[SteveGriz]

OK, I am a newbie to Goldwings. Formally riding a Honda PC800 but got the new wing July 31, a 2007 with ABS.

I know it is hot outside, today it was 107 here in Austin so that may be the overall issue.... but.. I took a ride around the block to the HEB and was wearing shorts and closed toe sandles. ( I know, not all the gear :wrong

I almost burnt my feet and legs. It was very hot. The wife has complained of a lot of heat on her legs and feet as well.

Is there a fix for this? I made sure the vents were closed etc. I want to ride with shorts under my mesh pants but it may not be possible? Jeans and boots protect me from the burn.....

I love the bike and am not complaining, just looking for solutions. I know, I'll be complaining that it is too cold in the winter......

Thanks

 

[Tryker]

Solutions.

Mesh riding gear. You say you have the pants so you must know that it's cooler than bare skin because it keeps the sun off. I have FirstGear Mesh-Tex, there are many others. Bare skin will never be comfortable in really hot sunny weather. Even with...

Baker Air Wings. Both the standard dual wings, and the mirror wings are recommended. They'll also keep you warmer in cold weather.

Feet are another issue, but bare skin won't work there either. Same with hands, there are mesh gloves.

 

[silent67]

Gear

Well I should not say anything I guess. I will say however that when your bare legs and feet and arms hit the pavement which is probably over 150 degrees at the least you will know what you should have been wearing in the first place. :shrug:

 

[techdude2000]

I ride alot in town and it is very hot without good air movement. Your options are to ride with more clothing in town where speeds don't allow enough air or get out of the slow traffic and get some air circulating. :shrug:

 

[Jon Roberts]

I also wear shorts when it's high heat/humidity and less than 10 miles, I don't think there's a cure, it's just plain hot. Putting the feet on the highway pegs even while wearing long pants is even worse when it's hot, those radiator vents are like a blast furnace.

 

[Texas T]

So let me go against the grain before Bubba1 jumps in...

When it's that hot, you should be wearing full textile and NOT mesh.

Your body is 98-99 degrees, and thinking that wearing mesh so that the passing 105+ degree temps is going to cool you down is the wrong mindset. All it does is make you hotter, or if you're in a dry climate it will make you hotter and dry you out faster.

 

[GoldWingrGreg]

My standard riding gear is shorts, tee-shirt, Keen sandles that do offer good toe protection, and no helmate. I too have been in hot climate like that and just found it scorching hot. No matter where I put my feet, my legs, or feet, or shins, or somewhere on my legs was burning up. On that hot day (105 in Phoenix) long pants and boot would have helped. In my case, I have no add on wind deflectors of any sort.

 

[SteveGriz]

Thanks for the reply's. Yes I have the full Tour Master jacket and pants that go from mesh to two other layers. I have ridden with them comfortably in 16 degree weather.

It makes sense that if the temp is over 95 I need to block the wend instead of wearing the mesh for cooling, I just never though of it that way.

I have the standard dual Baker Wings. I have seen some with a wind deflector in front of the the engine blocks on each side. Not sure if they work well for this or not. May even make it worse??

Again thanks for the feed back. I am heading out to Hot Springs, AR Friday with a group of guys. Everyone be safe over the holidays.

 

[Tryker]

Mesh gear still works in temps above 98.6. The concept of the mesh gear is evaporative cooling. Letting air against sweaty skin is better, unless the humidity is near 100%. Very unlikely in temps over 100. I believe those who ride in shorts and t shirts would find good mesh gear to be cooler, because it blocks the sun. In addition to being far, far safer. A very minor accident in shorts and t-shirts has the potential to be truly awful.

Try the experiment, mesh against solid, same color, temp over 100. I'll bet on the mesh.

I've only seen the front mounted wings on trikes, they work OK. But what you really want is the mirror wings.

 

[Andy Cserny]

heat on the Wing

On a very hot day around noon a deer caused me to dismount at 60 some mph, I slid rolled and skidded some more before coming to a stop. I sure am glad I was wearing a one piece Aerostitch Roadcrafter suite, boots, gloves and helmet. Oh, did I mention it was very hot and somewhat uncomfortable? But not nearly as uncomfortable had I been wearing shorts, flipflops, tank tops and no helmet. Just my experience of one, not a controlled study. Guess what I am wearing this summer?
Andy

 

[TXREALTOR]

Like T said, gear is warm, no gear is hotter. I wear mesh pants but make sure to wear a good pair of long pants with them. Radiator heat can get brutal. Textile would be better and I am in the market for them, don't know why I ended up with mesh, I guess it wasn't brutal out when I bought them. LOL

It defies logic, but turn the vents as far off of you as possible and wear textile preferably with a good wicking shirt soaked in water. Sounds goofy for sure, but also works well. While sitting in stop and go traffic either way, you are hosed.

 

[Texas T]

Textile would be better and I am in the market for them, don't know why I ended up with mesh,

When I was first buying my gear in Houston, I too bought mesh.

It defies logic, but turn the vents as far off of you as possible and wear textile preferably with a good wicking shirt soaked in water.

Yes and no (IMHO). Since I wear LDC gear, I soak the shirt, close up the vents on the jacket, and have the mirror wings wide open to direct the incoming air up my wet sleeves.

 

[Dom C]

I've found that Olympia mesh jacket and pants over a t-shirt and cargo shorts, with over-the-ankle motorcycle boots, a full face Shoei helmet and the lower wings closed, with upper wings open, work pretty well in the heat. The full face helmet is cooler than the half helmet for me.

