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[J-Carr]

Nothing like some "shirt berries" to make the day even better.   

Wondering if there's a common denominator, so:  What do you see with HOG rides?

One: Our HOG group is too clique for me. 
Two: I'm not happy with their attitude towards safety.  They take routes that have some really bad pullouts.  I know you should be able to ride before you join a group ride.  But not everyone does.  I've had too many close calls because someone swings out of their lane, or whatever.  Not usually a problem for me because I give plenty of room around me.  But they have a number of crowders in the group and then people start swerving and slamming breaks and the whole thing turns stupid.  You have to plan the ride for the group.  When I was a road captain I tried to institute a beginner, intermediate, advanced ride classification so people would know.  Our dealer squashed that plan.  She loves large groups.  Gets her picture in the paper more.  Better free advertising.
Three: Size of the ride.  30 bikes pulling into a mom and pop restaurant on a Wednesday night means you're not getting out of there until 9 at night.  An hour ride home and I still haven't done a single thing around the house.  Ugh.
Four: Destinations.  I've been there done that.  Our group keeps going back to the exact same places every year.  Even though I'm not an officer anymore I get pestered all the time to do another ride to Gettysburg or another Philly Cheesesteak ride.  Sheesh pick somewhere new.
Five: This one's gonna get people pissed, but the fact is - A HOG Ride shouldn't be church.  We have a ton of very Christian folks.  Fine, I don't mind waiting silently while y'all say grace and I can plan rides that don't leave Sunday mornings because everyone has to get back from church first.  But when I have to watch what a say because a curse offends this one or a comment about a pretty girl offends that one, then screw it.  Being a biker is about freedom.  I'm not acting like a rapper here. I'm talking about getting a talking to because I commented that there weren't that many wet T-shirt contests in Sturgis last year.  That's exactly what and how I said it.  No thanks.  I work in government office and I can be more free with language here.

On the original subject, there is some very nice high end gortex rain gear.  Way too thick and bulky for me.  I like my Harley suit because it packs up nice and small, but still has a liner and better closers than the other low end rain gear.  Believe me, I live 12 miles from the big Cabelas in PA and work 1 mile from Bass Pro shops.  I've looked at every piece of outdoor gear there is.  I'm not claiming its for everyone, but it does keep me dry, goes on and off easily, and doesn't tear or have the zipper break the 2nd time you use it.  It is WAY overpriced and yes you look like a walking HD billboard.  But I buy on sale using gift cards and discounts and don't really care how I look.

And I don't care how good it is.  Beemer gear is fugly.  Never. Nope. Nada. Not gonna happen.  No way.  No how. 

[TNCarters]

Been using the old HD Gray/Black suit with reflective pin stripe gear for about 4 years.  Its not bright and a bit bulky but it works.  I also have a set of the rollup light weight HD suit for times that I want to pack light but have never had to use it. When the old HD rain suit goes bad I'll probably pick up a set of the newer orange gear at a sale.

[Dan_Lockwood]

This is the suit that I bought.  My wife ended up with the small in men's as they did not have this in women's.

I hope it works out for us.

[J-Carr]

That's the one I have.  No leaks yet (other than the aforementioned puddle).  Just make sure you don't bunch it up in the front.

Oh, an no melting.  That's something we haven't mentioned in this thread.  Not all heat shields are equal in location or function.

[T-Hawk]

When I was much younger... I would ride (solo) from Virginia to Texas and back at least once a year.  Always ran into a little rain here and there.  Always either eventually ran out of it, or it was coming at me from the side and didn't last very long.  Still, I got a little wet... and then a few miles down the road I was dry again.  Never, ever, considered rain gear.

Well, in 2012, when my oldest boy and I decided to ride our bikes from Alaska to Texas and back, I still had never considered rain gear... and the forecast along the way didn't look to be all that threatening.  Boy was I wrong.  About 4 hours into our first day, we started getting a 'little' rain.  Then, it turned into a 'regular' downpour.  This is where rain gear would have been real handy, as for the next 10 hours, it rained non-stop.  In those 14 hours from home to what became our first stop... we had only covered 420 miles.  We were soaked, and a little hypodermic by the time we pulled in for the night.

The next day we stopped in at Whitehorse, YT and purchased some rain gear.  Never had to use it the rest of the 3,580 miles... even though we had a few sprinkles along the way.

On the return trip home to Alaska, I had my Wife riding back with us.  Now we all had rain gear.  As we were transitioning into New Mexico, it was very obvious that just ahead was a large thunderstorm.  So, we pulled over in 110°F and put the rain gear on over our leather jackets and chaps.  Quickly got back on the road so as not to explode from the heat building up, and wouldn't you know... after about 30 minutes on the road, the Storm had passed before we could get into it and all we had to ride through were the wet roads.  The humidity was crazy, and just added to the Heat Stress our bodies must have been experiencing.  But when we could, we pulled off the road and shedded the rain gear.

The rest of the way home, we had clear skies all the way.  It was an awesome trip, and I would have to say... it's better to have it along with you and never need it, than to start out and wind up riding for 10 hours straight without, it in a downpour.

[J-Carr]

We were soaked, and a little hypodermic by the time we pulled in for the night.

I got hypothermia in May of 2005 in thunder/hail storm just north of Baltimore.  Temps dropped form 85 to 65 in 10 minutes. My rain gear was sitting at my buddies house in my detachable saddlebags (Sportster days).  I didn't need it because it was beautiful and warm.  My buddy got it worse.  He had to have his hands pried off the bike.  He'd shivered so hard his hands cramped on the bars.  He almost crashed trying to get his feet down when we got to his driveway.  There was no where to pull over and get shelter.  By the time we got to somewhere to stop it was only 10 more minutes to his place.

I did the redwing 19 Iron but charity ride a few years back.  It rained 650 of the 1000 miles.  No rain gear would've been suicide.

I do on occasion gladly get soaked on a hot summer day.  Depends on my mood, distance and expected ferocity of the weather gods.

[Dan_Lockwood]

J, thanks for the input.  At least one person has what I bought and it works okay.  And yes, I'll try not to have it folded or bunched up in front and I'll stay away from the pipes.

Thanks again and I hope you all have a great 4th Holiday Weekend....     

[J-Carr]

Thanks.  To you also.  Good luck with the new suit.