I was just pondering your post. Rain on a car roof is pleasant. Rain on a motorcycle helmet can be problematic :) It gets really hard to see really fast, particularly if the temp drops and you start making fog inside your face shield.
I actually have a pair of gloves with a little teeny squeegee strip sewn into the seam on the left thumb for cleaning your face shield :) It doesn't work worth a diddle but the gloves otherwise are quite good.
Oh yeah, I know exactly what you mean about that helmet visor Sir Tom.
I used to travel to work every day in all weather conditions on a 60km return journey.
In the old days no helmets were worn and the rain used to sting the face like a thousand bees, so we wore goggles and wrapped scarfs around the head.
Can you believe that I never wore gloves? Even in winter.
Then with the helmets the fogging up was always a problem and it was worsened by a tinted face shield. So snails pace with a flipped up open visor and a handkerchief wrapped over the lower face was required 🤣
Oh and a pair of glasses lol.
In the 'olden days' I didn't wear gloves, either. Modern equipment is such a God send as to be unbelievable.
A couple of years ago I was headed for my brother's in Washington. I was in the last 50 miles of 1500 when the rain hit and the temp dropped 30f (maybe about 10C). I decided I could be in a hot shower in an hour so didn't rain proof or do anything.
I had to stop when I was shivering hard enough to input steering. So I put my face shield on, and the waterproof jacket and gloves (it was way too late).
The good old days just weren't that good in some respects.
Hahaha, yeah those shivers were really a thing of note lol.
I can see that you are a real biker and yeah, at times the weather had many surprises for us lol.
I stopped riding in 1980, which is a while ago, mainly due to a near death accident with injuries that lasted a few years and then became corrupted by car driving lol.
Took my brother in law's bike for a few spins and also my son in law's Harley recently, but never got another bike of my own.
But let me tell you that the old days wearing only jeans, t-shirt and sunglasses on a hot summers day, those bike runs were pure pleasures.
I don't have many miles without a helmet. I started riding at 13 and my mom had one rule. Wear a helmet. I bought a Bell for $29 because of the ad campaign "Do you have a $10 head? Buy a $10 helmet." :)
Jeans, t shirt and shades. I've got lots of miles like that. Leather jacket bought at a pawn shop that was so stiff I could hardly zip it for the winter. Those zippers were cool, but they leaked like crazy... I'd buy a newspaper and put the sections I didn't want to read on my chest for a little wind protection...
Today I am a believer in armor. I have a mesh jacket for summer and a wonderful riding suit for foul weather. I've got pants, but my favorites are armored jeans. Kevlar in the butt and thighs and zip pockets for knee pads. My summer boots are lightweight but I have a pair of waterproof (they really are) mid calf boots that are wonderful. And always gloves now days.
Wow, at 13 I was on my daily bicycle 🤣
I got married young after the army and had to buy a bike as I couldn't afford a car.
So you have a mountain of more riding experience than me Sir Tom.
Never had a leather and only a Denim jacket, so in winter I wore 2 jerseys under the jacket lol.
You seem to be professionally kitted out nowadays and it is always a good thing to wear protective garb. One never knows as over here people have very little respect for bikers. I always give them a wide berth!
I don't have many pictures of me :) This is a picture of my Foul Weather jacket. I bought it from a guy that quit riding but it was built in 1986. Pretty good stuff.
Wow! That looks so good Sir Tom.
A real biker guy here in this picture and I can see why you are called Big Tom!
One of my friends here @johannpiber is also a biker and he runs a Harley to work and back. I don't know if you know him? A good guy!
He also takes nature photos!