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Forty degrees does not feel like forty at speed. Enter the air temperature and your riding speed and get the wind chill your gear actually has to handle.
The conditions
On a bike, you make the wind
Use your road speed as the wind speed on a calm day. Riding at 55 mph into a 10 mph headwind means about 65 mph of wind over your gear.
Motozmo Wind Chill Calculator – motozmo.com
Your result
How it works: the NOAA wind chill formula, 35.74 + 0.6215T − 35.75(V^0.16) + 0.4275T(V^0.16), where T is air temperature in °F and V is wind speed in mph. It is defined only for temperatures at or below 50°F and wind above 3 mph, and this tool says so instead of showing a number outside that range. Frostbite times are guidance for exposed skin, drawn from the NOAA wind chill chart.
Wind chill is about exposed skin and gear, not about how cold the engine or tires feel. Dress for the wind chill figure, not the air temperature, and cover exposed skin first, because that is where frostbite risk comes from.
Related Guides
How to Stay Warm Riding a Motorcycle in the Winter — staying warm on winter rides.
Motorcycle Winter Base Layer — layering under protective gear.
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