Riding your bike on a hot day is one of the best things ever. Hot wind and sun on your face, whiles enjoying the dry roads. The heat, however, can be quite challenging. I’m someone who gets got quite fast and staying cool on a hot day is an absolute must for me.
I’ll share my 14 best tips on how to stay cool during a hot day. Hopefully, these tips will help you to stay cool as well, and enjoy your day even better!
1. Stay hydrated
Staying hydrated is key on a hot summer day. A fresh beverage isn’t just refreshing, it’s an absolute must! Staying hydrated keeps you from losing focus or ultimately getting dizzy on your ride.
There are several ways to drink on the way. The easiest way is by stuffing bottles of water under your seat. This will only work when you have enough space underneath the seat.
My bike has very little space under the seat, so I cannot store any drinks in there.
Another way of bringing water is by using a Camelbak. A Camelbak is a bag full of water which can be worn on your back. It’s like a backpack full of water. The
Personally, I just stop at a gas station once every while. I always tell my buddies that I want to stop at least once every hour and that we have to make sure we stop at a place that sells water. It’s usually a gas station, but it can be a pub, supermarket or street vendor as well.
Make sure you drink enough. Don’t underestimate the sweating. I ensure drinking AT LEAST 500ml per hour.
2. Don’t forget sodium
Sweat contains sodium, so the more you sweat, the more sodium you will lose. The problem is that replacing this sodium isn’t easy.
Sodium is the most vital electrolyte, which helps to maintain blood plasma volume and transport water from the bloodstream to working muscles. Essentially, water doesn’t do any good if you don’t have enough sodium in your body.
The amount of sodium needed differs per person. It’s all about how much sodium you sweat out. Somebody from Brasil will usually sweat less than somebody from Iceland.
There are different kinds of sodium heavy drinks like:
- Sports drinks (between 107 and 272 milligrams per 8 ounces of liquid)
- Vegetable juices (885 milligrams per 8 ounces of liquid)
- Canned soups and bouillon (between 800 and 1800 grams per 8 ounces of liquid)
The perfect combination for me would be a soup up front (hot food/drinks make you sweat less), sports drinks on the way and a nice glass of vegetable juice when arriving home.
3. Wear a mesh motorcycle jacket
This tip seems quite obvious, but somehow I still don’t see a lot of riders wearing mesh jackets. Seriously, mesh jackets have been an absolute blast for me! This makes the biggest difference of every single tip in this list.
A mesh jacket is a motorcycle jacket that is designed to let air flow through. It has mesh panels on key parts like the chest and back area. This allows wind to blow against the body and dramatically decreases the heat inside the jacket.
Loads of people question me about the safety of a mesh jacket. Fortunately, good mesh jackets are fairly safe. They offer armor on impact and are designed to no tear apart when sliding of the asphalt. Most mesh jackets are done once you go down, so they are a one-time thing. But as I said, it’s absolutely worth it for me!
Do you want to know more about mesh jackets? I wrote a buyers guide on the best mesh jackets for motorcyclists.
You are able to see through my jacket, which means air can blow through as well. 
Mesh jacket, short gloves, motorcycle jeans, and a tinted visor. This keeps me cool on a hot day.
4. Wear a cool T-shirt
Most riders only think of their motorcycle clothing when it comes to keeping cool. You shouldn’t underestimate the impact of proper clothing underneath your motorcycle jacket for example.
Always try to wear cotton or sweat absorbing shirts. Try to avoid shirts that are made of any plastic-like material, as they will not help to stay cool.
I usually wear one of my stay-cool shirts from Nike underneath my mesh jacket. This shirt absorbs sweat and spreads it out all over the shirt. This means that the complete shirt will be damp, but I don’t have overly wet areas around my armpits and on my back.
Another
5. Make your shirt wet
Wearing a wet shirt is an extreme measure to stay cool during a hot day. Make sure you only use a wet shirt when it’s extremely hot outside. Wearing a wet shirt could cause you to get a cold, so make sure you don’t use this method on a cooler day.
Why does a wet shirt help? It works the same way as a specialized cool vest for motorcycle jackets. Read the tip below to learn more about this method.
6. Use a specialized cool vest
Motorcycle cool vests are designed to stay you cool under any circumstance! How do they work? It’s quite clever actually.
The vest is designed to soak up water. You simply soak it at home and wear the vest. When you start riding, warm wind will blow against the vest, causing the water to evaporate.
The evaporating water creates a cool environment around your core and helps to carry away the body heat.
Some cooling vests are specially made so that they can be zipped into a jacket of the same brand, whiles other vests can be worn individually. I personally don’t have experience with a vest like this since it doesn’t get extremely hot, but I’ve heard great stories from people in southern California.
7. Wear motorcycle jeans or mesh pants
After focussing on the core, we can see how we can stay cool at the rest of our body. Wearing the right kind of pants definitely helps with staying cool on your motorcycle.
