Question for BC riders
 

Will be moving to Vancouver in the coming months. Curious if people ride year around?

I'd appreciate any advice on gear and riding equipment.

I can answer based on having lived in Victoria (just across the water) for 5 years.

Pretty much, you can ride year round. It might be wet, and it might be cold, but it is not common for the streets to be covered for continuous days with ice or snow.

Having said that, I would not want to rely on a motorcycle as my only form of transport 12 months of the year. You will often have days when snow falls at night and it is still on the ground until perhaps 11 in the morning. That means you need to find some other way of getting to work in the morning. Similarly, you might get cold snaps from time to time that leave the roads coated with black ice - you don't want to go riding on that.

Michael

Thanks Michael.

Dan:

If you do intend to ride year-round in Vancouver, it would be worth your while to consider getting a one-piece suit such as an Aerostitch Roadcrafter.

Such a garment will serve two purposes: It will provide you with more than adequate protection in case you have an accident or take a tumble, and it will also keep you warm & dry if you are riding in the rain. When buying such a suit, you want to size it so that you can put it on over top of normal indoor clothes. That way, you can dress for work, put the Roadcrafter on over top, ride to work and just take it off.

Aerostitch's factory is in Duluth. You mentioned in another discussion that you were thinking of riding out west via the US (going south of Lake Superior). If that is the case, then it would be well worth your time to visit Aerostitch in person for a fitting.

Their garments are not inexpensive, but the quality is legendary, and their stuff lasts - literally - forever. I have a Roadcrafter that I bought 15 years ago and use regularly, it still functions as well as it did when it was new.

Michael

Yes, get ready for quite a bit of rain, we moved to SSI, BC from Alberta at Christmas and even I was surprised how much it rains here - and I'm British!

I do like the idea of the Aerostitch one piece suits, but they work out to be nearly $1700 CAD, I use Klim Traverse Gore-Tex pants with an MEC Gore-Tex rain jacket over my riding jacket, I will have to start saving some beer tokens for a Roadcrafter.......

As Michael says, there will be days in Winter when you cannot ride, so have an alternate means of transport lined up.

I think PanEuropean gave you a great answer. Vancouver, the lower mainland, and the southern end of Vancouver Island get a lot of cool, rainy weather from say mid-October until mid-March - but it is rare to see ice or snow last more than a handful of days. I keep my bike insured and on the road year-round.


Temps in January are usually still above freezing, even at night, and often we can get a spell of warm dry air coming in from the Pacific. It isn't unusual to have wet slushy snow one day, then have long-sleeved golfing weather the next.


You will want to some good rain gear that slips on easily over your regular riding gear.

I live on Central Vancouver Island {after moving from the North Island} and ride year around, have done so for many yrs.. I put up a picture thread of a year of riding on Vancouver Island here: B.C. Daytripping | Adventure Rider