I like the answer to cold questions I got from someone here years ago. When asked how they keep warm while riding, they ask the person if they've every gone snow skiing.

I'll ride as long as I can for the gear I have (which is not yet tested). I also need to do some research on how low a temp my bike can handle.

Not too long after the words 'Frost Warning' comes out of the weatherman's mouth...

But seriously - I usually retire the bike from December to March except for a few unseasonably warm days.

I had a finger/hand injured and surgically repaired back in '01 (only 8 months after breaking my neck in that same out-to-kill me state...uh,I was a trucker back then,LOL),and as I get older (only 36 now tho),seems it bothers me more below 30 F,then neck starts throbbing below 20 F or so,and that finger freezes/locks in whatever position it's in below 15-18 F,so unless I'm really itching for a ride,that's about it for me. I'm the "housewife" here now (LOL,albeit it with a hairy chin and chest ) and the wife is the bread winner (since last December),so no commuting,and we're way out in the boondocks (takes almost an hour to the closest Wallymart .............thank God,LOL),so not much in the way of "utility" biking either,so 95% of my rides,road or dirt,are pleasure rides....I miss living in town somewhere

-32c is about my cutoff point. Any colder and my legs just don't work properly.

Am I the only one thinking wind-chill is an irrelevant point for a cyclist, considering the moment you start going anywhere you're making your own wind-chill...just a thought .

Anyway, the coldest I've ridden in is -4oF and I've done that many times (for some reason that seems to be the lowest possible temp around here, must be the ocean). Each time, I dressed in a winter had, wind-proof shell with hood, scarf, two warm layers under the jacket, wind-pants on the legs (nothing more as they'll get plenty warm pedaling), and plastic covers for the shoes. Dressed this way, I was actully a bit too warm by the time I got to work, so I can imagine I could go much lower.

Conversely, when I was a kid I did farm chores when it was -27oF and walked two miles home all winter. The worst was when I got a ride home in the back of a pick-up...you wanna talk amout wind-chill .

A> lllamero, -40F is also -40C

B> i think there is no cutoff point, i think there is a range about 30-15 where it loves to snow that i dont bike alot in, but when it gets colder it gets better

C> wind and mosture content is a factor, when i lived in Anchorage, Alaska, i stoped about ten below, but up here in Fairbanks where it is dryer and no wind not found a cutoff