BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

I fired up the Roadster and took it for a brief spin today. About 20 miles on back roads, just enough to get the oil warmed up and blow the cobwebs out after sitting idle for a couple of months. Temperature was in the high thirties; with no windshield or hand protectors it was a bit nippy. Hand warmers on full blast, Aerostitch heated vest, and it was tolerable up to about 50 mph. Now I've got the Airhead on the battery tender and if I can get enough of a charge on it I'll fire that up a little later today. Should be like night and day, with the full fairing and windshield.

There was a bunch of black ice on some of the roads, notably the east-west ones that get pretty shady this time of year. The north-south roads seem to get enough sun to take care of it by midday.

Just got back from running the same route on the airhead. What a difference a windshield & fairing makes! On the Roadster, I couldn't be sure that the heated grips were working, other than the fact that my hands didn't freeze. On the airhead, I had to turn the grips down to the low setting because they got too warm. I could have gone on into the night and run through a couple of tanks of gas and still been comfortable.

Of course, I sing the opposite tune in July & August, when I need every vent unzipped on my Aerostitch to keep cool.

OMG Mark!!! I'd drop the bike four times just trying to get it out of basement and onto my usual launching area. Never mind getting it actually down the driveway. There was a pretty bare strip down the center until last night when we got a few inches of snow. I cant even conceive of taking the bike out for at least another couple of months. oh well thats what the season pass to Mt Snow is for!!

Craig