Modern Vespa

Man I hate it! Raindrops feel like needles on my face given the open helmet I chose to wear today.

"Take it easy", I tell myself and "no sudden moves" and if any cager wants to honk at me cause I am not riding at 40km over the limit, well they can kiss my arse.

Kept to the limit and as much as my face would tolerate and made it home safely. Man I sure could have used s Thermoscud today. Wiped down Donatella and turned on the fireplace to thaw out my man-bits.

Ride safe everyone, and no crazy stuff in the rain please.

I rode my first major storm today. In rain gear but it still was brutal. I rode northerly through this one for 100 miles. I needed a hot shower and some tea to get me back feeling normal again. I saw no other two wheelers out there. What a buncha weenies

The first time I ever did ride in the rain, I absolutely hated it. It was a strong downpour, but I only had to ride 5 miles but I was nervous as could be the entire time. Now of course I live in Southern California so rain is a rare sight but I've ridden it at least a dozen times now.

I rode back from San Diego (180 miles) in a heavy rain the entire way, at night on my GT 200 doing 70 MPH the whole way. I was never uncomfortable, or felt I was at risk... Unless of course one of the many cagers - which don't know to increase following distance in rain, especially following a PTW - was choosing to ride my ass for miles.

Its an acquired skill, and one you grow less wary of as you do it more and more.

First rain ride of the year for me was yesterday. I was quite thankful for my windscreen and full face helmet. Some of the drops were big enough to feel through my jacket though. Mostly it was just the crap visibility for 30-40 minutes before I rode out of it. Made it the rest of the way home ahead of the clouds.

Yesterday I rode in rain, high winds, blinding sun, and sometimes all three at once. That was a classic PNW Spring day!

By the beard of Zeus!

Too true. This was not my first, but I certainly maintain a high alert and caution every time.

Soulsurferr if they kiss your arse your going down , you may want to rephrase that that cause sometimes you get what you wish for.

Having said that i love riding in the rain. i always have the right gear, ride as upright as possible. Watch for the painted lines , and never ride fast on cold tires.

Show off.

perhaps, but a lot more polite than flipping them the bird. I'm going for a nicer "me" these days cause Karma is a B!T¢H.

these threads make me chuckle .... if we didnt ride in the rain here we wouldnt ride .... grow some balls .... get some suitable tyres.. rainwear a good fullface with a pinlock n a dab of raincoat n ride the fecker ... its not hard or scary its riding a scooter .... youve as much chance of sliding off on a hot road as a wet one

then when ya get home ya get stripped n change ya knickers cos sitting upright catching rain on ya groin somell get in there

Realist. If I wasn't willing to ride in unpredictable weather my riding season would be about 60 days a year.

I honestly admire your skill. I have been caught in a few "nastys" and I can honestly say the cagers seemed to be more scared than I was.

The first time I rode in the rain was while taking my M1 exit test. Riding in the rain with a broken speedometer.

I was riding yesterday too Pierre. Luckily, I still haven't felt warm enough this Spring to take my Termoscud off my bike.

Is there a button for "jealous"?

Ride in everything with the exception of snow and ice which is shy I didn't ride the scooter to Michigan to work during the later part of February through the beginning of April. Rented a cage for that. Otherwise the scooter is my only transportation.

Sometimes I actually prefer to ride in a light rain in Texas. Best crossing of West Texas was when I kept riding in and out of light rain with a mesh jacket. Get just wet enough that when I rode out I had something approaching a/c as the wind and sun evaporated the moisture from my coolmax shirt underneath. By the time it was dry I was back into light rain. Made the crossing much more comfortable than any other I've done. OTOH, stuck in traffic on an interstate that didn't move more so that it took almost an hour to go 7 miles in a drenching downpour at 60f wasn't a lot of fun but good rain gear and a pinlock on my visor made it bearable. Then again being stuck in traffic and not moving anytime isn't fun either.
I won't ride in ice but short of that I'm usually willing to at least give it a shot if I need to when I'm touring.

I used to not mind that much except for our "tropical" rains (downpours that can give you a few inches in just minutes. Very dangerous since we get severe ponding on the roads. Water has been thru my wheels more than a few times.However this winter changed all that. Rainy and windy. Between the rain and the roads i hate it. Have put the fewest miles on my scooter in years. Maybe i'm getting old but even with rain gear i hate it. I always detail my scooter after i get caught in the rain as well. Went thru 4 cans of Honda spray cleaner in just a few months. Plus the idiots drive even worse here in the rain.

I remember driving through Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle in August when it was 100+ without a/c. Brutal.

Right gear it is actually better on the scoot/bike than in a car without a/c. Coolmax long sleeve shirt under a mesh jacket, better yet the Brosh Coolmax Kevelar jacket. Light colored pants with vents. Camelback filled with ice and gel padding between the bladder and your back, without the back pad in the jacket. The gel will get cool and stay cool until well after the ice is melted. Melting ice gives you cold water to drink since it is very important to stay hydrated. If really warm bring one of those mist spray bottle (like they sell at amusement parks and beach areas but you don't need the battery operated fan on them) if you won't be hitting some showers. You can dampen your coolmax shirt when you stop for gas. Air flowing through the mesh jacket will work like an evaporative cooler. You need long sleeves even with the mesh to keep the wind from leaching every bit of moisture from your skin. I've picked up one of the new Columbia "freeze" shirts which are supposed to keep you 10-15f cooler without using any water to try on the cannonball when we go into Louisiana. I hope to get a chance to try it out sooner and if it works as advertised I'll pick up another.