 

[wrongway]

My standard riding gear is shorts, tee-shirt, Keen sandles that do offer good toe protection, and no helmate. I too have been in hot climate like that and just found it scorching hot. No matter where I put my feet, my legs, or feet, or shins, or somewhere on my legs was burning up. On that hot day (105 in Phoenix) long pants and boot would have helped. In my case, I have no add on wind deflectors of any sort.

It's encouraging to hear that you're wearing "toe" protection. :twisted:
Sorry.........couldn't resist being an a$$ :thumbup:

 

[ZekeValk]

Here's another approach.

When I first bought my Wing in Nov 2007 there were a set of these on the bike:
http://www.directlineparts.com/product.asp?pid=955&str=4

I assumed these were to keep my legs from getting cold in the summer so when summer came around, I removed them. As things got hot, yes...occasionally you'd catch me taking a ride in shorts. Well, I noticed this heat on my legs...it was hot.

I quickly realized that these Leg Wings offer more in the summer than in the winter. When a friend bought a wing last year he asked me about the heat and I shared this advice with him. Worked for him too.

These prevent the wind from funneling through the engine, being heated, and then blasted at your legs - and your passenger will probably notice the difference too.

Continue with the ATGATT posts...

 

[Larry Price]

The important thing to remember when riding in hot climates is this, 96 degrees. At 96 degrees and above any sweat evaporates before it can do any cooling of the skin surface. To mitigate the issue, cover up, control the amount of air moving over the skin. Slow it down so that sweat can accumulate, use snug fitting garments that absorbs the sweat. Over that use a textile jacket and pants that you can control the air movement into and out of. (Zippered vents and sleeves) The trick is to allow just enough air movement so that the moisture in your sung fitting garments are allowed to cool the air a bit inside the jacket. Adding water to the under garments actually makes this work more efficiently. LD Comfort is specifically designed for this application and provides the best performance.

 

[Tryker]

The important thing to remember when riding in hot climates is this, 96 degrees. At 96 degrees and above any sweat evaporates before it can do any cooling of the skin surface.

That's physically impossible. When a liquid evaporates, it sucks energy out of whatever it's in contact with to do so. Period. It's why liquids can't get any hotter than their boiling point.

Sweating always works, unless the humidity is 100%. Then sweat can't evaporate. Look at a chart of the heat index. Lower humidity sends the heat index lower, because your sweat evaporates more easily. Nothing strange happens at 96, or any other temperature.

 

[TXREALTOR]

Yes and no (IMHO). Since I wear LDC gear, I soak the shirt, close up the vents on the jacket, and have the mirror wings wide open to direct the incoming air up my wet sleeves.

Well crud, I R getting my mesh and textile mixed up. Mesh is better with all the vents closed off, it slows down the drying out process, and you are correct about blowing air into the sleves. I wish mine had a wider opening at the cuff.

I'm so confused. LMAO

 

[Larry Price]

That's physically impossible. When a liquid evaporates, it sucks energy out of whatever it's in contact with to do so. Period. It's why liquids can't get any hotter than their boiling point.

Sweating always works, unless the humidity is 100%. Then sweat can't evaporate. Look at a chart of the heat index. Lower humidity sends the heat index lower, because your sweat evaporates more easily. Nothing strange happens at 96, or any other temperature.

My mistake... it's not 96 degrees, it's 93 degrees the normal temperature of skin. When the ambient air temperature rises above 93 degrees, heat then starts to transfer into the body. Sweating doesn't always work because the amount of heat transfer into the body exceeds the body's ability to produce the amount of sweat required to mitigate the convection of heat directly into the skin. Much like a convection oven. Hot air over 93 degrees directly contacting your skin is not your friend. How many ways does the body exchange heat with its surroundings? Conduction, Convection, Radiation and Evaporation. In still 93 degree air you no longer have a 4 ways to exchange the bodies heat load. You only have evaporation, and that consumes 7 oz. of water per hour to maintain normal body temperature. Conduction, Convection and Radiation is zero. At 103 degrees in still air Conduction, Convection and Radiation are now adding heat to the body. Evaporation now must deal with that heat load plus what the body generates at rest, except now the body must use nearly double the amount of water per hour to maintain normal body temperature at 12 oz. Now take that same body with 103 degree air temperature sitting on his trusty motorcycle and that hot fast moving air in full convection mode is transferring so much heat into the body that the amount of sweat per hour just to maintain normal body temperature jumps to nearly 40 oz per hour. How long can a body last sweating a quart an hour? But guess what, put a jacket, pants, and a helmet on that rider, control the air contact to the skin and that rider can cruse right along and only use 19 oz of water an hour. So there ya go, in a nut shell it isn't all about evaporation. Evaporation by itself cannot combat radiation, convection and conduction when bare skin is exposed to fast moving air.

 

[Tryker]

Evaporation by itself cannot combat radiation, convection and conduction when bare skin is exposed to fast moving air.

Actually, assuming the humidity is not near 100%, it can, because it takes an absurd amount of energy to evaporate water. The stuff is really well stuck together.

Here are some useful numbers. The amount of energy required to evaporate one ounce of water would change the temperature of ten pounds of water by 6 degrees.

Don't believe me, of course. Ask a qualified expert, like a physicist or a chemist. Best would be a chemical engineer, heat transfer is their bread and butter.

When you're cooling yourself by soaking your clothes in cool water, restricting airflow somewhat can be a useful strategy, to slow the time before all the water is gone. When you're simply sweating that doesn't apply, because you have a steady source of water. The more moving air you get over your sweat, assuming the humidity is not near 100%, the better. Mesh clothing works, and works well, because it shades you from the sun, while allowing airflow.

You're correct that dehydration is a serious risk, you must keep drinking.