New rider in Saskatchewan, and a couple questions.

[Wildfire]

Hi Guys.

My name is Eric, I'm a Wildland Firefighter from Saskatchewan and had been tooling around with getting a bike for quite a while. 3 weeks ago I went and purchased a 2012 NC700XA that I had been watching on Kijiji. Getting a learners licence took a bit longer than I was hoping but I finished jumping through the hoops last Thursday.

Friday it was 1˚ and sunny so I took it the 100 km to the city to visit some friends for the weekend. I froze my arse off, but somehow still had a smile on my face when I got to town. Saturday and Sunday were a bit warmer and I got a few short rides in around town I really liked the bike in the urban environment. For the ride back home yesterday (Monday) I was dressed more appropriately for the weather with the addition of snowmobile bibs and some cheap bar-mits.

The ride home started OK but I hit some freezing fog and mist after about 20 minutes. By the time I got home my legs, arms chest and helmet were coated in ice. I don't plan on riding in those conditions again but I obviously wasn't getting much protection from the elements with the stock windshield in the high position.


I probably won't ride again until spring but am planning on making some additions and modifications over the winter.
On the list are:
Better windshield (MadStad, or National Cycle Vstream, other?)
Heated grips (Oxford Heaterz Premium)
Hand guards
Radiator guard
Auxiliary Lights
Some sort of rack to carry a couple dry bags and a unicycle.

On the subject of windshield I thought I had it pretty well figured out that you can't go wrong with the MadStad as long as you can afford it, but when looking at the bike today I noticed that a rock took out the bottom corner of the screen on Friday. This makes me wonder if having a acrylic windscreen makes any sense in Sask, where flying rocks are moderately common and I will be riding on gravel for a portion of most rides.

The heated grips and handguards are a no-brainer for me, I live in SK, the weather changes, things get cold, we deal with it.
I am considering the Acerbis Vision handguards with the built in auxiliary lights, I am not sure on the legalities here but I figure the extra visibility of the lights would be worth it in terms of safety.


My plans for the bike is to use it for trips home on my days off in the summer (1200 km round trip) and doing a bit of exploring as well. The bike is still on stock tires but I am hoping I rack up enough km to wear them out and justify replacing them with something a bit more aggressive for exploring and riding on gravel this summer.

Obviously a skid plate and crash bars would be a good idea before getting too far off the pavement but not something I want to sink too much money into until I put some miles on it and really decide whether the bike will hit the trails or stick to the roads such as they are.


Anyway that's my long winded introduction, So far I really like the bike and hope to get many many km on it in the next few years.

EDIT: I guess there wasn't really any questions in there, I guess I wanted to ask if anyone had advice on the mods I was considering or anything else. I am pretty new to the world of motorcycles.

 

[2brnut2b]

Welcome from Quebec Eric ! Have fun with your new bike. I think the mods you plan are the best mods you can do at first...
Cold now in Sask ? Here the bike is in storage until 15 march...

 

[tew47]

Welcome from Semmes, Alabama !! It snows here once every ten or fifteen years.

 

[bobcat]

Hello from Ontario Eric! I've got a 2012 nc700sa. Still riding down here. I put on the calsci shield and it's okay. This is a naked bike so when it's below 10c anything is cold. Hand guards would be a great addition,don't have them yet, and just might save you buying heated grips IMHO. I travel hard packed gravel roads quite a bit with the stock Metzlers and really haven't had any trouble. Every time I consider a dual sport tire I end up hitting the asphalt like a hooligan and stick with the street rubber. Don't write the season off yet,ya never know. Enjoy the ride man.

 

[Old Can Ride]

If I lived where you do, I would have to have electic clothing. Makes a big difference in the cold.

 

[Wildfire]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys. It has been unseasonably warm here for the past month so I feel pretty lucky I got to ride without the white stuff all over the place. A few years ago I was snowmobiling on a frozen lake the week after Remembrance Day (Nov 11).

Bobcat, it's good to hear that the Metzlers work well for you on gravel. I didn't have any issue with the little bit I did either but I stuck to the wheel track which was nearly clear of stones. I will have lots of opportunities to see what they feel like in the thicker stuff in the spring.

