a comfortable autumn ride

[shoester5]

I live in the upper northwest corner or South Carolina and we have had a pretty severe summer. Every year since the weather has been recorded, Death Valley has recorded more temperatures above 100 degrees per year then any other place on earth except for 2007. Between July and August, there have been 23 days with record temperatures over 100 degrees in Upstate South Carolina and in mid-August a temperature of 113 degrees was recorded.

I’ve only ridden the 250 Rebel in the extreme heat and although it runs good, I had no ideal how good it could run. We had our first cold front come through over the weekend and the last two days have been a very comfortable 79 degrees.

I took the Rebel on a ride today and Man! Did it run great. It seems to have a hunger for cool air. Quicker throttle response, slightly higher top end, and 100 % more comfortable under all my leather…

I wish this weather would last all year!

[txsizzler]

Gotta love the air-cooled engines. Although my Rebel starts up much easier in higher heat, the Rebels really accel at more comfortable temps (at least from my experience). I live in N. Central Texas, and every year (except this year) we average from 40-60 days of 100 degree plus weather. This year, with all the rain, we have only had 5 days of 100 degree weather.

[MadRat]

Man!!! shoester, I thought it was bad here. I bet you ARE glad to see some cooler days. I was leavin' work one day, ridin' on some black asphault, and actually looked down to make sure my bike wasn't on fire. But, ya' know, I hate to see winter come. I'm gonna try to enjoy these next few wks.

I try not to give up the leather either, if I can stand it. My jacket is vented front and back and with the wind comin' through, sometimes it acts as a shade.

[b4v4]

Wow, shoester, that's dang hot. You're right about the cool air, though. It doesn't even have so much to do with the fact that it's air-cooled so much as it has to do with how much more the air can expand once it gets in the firing chamber. That real hot air, even when it mixes with fuel vapor, can only expand so much when it touches off. That little bit of difference in air temperature makes a HUGE difference in expansion, knocks the ol' piston down harder with each bang!

[ole Ed]

I too have noticed the better top-end power and higher speeds since it turned cool. This is my first summer with the Rebel and will be my first fall and winter also. Im kinda like you MadRat, I really hate to see summer go and winter come. I hate cold weather. Theres just not that many days condusive to riding.

[shoester5]

In my younger years, back in Chicago, a motorcycle was my only form of transportation. I would ride the bike rain or shine and in the dead of winter. Believe me, the winters in Chicago are usually colder then a witches (beep). By bundling up well and dressing in layers, riding a bike in sub-freezing temperatures is doable but at my present age (46), I’m not sure I could do it on a daily basis anymore.

The Rebel 250 is my first bike since a major motorcycle accident back in 1998 but I did rode a CBR900RR from Virginia Beach, Virginia to Daytona Beach, Florida in November of 1998 about month before the accident. The trip included freezing rain through the states of Virginia and North Carolina and didn’t reach comfortable riding temperatures till just south of Savannah.

I know the temps in South Carolina are milder then Chicago but last year the temps still got down to the 20’s. But, even in the coldest days, the temps still reached into the 50’s and sometimes the low 60’s during the afternoon and it really doesn’t start to get cold till the end of October around here.

With all that said, I plan on riding the Rebel throughout the winter. The bike is not my only transportation, so if it gets unbearable, I can always park it. I’ll make sure to keep you all informed of the winter progress.

[txsizzler]

Our weather here in Wichita Falls, TX is very similar to shoester's weather.. some nights down as low as the 20's and 30's, but most afternoons in the 50's to the 60's. Usually, a couple times every winter, we will have a day where the temperature doesn't get much above 32, but those are rare. Then again, I remember some winters where we had up to 2 weeks in January above 70, with some days getting as high as the low and middle 80's! No wonder Texas has some of the worst flu outbreaks of any state in the USA!

[MadRat]

Refering to what b4v4 said about cool air expanding more. I went to auto mechanics trade school back in the '70s. Our instructor said that back in his street/drag racing days, they would have a small tank in their trunk just for racing. He said they would actually "ice" it down to improve performance. Must have helped, they went through some trouble to do it.