Winter riding with a gixxer ... in the cold

I searched every forum out there, and couldn't find anything on riding a gixxer in the dead of New England winter, so here it goes:

It's wonderful.

First, as every hard core winter rider will tell you, you need enough power in the alternator to charge the battery, high beams, fancy flashers, heated gloves, and a heated jacket. The gixxer has more than enough power to handle all of the above and a little more - like maybe a second jacket, or a pair of heated pants (which I no longer use because I just bought better pants).

Second, the rumors of japanese bikes kicking it with cold weather are quite false. I've ridden in -20F on three occasions this past winter, and regularly went out in 0ish, with no oil or hydraulic troubles. So whoever started that myth, should know that it doesn't hold on a gixxer 1000 from 2007.

Third, and this is a big one... the gixxer's battery is battle hardened. It started up with no problems all winter long. I did leave it in zero weather for a month without riding, starting, and with a voltmeter plugged in that slowly drained the battery... and it died. On a Buell or modern day BMW, a dead battery would spell the end of the road, and you'd need a jump start and several minutes of idle charging to get back into charge (because the EFI and associated electronics need charge to work). But on the gixxer, I just bump-started it with 3 runs, and I was up and running. The Suzuki somehow charges fast enough for it not to be a problem... why all bikes aren't designed to start from a dead battery, I don't know. But thanks to Suzuki, the gixxer 1000 therefore makes the perfect dead-start winter bike.

The only recommendation I would have - though this is for any biker, really - is to invest in a thermometer and a voltmeter. I keep them connected all the time, just for mental health, more than anything.