Old Can Ride: I will look into the electric clothing, that's not something I am familiar with.

 

[potter0o]

I'm from BC riding about 6-7 C at the coldest now. The only part that bother's me is the finger tips. Never had heated grips but I'd be more inclined for the heated gloves if you can find some you like. The ones I have tried are were pretty bulky. My commute is only 30 mins. If it were longer I'd have to find a solution.

Welcome btw

 

[Beemerphile]

Never had heated grips but I'd be more inclined for the heated gloves if you can find some you like. The ones I have tried are were pretty bulky.

Warm & Safe (and probably the others) have some thin heated glove liners that you wear under your winter gloves. They are not bulky at all. The wiring hassle of heated clothing makes heated seats and grips worth having for some conditions, and I use both frequently, but when the weather really goes to hell the wired clothing wins by a wide margin.

 

[SergeantChuck]

I live in Arkansas so its probably not fair to compare but I do ride year round with my limit being 19F (-7 Celsius). At that point I could not tell you if my heated grips were on or not but I can tell the heater gloves are on.

I like Beemerphile's comment about when the weather goes to hell and if I had to make a choice between heated grips or heated gloves I would choose gloves hands down. That is of course if you plan to ride in very cold temps. This is how I look at heated grips. Not everyone will agree with me but again, I ride all year long. The heated grips work best when riding in temps around 50F (10 Celsius). They get the inside area of your hands warm but that is not the area that gets really cold. Your fingertips go first. Heated grips do not help your finger tips and gloves provide more protection. I do like my heated grips and use them often but prefer to use them with light gloves. The thicker the glove the less you'll notice the grips.

Handguards are good because they block the wind. I definitely noticed a difference when I added them.

I love my Auxiliary Lights. If I turn them off I almost feel naked and like something is missing. Especially this time of year when the sun sets sooner. They serve two purposes. They make me more visible and they light up the road directly in front of my bike. I couldn't live without them.

I don't own the MadStad but you'll find more positive remarks about that screen than any other. You definitely can't go wrong there and should bite the bullet and just make that happen.

Enjoy your bike and I hope you have fun making it yours over the winter.

 

[Beemerphile]

There is another point about heated clothing that I wanted to make and haven't heard mentioned yet. While heated clothing is luxurious on a really cold ride, I would not trust it out in the boonies where cold weather survival is an issue if the bike quit running. Obviously, the heat quits when the bike does. If you hole a crankcase or have some other unrepairable malfunction out in the boonies, your survival might be in question if all you had was fancy electric gear.

My electric jacket went Tango Uniform between Haines Junction and Whitehorse in 36 degree (F) rain. I shivered on into Whitehorse and holed up in a motel fixing the jacket with parts from a Canadian Tire store. If it had failed away from civilization, and especially if the bike had failed, my outcome could have been disastrous because I did not have sufficient unheated gear with me. In populated areas, who cares, but in isolated areas it is OK to have but dangerous to depend on.

 

[bobcat]

Real good point beemerphile. And FWIW up here it's called crappy tire.

 

[Brillot2000]

I will look into the electric clothing, that's not something I am familiar with.

May be this will help you get acquainted with heated gear, Heated Riding Gear. There's more than this out there. Just be careful not to overload your electrical system with too much heated gear.

CONGRATS on the getting the bike recently. A great big "Greetings" from SoCal. I rode into work at 41° F this morning, this is our temps out there.

You have yourself a "Blank Canvas" to work with. There's plenty of accessories out there for the NC700X, you can make the bike into something that suits your needs and taste. Happy Farkling!!!

In the meantime say "Hello" to NaNCy...

 

[bamamate]

If I lived in Saskatchewan.........who am I kidding? You couldn't pay me to live that far north. I'm from Alabama and currently live in Arkansas. My heated gears comes out when the temps get below 50F. I don't have heated grips but have read from multiple people that heated grips plus handlebar muffs work great with just regular gloves. I went with heated glove liners. I wear them with regular gloves until it gets really cold as in below 40F (yes I'm a cold wimp) and the I bring out the polar gloves with the heated liners. I also have heated jacket, pants, and sole inserts. With all of that I can ride well below freezing in comfort. Another thing I've done, when I don't want to bring along the polar gloves is to use vinyl rain over-mittens. They are cheap and are total wind blocks. One tip with the heated gear is it should fit snug in order for it to be the most effective.
Brillot brought up power concerns which can be a valid concern. The NC has a good bit of excess watts available to run heated gear but I also switched the headlight out of an LED headlight which frees up enough watts to mostly cover the heated gear so I've never worried about it or had any issues.