Amen! I used to commute all year long and you get so used to restrained riding when the roads are wet that you go a little crazy when it's dry...

As they say from your parts..."It's The Water"

I rode 946 under the rain yesterday, she passed the test. I rode my PX under the rain many times. The most rain riding I did last year in Belgium during VWD 2013; it was rainy every day; by rain I mean heavy rain. My red Corazzo gloves were soaked, when I took them off my skin was red after four days of wet riding I started to like it.

The best advise regarding riding under the rain was given to me by my friend, karting race driver and vintage Vespa enthusiast and tourer. He said:" ride like you usually ride, never mind the rain. If you try to adjust your skills on the go, if you don't trust your gut feelings, your muscle memory, your experience -the chance you crush is higher. Just don't ride over piles of water and keep longer distance."
His advise makes sense. Many moto skills are counterintuitive such as relaxing when instincts want us to be tight, to look away from the dangerous object on the road when we instinctively want to "lock" on the object and so on.

Some of us haven't been riding since we got out of diapers. My ride included torrential downpours, 30mph winds and thunder and lightning. It was entirely new to me. If I could grow a pair of balls I would have several times over by now

This seems to be a US/Canadian thread but I can assure you that it rains in GB too. I have a full height screen on my Beverly 350, which is very nice until it rains (or gets dark!) To see the road ahead you then need the same squinting technique used to see the hidden 3D image in those dot pictures. The rain-repellant spray only seems to work at high speed (which is not ideal when it's wet) and then the rain get blown off and lands on the rider!

BTW - the term 'cager' was new to me and probably to most Brits. I had to look it up in the Urban Dictionary. I'm assuming definition 5 was not the intended meaning: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cager

There's some Brits in this thread assuming of course you'll claim a tyke. Cage = car/truck, cager = person inside said car.

Screen on my Scarabeo is a bit on the tall side and isn't much fun in the rain though I can sit really tall and look over it or lean out to the side which I do occasionally to clear off my helmet visor which sheds water better.

I once got caught in a hail stone storm

Now that's painful

Russ

I live in sweden, I ride in the rain a lot, there is nothing to it, honestly. But if you wear an openface helmet I guess it is not so pleasant. Dress appropriately. I have waterproof pants on my always, and a rainjacket under the seat, there when I need it. I wear fullface always.

One good thing is that you have so much smaller contact patch than a cage, more weight per area, that aqua planing is less of an issue. Just be careful with white lines, leaves, manholes, stick to the black stuff, ride smooth and you are fine.

I have ridden through 3 winters in Dublin Ireland, commuted over a mountain on really bad roads. But, I rode a Kwak KLX 650 then. So much fun, but it was cold.

When it rains, a proper rain shower is MUCH better than a weak drizzle, it cleans the road and your visor. A drizzle does not clean your visor, but the road gets wet so the other vehicles throw up road dirt that sticks to your visor. Much worse. A really hard downpour is intimidating though.

Do the 7 drops of rain I rode in today count? That's alot for the desert ya know.

We finally had seasonal breaking rains here in the past 2 days! WOO!HOO!
I should explain that since the start of October we've had only 22mm, but the last 2 days we've just more than doubled that again. Wonderful stuff!

So this afternoon when I get to ride home, I'll have to ride through.........
1. Wet slippery clay (red grease ) for the first 10km.
2. Potholed single lane (4m wide bitumen) with puddles filling the ditches across half the lane, but only for 10km.
3. Cross the causeway. It's 2m above the riverbed, and it's only been raining for 2 days so the inland won't have enough time to flood it yet, it'll be fine.
4. More single lane for 5km.
5. Dual lane bumpy highway for 75km, gravel running across the road, filled and overflowing ditches and puddles on both sides, a few branches and stuff across the road, a few rivulets 3" deep running from paddock to creek across the road, etc.
6. It's still raining!

Who's up for a ride?

Are you sure that was rain?

One of the best rides we ever had was a 350 miler up to Guyman (in the Oklahoma panhandle, for you non Oklahomans/Texans) in repeating light rain, just as you described. I'll never forget that day.

Good question...although I've never actually seen a bird piss.

That would make an awesome name for a metal band..."Bird Piss".

It is sad that I know this, but birds excrete both at once. Hence the watery multi colored fluid.

Around here, one has to be careful about following behind cattle trailers.

I may have finally thawed out. Took a MSF Experienced Rider couse in Ayer MA yesterday in the rain at 42-45 F degree temperatures for six hours and then made the hour and half ride home. Brrrrr. I don't think I have ever come as close to hypothermia. A hot shower helped to thaw me out a little but it was not as much fun as I had hoped for doing it under those conditions. I signed up for the course two months ago when I thought April 26 would be spring time. On the positive side I don't think I'll need to give my GTS a bath for awhile and I passed. I was, of course, the only scooter taking the course and everyone thought I should be able to make "my little scooter" do the two U-turns on a dime. Let's just say my tight turns on not my strong suit.

Yeah, been there-done that, the next day I had little 'pea sized' bruises all over my arms and chest. A few months later another more severe hail storm, I pulled over there was however no real shelter, I wished I could have just crawled up into my helmet!

As for riding in the rain. It's not one of those 'WooHoo, let's go out and do that' things on my list. I just try to remember to keep some sort of water repellent gear under my seat and remember to take it easy on the wet roads as well as being hyper vigalant of other vehicles.

I took my MSF in the beginning of April last year while it was raining. Brisk was putting it lightly. It was my first time on PTW of any kind on a track next to the beach. I was very thankful for my cage on the ride home. But I have to admit I'm glad I took it during cold weather than the blazing hot sun.