On a hot day, I like to wear my motorcycle kevlar jeans. They appear to be a normal pair of jeans
Wearing jeans makes riding on a hot day more bearable. Do you get to extreme temperatures? In that case, a pair of mesh pants might be a good choice for you. They work the same way as the mesh jackets and allow loads of airflow. They are definitely the best choice on extremely hot days, but the jeans do just fine for me.
8. Keep moving
This tip might be obvious, but it is so important! Just make sure you keep moving on a hot day. For two reasons, that is.
First of all, moving will create a stream of wind that will decrease your body heat. A mesh jacket won’t do much when standing still in traffic all day.
Another reason is engine heat. A motorcycle engine can get quite hot, especially when there is no wind blowing against the radiator. All this heat will flow up, onto your body.
Do you have to go through heavy traffic? When possible (and allowed), try to filter through traffic. Is filtering no option? In that case, you might want to consider taking a detour. It might mean some extra miles, but moving keeps your body cool.
Gauntlet gloves (hot) Short gloves (cool)
9. Wear cool gloves
Wearing the right type of gloves can also make a big impact on how cool you stay during your trip. There are different types of gloves and some are not suitable for hot weather.
You can sort motorcycle gloves into gauntlet gloves and short gloves. The gauntlet gloves usually provide more protection, since they cover the wrist area. Shorter gloves don’t cover the wrist area but do allow more airflow.
My choice on a hot day is a pair of short gloves which allow air to blow through. It’s a huge difference with my other pair of gloves, which are gauntlet gloves.
I understand that not everyone has the budget to buy several pairs of gloves. Do you only own a pair of gauntlet gloves? In that case, I advise you to wear the gloves inside your jacket sleeves. This allows air to blow past the gloves, into the sleeves. This little trick already helps with staying cool.
10. Open up all the helmet vents
They say “keep your head cool” for a reason. A cool head means a cool mind, which is super important when moving around in traffic!
Make sure to open up all the air vents in your motorcycle helmet. Every helmet is different and you cannot simply ‘add’ extra vents to your helmet. Do you feel like your helmet is too hot? Try to look for a new helmet over time and keep the ventilation in mind.
Modular or open face helmets provide the maximum amount of airflow. But I wouldn’t advise you to go for one of them! They do not cover the face and/or chin area, making it super vulnerable. I’m not the best looking guy, but I like my face. I do not want to rub my face against a stretch of asphalt.
Instead, you might consider going for an off-road helmet. They are open as well, but they do protect the chin area. They are usually worn with a pair of goggles, preventing your eyes from catching bugs.
11. Take breaks
Taking breaks is essential. I already told you that I take a break at least once an hour to get a beverage. During my break, I also make sure to take off my gloves and jacket. This allows your body to cool down.
Make sure to stay in the shade when possible and take a break of at least 10 minutes. You’ll feel much better after your body cooled down.
12. Stay away from air conditioning
Air conditioning might sound very tempting. Air conditioning gets every hot place cool. You might want to go inside a gas station or supermarket during your break, and staying inside to cool down seems like a good idea.
Unfortunately, cooling down fast isn’t a great idea. It can cause a cold, but will also make you feel hotter once you start driving again. Your body will get used to the cold air and starts burning energy to stay warm. This might take a while, which means your body is heating itself by the time you hopped back on the bike.
Just stay outside and stay in the shade, it’s best for everyone!
13. Do not short on clothing
This is my only tip on what NOT TO DO. Leaving your jacket, pants or gloves seems an easy option to stay cool on your bike during a hot day. I strongly advise you to not short on clothing!
First of all, the clothing protects you from the sun. There is a reason why the
Secondly, the clothing protects you from injury. Sure, being hot on your bike is a very unpleasant thing. But crashing your bike whiles not wearing protective gear, is unpleasant times a thousand. Just do-not-do-it!
I will not add pictures of people who fall without gear on my blog, but you can imagine what it looks like. It’s like grabbing a sanding machine and pressing it against your body as hard as you can, for at least 10 seconds.
14. Tinted visor for your helmet
This last tip might be a bit of a cheat since a tinted motorcycle helmet visor will not keep you cool. I still added it to the bottom of this list, since it is an absolute blast for anyone who drives in sunny weather regularly.
A tinted visor keeps the sun from blinding you. I also feel like my tired get less tired when riding with my tinted visor.
Just make sure you only wear your visor when you ride during sunny days. I’ve used it on late summer evenings when the sun was already down and it’s super scary and dangerous to drive like that since you won’t see a thing.
Stay cool and keep the right side up!
That’s it for today guys and girls! I hope these tips helped you in your search to cool down. Do you have any additional tricks? Make sure to share them with me and the other readers by leaving a comment below.
Have fun riding and keep the right side up!