X it looks like. I haven't ridden much in the rain with the R², but then I haven't had much reason to.

Quote :

You got red plastics for your X it looks like.

Yes, and best of all, the red plastics triple the HP output. The WRX is a LOT more fun with 75 HP at the back wheel.

Yeah, red plastics and a 550cc v-twin shoved in there

I ride in the rain all the time on my XT, most of the time I don't have a choice in the matter, as my car is usually empty of gas...

the dirt tires get a bit squirrely on wet pavement but that usually means you're just going too fast for the conditions. I wouldn't ride the RD or either Beemer in the rain unless I absolutely had to...

You are not old enough to even know what an RD is, let alone own one. Isn't there a law about owning a bike that is older than you?

Four years ago I bought a rain suit for kart racing. I've used it exactly once so far.

So I started wearing it on my commute last fall whenever it rained. It works great as long as you have waterproof boots. At my last job I sometimes had to wear a business suit to work and never had a problem keeping perfectly dry.

CDNSXV wrote:

You are not old enough to even know what an RD is, let alone own one. Isn't there a law about owning a bike that is older than you?

Yeah, it's not a name you hear all too often, a rarity in the crazy world of supersport liter bikes and over the top gimmicky KTMs

As for riding in the rain, a good mantra to follow is, "Only if you have to" especially in larger cities... Drivers here... they don't know what to do around a bike on sunny summer days where your visibility is the curvature of the earth... Let alone rainy gray days where you're lucky to be able to see a few miles... Better safe than dead right?

Better get that heart bypass done on that RD there Tib so you can ride that thing up and lose the key to the ignition...

What year RD is it?

I have an '81 that I bought a couple of years back, nearly 20 years to the day from my first bike which was also an '81 RDLC. :)

Damn that looks like Tib's!! His is an 82 I think; black with red/orange stripes. Nice little bike. Long live the old 2-strokes. Yours looks in awesome shape.

The '82 is identical to the '81, the only difference being the color. My bike is in amazing condition, well it was. It is all in bits right now as it has turned into a long term project bike.

CDNSXV wrote:

What year RD is it?

I have an '81 that I bought a couple of years back, nearly 20 years to the day from my first bike which was also an '81 RDLC. :)

Make is black gold and red and thats my bike, 1982... She's currently in need of an engine overhaul... but when she ran... damn! it was funny watchign the supersport guys' jaws drop

Mine blew a crank bearing a while back and I haven't gotten so far as to replace it. I'm going to go with modern forks and a custom swinger so I can run 17 inch wheels with modern tires and brakes. Eventually I want it to look something like this.

*whistles*