Try riding in this...

[Little Green Machine]

Hey all, this is a typical Arizona dust storm, try riding in this?

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/album...pictureid=8804

[Duchess]

Holy cow! I don't know what would be worse, the sand or some rain/lightening

[lgk]

i wouldnt ride in that unless i wanted my engine sandblasted.

typical as in weekly?

[Sigma.40]

Originally Posted by Duchess

Holy cow! I don't know what would be worse, the sand or some rain/lightening

I'd go with the sand, rain/lightening isn't that bad.

[Little Green Machine]

Originally Posted by lgk

i wouldnt ride in that unless i wanted my engine sandblasted.

typical as in weekly?

We have gotten one of these for the last four afternoons, three of them I had may bike at work. Fortunately, it had cleared out by the time I left to go home. But I see bikes riding in this crap all the time, it's a way of life here.

[lgk]

Originally Posted by Sigma.40

I'd go with the sand, rain/lightening isn't that bad.

i rode during hail, rain, high wind, and lightning.

not pleasant at all, but i still think the sand is worse since it does abrasive damage to the bike and rider.

[Little Green Machine]

Well, I think I may have single handedly kept the air filter company in business with trying to navigate thru this kind of stuff this year. It would be nice if we got a little rain afterwards, but this is the product of the storms building up outside of the valley, then dissipating and letting the outflow winds kick up as much mobile real estate as they can.

[YMCMB]

WOW! No thanks!
worst I've rode in was a downpour Forcast said NOTHING about rain at all talk about 80 degrees bright sunny rode to the mall on the way back at night (Only had t shirt jeans Icon brown boots and a Icon Stryker and icon helm and gloves on coming home it was ice cold rain 25 mi ride backed up traffic. COLD rain hitting my arms it sucked.

[Little Green Machine]

Originally Posted by YMCMB

WOW! No thanks!
worst I've rode in was a downpour Forcast said NOTHING about rain at all talk about 80 degrees bright sunny rode to the mall on the way back at night (Only had t shirt jeans Icon brown boots and a Icon Stryker and icon helm and gloves on coming home it was ice cold rain 25 mi ride backed up traffic. COLD rain hitting my arms it sucked.

Rain would be a welcome event after just such a dust storm. The rain knocks down the dust, so at least you can see.

[YMCMB]

Originally Posted by Little Green Machine

Rain would be a welcome event after just such a dust storm. The rain knocks down the dust, so at least you can see.

Not when you have a darkened visor and driving in heavy cold rain and your helmet fogs up with the visor down fully lol. But yeah rain would knock that dust down and clear road ahead.

[Little Green Machine]

Well, you see the expression here is "it never rains, thats why it's a desert", so rain is good, just raise the visor and drive! The rain will help wash out the sweat that you have in your helment pads and kill two birds with one stone so to speak.

[cuong-nutz]

You're air filter would be clogged to hell probably.

[YMCMB]

Originally Posted by Little Green Machine

Well, you see the expression here is "it never rains, thats why it's a desert", so rain is good, just raise the visor and drive! The rain will help wash out the sweat that you have in your helment pads and kill two birds with one stone so to speak.

On the freeway 60 mph half the way there, rain literally coming down sideways in my direction.

[sombo]

Interesting, the 4 years I was stationed in AZ I never once saw, nor heard of any dust storms going on in state. This was back in 2000-2003, and there was never a dust storm that I knew of in the state at the time.

[Little Green Machine]

Originally Posted by cuong-nutz

You're air filter would be clogged to hell probably.

Yes it does, literally mud. I enjoy my gas mileage being 63.5 MPG right now, but one of these storms, mixed with a little rain and that MPG drops way the hell off.

Originally Posted by YMCMB

On the freeway 60 mph half the way there, rain literally coming down sideways in my direction.

Wonderful isint it? It has begun to rain here now, heavy and sideways! I just by luck, did not bring the bike in today because this might happen. It's sitting nice and warm at home in the garage, so the air filter gets one more day of reasonably clean air!

[Little Green Machine]

Originally Posted by sombo

Interesting, the 4 years I was stationed in AZ I never once saw, nor heard of any dust storms going on in state. This was back in 2000-2003, and there was never a dust storm that I knew of in the state at the time.

^Aparently living a secluded barraks life^ We get them every year durning the Monsoon season, they usually start around that barren place between Tucson and Phoenix called Eloy.

[sombo]

Originally Posted by Little Green Machine

^Aparently living a secluded barraks life^ We get them every year durning the Monsoon season, they usually start around that barren place between Tucson and Phoenix called Eloy.

Nope, was going up to Phoenix pretty much every month. Still never saw or heard of any dust storms.

[Motofool]

That is an amazing picture!

I hope you guys don't use wax on your chains over there.

[Little Green Machine]

Wax the chains? LOL, no but cleaning them daily is part of the process.

[Firehorse]

And for your convenience...here's a vid of just what it's like to ride through a dust storm in Arizona. This is my "buddy" from another forum. Nice guy, he's got some great videos. This is on a bigger Honda so imagine what the wind would be like on our ninjas! He even had a nice cop stop to make sure they were okay - how cool is that??
Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcBHF...1&feature=plcp

[Motofool]

Great video, Ms.T!!

I was referring to chain lube;...........seeing the last portion of the video, I wonder how long any chain and sprockets could last in those conditions.

[Firehorse]

Originally Posted by Motofool

Great video, Ms.T!!

I was referring to chain lube;...........seeing the last portion of the video, I wonder how long any chain and sprockets could last in those conditions.

Yeah, he's got some good ones. He just bought an enduro so I'll post up any interesting ones here too.

Hmm, that's a good question. I'll ask some of the arizona folks that ride that stuff daily. What about brake pads, would the extra grit just end up giving you a nice shiny brake surface instead of a proper grippy one?
And you'd really find out quick how tight your helmet is. The top vents in mine would result in two little sand castles on top of my head.
I'll post back when I find out what sort of tricks they have to use.

[Little Green Machine]

Here is a photo taken today, the clouds are building up again and getting ready to unleash the wind and dust.
http://www.ninjette.org/forums/pictu...pictureid=8809

[JustRidin]

Dang! Remind me not to move down there!