I try to ride through the winter, WX and roads permitting. In practice, I find that if it's below 40, it's less fun than otherwise. I'll ride as long as it's above 35, though.

 

for me it is more about snow and ice on the road, also if the sun is shinning it helps.
Did a toy run at 25 and no sun, then on the way home it started spitting ice. Not Fun

 

Most of the time, I would safely say, anything below my age I don't care to ride in, but there are days that are in the high 50's I will ride in, lolol.

 

Down to the 20's.

Bike doesn't get "put away" or "stored" for the winter....as nice riding days still crop up during the winter.

Won't go out when there is heavy sand...but they don't do sand/salt much anymore, they do that white/pink pellet chemical blend anti icer now. Usually after heavy snow, roads are plowed well and that new stuff they use melts it down nicely so it's bare pavement.

I have a warm water tap next to my garage so I rinse off the bike quickly if it's showing that white frosting on it from that stuff.

I don't put my truck away for the winter either.

Heck my wife has even ridden with me..here's an old pic from New Years day a few years ago....

 

Coldest I ever rode in for any real distance was 28 degrees when leaving Datil, NM about 7:00 AM. After about an hour of riding east it warmed up into the mid 40s. I was dressed properly so it wasn't bad. Toes got a bit chilled even with 2 pairs of thick hunting socks, but nothing I couldn't live with.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Datil,+NM+87821/@34.145815,-107.844015,9z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x87213a10a3923079:0xd4871e2e4dbc0f71
BTW, if you are ever in the area of Datil NM, stay at the motel there. That's about all there is in town...literally...but it was great. YMMV

 

Isnt there a temp where an air cooled HD doesn't want to run right? I remember riding my Sportster one year in Late Oct. and somehow the engine was "chilled" it started running badly, didn't leave me sit though, but twenty minutes of highway speed in the cold did something to it, maybe it was the gas. I still don't know

 

I'll play. It' doesn't get cold enough around here so I have my bike shipped to Nome Alaska in Jan. and put chains on the tires for traction. If I get stuck one of the locals pulls me out with their snow machine.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my nominal understanding of an internal combustion engine is that it runs BETTER in the cold, dense air. I know my car certainly seems to have more power and is faster in the cold. Add cold and a coat of wax, and my car is unstoppable. [Just kidding about the wax. ]

 

Yep, the colder the air is going into the air cleaner, the stronger the engine is going to run.


The problem mentioned above could have been some gas that was causing a problem, or more likely, the crap from the breather bolts getting pushed into the intake might have been globbing up and causing problems. But if running an External Breather System, that is not an issue.

 

Touring bikes from 11 on have oil coolers with 185 degree thermostats. So do the HD optional ones for the Dyna and Softails. However the HD oil cooler for the Sportster does not.

Last winter in the 20's the bike mpg went from 50 mpg to the low 30's. The next day when I went out I covered the cooler with duct tape first. It went right back to 50 mpg. In the 30's and up the engine will get to the operating temp so that the ECM does not activate the enrichener thinking the the engine is cold.

If the engine operating temp goes below 160 degrees it just will not run well.