Beemerphile brought up an important issue of relying on the heated gear. If it went out on me I'd slash my tire and call AAA to come tow me.

 

[Wildfire]

My eyes have been opened to electric clothing, but I am still skeptical.

I think that the heated grips should be more than adequate if paired with good hand guards. The hand-guards should do most of the work anyway. For the ride home on Monday I slipped some cheap bar mitts over my handlebars which kept my hands (and wrists) nice and warm. I took them off yesterday when putting away the bike though because while they did the job of keeping my hands warm they made it a bit harder to use some of the thumb controls and were pushed into the front brake lever by the wind.

My electric jacket went Tango Uniform between Haines Junction and Whitehorse in 36 degree (F) rain. I shivered on into Whitehorse and holed up in a motel fixing the jacket with parts from a Canadian Tire store. If it had failed away from civilization, and especially if the bike had failed, my outcome could have been disastrous because I did not have sufficient unheated gear with me. In populated areas, who cares, but in isolated areas it is OK to have but dangerous to depend on.

This is the biggest worry I have with the electric gear. That and having the unenviable choice between having limited battery time or being tethered to the bike and worrying about cable management for my clothing. 5 hours is not enough battery life when my route typically takes me 6 hours to drive. Then there is the "what if" situation. My route has a 300 km stretch with no cell service and no towns. I don't think I want to rely on electricity to keep me warm if I end up spending a night in the ditch.

Brillot2000: Nancy there is a sexy beast. I especially like the look of those Barkbusters.

I guess mine is not *quite* a blank canvas. I am the third owner. The first one put a Leo Vince muffler on and likely had aux lights (There is a switch not connected to anything on the right cowling). And the second owner added a center stand and blacked out the stock windshield (which is now missing a bottom corner).

Reading this forum is a bit dangerous and now I had half-cooked ideas in my head about replacing the back seat with a cargo rack...

 

[bamamate]

To keep the muffs from getting in the way of the levers, put on the frames for handguards but not the plastics. That will keep them out away from the levers. If the muffs will fit over the plastics then even better.

I believe you mentioned snowmobile gear so you do have good cold weather gear with the exception that it doesn't have the armor of motorcycle gear. You can get armor that could be worn under the snowmobile stuff.....wearing armor is a personally choice. I fall on the AGAT side (All the Gear all The Time.)

 

[DanH]

Hi Wildfire. I am from Yorkton, Estevan, Saskatoon among many other places and dated girls or worked in a hundred other towns from Flin Flon to Llyod to Swift to every other damn town connected to a grid road - which for everyone else are not your typical gravel road - some of them are just strips of hell blocking out farmland that vaguely resemble roads and are heavily traveled by extremely large equipment. You'd be harder pressed to name a town in SK I haven't been at least through than to name one I haven't. Yes, I've been to Hazel Dell - actually lived there - you have never heard of Hazel Dell - its near Preeceville - you've probably never heard of that place either.

So credentials established - Get rid of those Metzlers and get yourself some decent trail tires. Lots of folks recommend Continental TKC-80s and they are a good bet. They will give you all the traction you need on any road in SK and will probably handle a couple inches of snow if you have too.

For the cold - your snowmobile gear will do just fine. Taking bamamates advice about armour is a good idea. There isn't any snow to cushion your fall on a bike. I personally have a First Gear Kilimanjaro jacket and First Gear HT Overpants and they do fine down near and below freezing though an insulated jacket underneath is a nice addition. Granted that is $600 worth of gear and its not warm enough to double as snowmobile gear. Once you take out the liners and open the vents, its cool enough to wear in August.

