Does it hurt a bike to ride it in cold weather, like 20F ????

 

As long as it has the correct weight oil, it will do a lot better than you will in sub 20* weather.

 

I can't imagine riding in that cold. Factor in wind chill....freakin' BRRRR!

 

The bike will be fine....the rider, not so much.

 

it was - 40F a month ago so 20F feels really nice and the clear roads are very tempting, still freezing on the bike, gets warmer in the afternoons.

 

You'll freeze your nuts off unless you have the equivalent to snowmobile gear.

 

I would have to AGREE 100%

 

The cold oil draging on the crank and not flowing to the heads causes minimal problems. It sounds worse starting than it is. Extra fuel is consumed warming up with the enrichiner. Be sure to ride a good distance to warm it all up and blow out the extra enrichiner carbon.

 

Bike will do just fine, and so will the rider with the proper gear.

I've rode at interstate speeds for 60 miles in single digit temps. Bike was fine, and so was I with heated gear.

I did ride some with temps in the teens before the heated gear, but that was really uncomfortable.

 

The bike had been sitting with a nearly empty gas tank since the end of November. I was able to get a short 20 mile ride in in early January but that's been it since the cold weather began.

It finally cleared up enough to ride to work. I let the bike sit outside, uncovered so I had a bit of frost on the seat this morning. It was 28*F and the bike started right up. I let it warm up for a few minutes and took off.

I have about a 13 mile ride to work and I chose to take the interstate. I wore my full face helmet, baclava, leather jacket and polartec gear. The fingers got a bit numb, as did my legs after 10 minutes at 65 mph. The bike ran great.

This afternoon it was sunny and in the low sixties so the cold morning ride was definitely worth it. We're going to have similar weather thru the weekend. Hope to get in some more riding before the weather sours again...

I'll ride into the upper 20's, occasionally down into the teens. But I much prefer "slightly" warmer temps .