Riding your Bike in Hot Weather

Hot and Cold weather conditions can make all the difference as to whether you enjoy your motorcycle ride or not. Very few riders venture out during the winter months due to the poor British weather conditions, but as we all know spring and summer normally offer the best and safest riding conditions.

However, although very rarely mind due to the poor British weather, it can sometimes be too hot for riding during the summer months, unless you are prepared.

Luckily, bike clothing manufacturers realised there was a niche in the market for specialist clothing to keep riders cool on their rides, but there are a number of things you can do to keep yourself cool.

Choosing your route

Quite a few bike owners will ride their bikes for pleasure only, so their choice of route is more open to suggestion than a rider who uses their bike to commute to and from their place of work everyday. Motorways make journeys far quicker, but they usually involve you being exposed to a lot of direct sunlight.

Here are a few things you may want to take into consideration when planning a ride in hot weather:

Shade

A road that is lined with lined leafy trees can be many degrees cooler than a motorway due to the shade it provides. Not only will country roads offer you better protection from the sun, but they also have the added bonus of being a lot more fun to ride, as they usually offer lots of great curves and hills to negotiate.

You should try and avoid any routes that include lots of traffic lights. Stopping at lights regularly means your engine will get hot very quickly (both air and water-cooled engines will both suffer). Also the heat from both the road and the engine rises which in turn will make the rider overheat.

Traffic jams and road works

Roadworks and traffic jams can result in a back up of traffic and should be avoided if at all possible. Always check your local news and traffic reports before setting off to make sure no road works are taking place on the route you’ve planned. If you are unfortunate enough to get stuck in a traffic jam unexpectedly and are likely to be there a while, switch off your engine. This is particularly important for air-cooled bikes.