If you decide to go with heated gear, you can probably rig it to work with your sled too. Not a bad idea, maybe....

my 2 cents - a nickle for you, I guess.

 

[Wildfire]

Hi Dan (and bamamate)

I am currently living in Bruno, taking some classes in Munster then moving to Saskatoon for the winter semester. I work out of Denare Beach in the summers so I would be taking the Hanson Lake Road to Flin-Flon to get there. That road is the reason I was hesitant to buy a older used bike in the past. Having a newish Honda gives me confidence that I won't be stranded anywhere near Bloomfields. I see the sign for Hazel Dell every time I go out to our land north of Danbury. My sister lived in Yorkton for a while and the only reason to go to Estevan is pheasant hunting.

I figure I might as well finish off the Metzlers, a couple trips north and south ought to do it, before upgrading to proper on-off road tires. Upgrades are always more satisfying when you know what you just upgraded from. TKC80 / K60 Scout seems to be the go-to combo that I am most likely to try. I might upgrade earlier if I know I need to take the cut-across to LA. That road can be scary in a 1 ton work truck.

I am a believer in AGAT, I just don't have AG yet.

 

[Beemerphile]

To keep the muffs from getting in the way of the levers, put on the frames for handguards but not the plastics. That will keep them out away from the levers. If the muffs will fit over the plastics then even better.

I bought an extra set of plastics for my Cycra ProBends and cut them down to the ideal size for use with the Hippo Hands. It gives a bit more hand room without stressing the fit.

 

[kpinvt]

Welcome to the forum from Vermont. When I first started riding in cold weather I always put a Frogg Toggs rain suit over whatever gear I was wearing at the time. The FT's are very durable and work great as a wind breaker, I still have and occasionally use the suit I bought 11 years ago. I usually ride wearing an Ebay purchased Aerostich one piece riding suit. What I used to keep my hands warm back then was hand warmers fixed to the inside of my wrists with the elastic top of an old tube sock. After a little while my hands and arms up to my elbows would feel warm. Once at my destination I would pop the hand warmers into a zip lock bag to stop the heating action and re-use them for the return trip. As for your windshield I wonder if you covered the bottom section with half a dozen layers of heavy duty crystal clear packing tape it would help deflect stones without cracking the shield.

 

[DanH]

Hi Dan (and bamamate)

I am currently living in Bruno, taking some classes in Munster then moving to Saskatoon for the winter semester. I work out of Denare Beach in the summers so I would be taking the Hanson Lake Road to Flin-Flon to get there. That road is the reason I was hesitant to buy a older used bike in the past. Having a newish Honda gives me confidence that I won't be stranded anywhere near Bloomfields. I see the sign for Hazel Dell every time I go out to our land north of Danbury. My sister lived in Yorkton for a while and the only reason to go to Estevan is pheasant hunting.

I figure I might as well finish off the Metzlers, a couple trips north and south ought to do it, before upgrading to proper on-off road tires. Upgrades are always more satisfying when you know what you just upgraded from. TKC80 / K60 Scout seems to be the go-to combo that I am most likely to try. I might upgrade earlier if I know I need to take the cut-across to LA. That road can be scary in a 1 ton work truck.

I am a believer in AGAT, I just don't have AG yet.

I like the cut of your jib. You made a great choice for a bike for what you need. There aren't many fuel stops on the Hanson Lake road or any other road in that area. You will want to invest in some extra fuel cells. Poke around and see if you can find a picture of the way Old Can Ride (OCR) has his bike set up. It would perfect setup for what you need. HONDABIKEPRO has a winch mounted on his bike and has used it to haul SUVs out of the ditch. You might consider something like that as well. BTW, I really like the K60 I run on the back. I have a Pirelli Scorpion trail on the front right now because its better suited for that way I ride but the TKC80 seems like a great choice for you.

I think my mom told me my niece and her husband just bought a place in Bruno - I might be mistaken on that though.

I remember one night coming down the Hanson Lake road at 140 km/h in a mild blizzard running right up the middle where the grader had passed just trying to get our butts back to Saskatoon from way too many weeks in Flin Flon. The crew just shut up and let me drive. I had to slow down to 80 to pass other people. That was a ride to remember.