Still bloody cold

I live in Canberra, and went to Sydney yesterday to help a mate move his model A Ford....

Didn't have a lot of time so slabbed it up via Federal / Hume highways.  Had to try damn hard to keep the bike below 130.... I still can't see why we have such stupidly low speed limits on such big roads with such long distances....

Weather on the way up wasn't too bad, but I was wearing many many layers.... Pheasants' Nest was blowing a gale....

Did my work in Sydney for 3.5 hours and then left again at 5pm.

Despite my best amateur efforts to lane split, got stuck in traffic for a good 40km. Fuck, Sydney traffic. Oh dear.

Once the sun went down it got COLD.  Today I am sore from trying to ride behind my screen at 130km/h to keep that freezing wind off my chest.

Moral of the story is I hate riding at night in winter.

Question I have is HOW MUCH difference does a full fairing make? My legs were NOT cold under my three layers. It was my thumbs and chest that copped it. Yes, I have heated hand grips. No, they aren't awesome.

The right fairing on the right bike makes a huge difference.

I rode from Canberra to Bathurst about this time last year - it was actually snowing part of the trip so it qualifies as my coldest trip - my temp gauge reads both coolant and ambient - the outside temp was down to -5 at one stage, but the trip wasn't too bad. 

I've fitted the heated grips but had not wired up the new controller so they weren't working.  I do have the V-Strom guards , I think they are a better option for keeping the wind chill from getting to the fingers.  As far as upper body chill, I've got the MVA Screen with the additional spoiler, so no hassles there either.  Full fairing kept the heat in and legs fairly warm, though I am concerned about summer trips, hence why I have the temp gauge along with two preset warning lights as well as a fan-on light. 

Even had to take my Aldi thermals off, I had too many layers on

About this time last year I rode from Canberra to Cooma and then down to the Bega Valley.  Between Canberra and Cooma it was -7c and the fog froze on the visor before it could be swept off.  I had to stop because I just could not see anything with the visor down and it was too cold to ride with it up - and it was too frozen to wipe it away.  That was so much of a problem I didn't notice anything else but my fingertips were also bloody cold.  It's no wonder I'm not retiring to live here.