R66 advice please

Fast Eddie

Fast Eddie

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Chaps,

Not long now before me & a mate are doing the Chicago to LA route.

We’re doing it from the 10th to the 24th August.

Can anyone advise suitable riding attire? How hot is it likely to be? Is a leather jacket and jeans OK or am I gonna melt?

Any advice appreciated.
 
Yes, Some days may be extremely hot in the month of August. You could get lucky, but I would bet you'll get some very hot days on your route, into the 90's and possibly more. Personally, I like to wear a leather jacket with some armour, but I don't always do that. If it's really hot, I'll go with zero protection and wear a Tee shirt rather than be hot and sweaty. It's a trade off of safety for comfort. I pretty much always wear a half helmet too which is cooler than a full helmet. Some people endure the heat for the extra protection. Certainly, that's a personal choice. If you have a light weight jacket that lets air flow through it, and has some armour, I would bet that would be the jacket of choice for midday riding in august.

Also, clear skys don't hold the heat when the sun goes down so it's cold at night too....
 
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I rode through Vegas once when it was 112 degrees F. The brown aluminum door handle at the fuel station was covered with a shop rag so people would not burn themselves when they grabbed it. The dark brown levers on my Goldwing were so hot that I could not touch them with my bare hands.
My advice is an evaporative cooling vest and a mesh jacket, but there are some that cover completely with a riding suit. This is better than bare skin. Carry lots of water. I use a gallon jug with a hose and bite valve so I can hydrate on the fly. Having exposed skin is a mistake. In lieu of a cooling vest, you can pour water from a bottle in your tank bag on your shirt. It's the evaporation that cools you. This evaporative cooling works in the dry heat of the southwest but does not work as well in the damp heat of the south east.
Take the heat thing seriously as you can get dangerously dehydrated very quickly when in the wind on a motorcycle. We came across a Harley guy wearing jeans and a leather vest with no helmet at a fuel stop in Utah. While refueling I noticed him sitting on a curb over by the building. He looked bad. My riding partner and I convinced him to come inside and then put much lemonade in him. We stayed with him until he felt better and promised to put a jacket on before he resumed the ride. He was very close to being in serious trouble. Heat stroke can kill you.
We have supplemental fuel tanks so we can go 300 + miles between stops so we have to carry a lot of water. You should carry enough water to drink, keep wet, and still have a large reserve. You could break down out on a dry hot plain.
My favorite area to travel is the Southwest. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Safe travels!
 
Re: XTINCT"s post ..... +1. Read it and believe!

The thermometer was at 114 F (46 C) when I hit Needles CA at high noon in July, riding my Atlas transcontinental. I had to hole up in the shade for 5 hours before crossing the desert to Barstow CA, about 180 miles IIRC. The desert between Needles CA and Kingman AZ, about 65 miles, is as brutal as that in CA.

Slick
 
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The Cowboy Way works too ... wet cotton cloth tied around neck to evaporate works wonders in keeping you blood cooled .... also wet hair inside a full face helmet with open vents is much cooler than my Bell open face with no air holes .... good luck , have fun ... there is a Rt. 66 license plate on wall in my shed ....
Craig
 
I do hope that you realise that some of the old Route 66 is no longer there and on some parts you have to go “off Piste” so to speak to find it. How do I know? I watch too many TV travel & motoring programs:(
 
texasSlick said:
Re: XTINCT"s post ..... +1. Read it and believe!
Click to expand...
really believe it!!! once traveling through the southwest in a car with no ac we had the windows UP to keep the hot air from blowing in.
This link is to the National Park Service site for Rt 66
https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/route66/maps66.html
I used to live in St Louis, if you go by Ted Drew's (it is on 66) stop and get a frozen custard, it is a St Louis icon.
 
Ok, you boys made me listen, I went and bought a full mesh jacket for the ride.

However, looking at the weather forecasts, I’ll need to take a waterproof oversuit too !
 
I bet you already have a nice rain suit ... Where I am usually not as hot and I generally use a Klim Apex jacket and their latitude pants both are textile and leather with Gore Tex bonded to inside with lots of vents ... pretty much covers it all around here .... although still more at ease in the old faithful leathers
Craig
 
Nigel, I would add mesh pants, mesh gloves and ventilated riding boots to the list.
I haven't done rt 66, but I have ridden in some 100+ f weather in the US Midwest.

I take the ventilated setup for most tours now.
When cool weather is encountered I put the rain gear on over top.
When cold weather is encountered I turn on the heated vest and maybe add a layer underneath the mesh plus use rain gear.

With the various combos above I keep comfortable from 40degrees f to about 100 f.
Above 100 f and an evaporative vest is helpful, although 104f in Montana last year was OK as long as we were moving.

Glen
 
Bernhard said:
I do hope that you realise that some of the old Route 66 is no longer there and on some parts you have to go “off Piste” so to speak to find it. How do I know? I watch too many TV travel & motoring programs:(
Click to expand...

In some places it is there but in very rough shape. The section near Oatman, AZ comes to mind. This was early September a few years ago and there was lots of flooding and closed roads. When a road is closed out there it may mean a 100 mile detour. Needles was 110 degrees +. "It's a dry heat" is the local joke.
 
worntorn said:
Nigel, I would add mesh pants, mesh gloves and ventilated riding boots to the list.
I haven't done rt 66, but I have ridden in some 100+ f weather in the US Midwest.

I take the ventilated setup for most tours now.
When cool weather is encountered I put the rain gear on over top.
When cold weather is encountered I turn on the heated vest and maybe add a layer underneath the mesh plus use rain gear.

With the various combos above I keep comfortable from 40degrees f to about 100 f.
Above 100 f and an evaporative vest is helpful, although 104f in Montana last year was OK as long as we were moving.

Glen
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Good advice Glen.

This time I went with mesh jacket and mesh gloves. Trousers are Kevlar jeans. Boots are ‘normal’ Daytona boots.

So far the set up seems good. Sweatiest thing seems to be my head!

We had one day of rain so far, so I put on my waterproof over-suit, but it made me sweat so much it’s 50/50 as to whether or not I’d have been wetter without it!

Still heading west though, and it only gets warmer still....
 
44 degrees Celsius today.

That’s a tad warm by my standards.

Am very pleased I invested in a mesh jacket, that along with a wicking tee shirt is excellent.

Still on the warm side today though!

And... sorry for any offence this may cause... look away now if you’re of a delicate disposition... but... I gotta say it...

I’m lovin’ this Harley !!
 
Probably too late for this trip, but I also found rain suits to be too air tight and clammy. You got wet if you did not wear it because of the rain and wet if you did from your own body moisture. I switched to breathable Frogg Toggs. Much better.
 
XTINCT said:
Probably too late for this trip, but I also found rain suits to be too air tight and clammy. You got wet if you did not wear it because of the rain and wet if you did from your own body moisture. I switched to breathable Frogg Toggs. Much better.
Click to expand...

Just in time in a way... I can at least check them out in Walmart while I’m here !
 
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