[DrD]

Please allow me to join the choir in singing the praises of heated gear. Some folks on another forum that I frequent encouraged me to get some heated gear near the end of the riding season last year. Well, I recently purchased a Warm and Safe heated jacket liner and gloves. I wired up the Paul Smart last night and used them on my ride to work this morning at 4:00 AM. It's been getting pretty cold overnight down here and this morning was one of the coldest but I was nice and toasty warm. Mmmmm. An extended riding season is a nice thing to look forward to when you're addicted to riding. If you don't already have some, you really ought to consider picking up some heated gear. It was really nice to make the 50+ mile commute in cold weather without shivering once or having cold hands. It was amazing. I could feel the liner warming me up by the time I was pulling out of my driveway, and I'm someone that takes off as soon as the bike fires up.

 

[Motomonster]

How well do the electrical systems on these bikes handle the extra load? Any problems?

 

[Cesare57]

With today supposed to be our 65th 100+ degree day this summer here in Austin, frankly I'm getting pretty tired of riding in "heated gear"

 

[MajorSoftie]

With today supposed to be our 65th 100+ degree day this summer here in Austin, frankly I'm getting pretty tired of riding in "heated gear"

But think of how little electricity your heated gear is using!

 

[JS sport classic]

I use the Gerbing jacket liner on my BMW and love it. I don't leave home without it on a trip in the winter months.

 

[RudolphHart]

I have a pair of Gerbing heated gloves lined up for use this winter.
Looking forward to toasty digits & being able to feel my fingers after more than 30 mins on the bike in winter.

 

[DrD]

When my 16-year-old son found out that I was wiring my bikes up for heated gear, he said, "Man, dad. People are gonna start callin' you a pussy." His comment came back to me a couple of days later as I was cruising along on my way to the beach and reflecting on what it was like "back in the day" (late-70s/early-80s) when I used to do things like take off for the beach on my RD400 with nothing more than jeans, tennis shoes, a t-shirt and light jacket, and an open-face helmet, maybe some gloves, maybe not. I'd leave when it was nice and warm and then come home after dark, freezing my ass off only to turn around and do the same, or a similar ride just for fun and adventure.



Now I ride around in full-gear, leather or textile, or some combination, roadracing boots and gloves, a full-face helmet plus heated grips and heated gear. I still love the adventure. For instance, yesterday, I rode from Mac out Westside Rd to Meadow Lake Rd, up to Old Bald Mtn Rd, over to Bible Creek Rd, then down to the coast. Stopped in Pacific City for a couple of hours at a picnic for my wife and son's Tae Kwondo class and then headed up Hwy 101 to Miami River Rd up to Hwy 53 over to Hwy 26 then up to Hwy 47 and home. All the time I was wrapped in the glorious warmth of heated gear. I didn't suffer for a moment. Who knows, maybe I am turning into a puss as I age. All I know is that I'm really looking forward to a markedly extended riding season!!!

 

[bobwire]

Being in Florida, I would like to see cooling gear!

 

[DrD]

Being in Florida, I would like to see cooling gear!

It's available.

 

[MajorSoftie]

Yeah, there's stuff you can soak in water and it takes a couple hours to completely dry out. You wear it under mesh and it really cools you.

 

[a63buggy]

I'm thinking heated gloves for me. Body has never gotten cold in my winter textile gear but ohh boy I've had 21 deg days where I wish I'd had something for my fingers!

Being a human furnace only gets the body so far. At some point the body says F' me and starts to forget to send circulation to the fingers. Damned selfish body core!

Edit: but if I've got it wired for power for gloves I just may have to try somebody's heated vest....... are they very controllable so I can dial the temp down for the body section. Seriously I'm a human furnace I wouldn't need much there

 

[MajorSoftie]

Most heated gear has an optional rheostatic control available.

Heated gloves are nice, but I'm usually good with heated grips, and they have the advantage of not requiring that you plug into the bike. They can't keep you comfortable to as low a temperature as the gloves, but boy they really do make a big difference.

 

[bassphreek]

Please allow me to join the choir in singing the praises of heated gear. Some folks on another forum that I frequent encouraged me to get some heated gear near the end of the riding season last year.....

The riding season ends out there?!? Geez, we ride all year 'round (well at least my family does). It must be the Swedish blood that courses our veins.

I take that back. I will ride all year. I don't because I hate when my precious Duc gets coated in road salt.

 

[geospencer]

I pretty much ride year round but I do it on my BMW with heated grips, a good windscreen and a heated vest.

I rode the PS one day when it was 15° F. I had to get it to the dealership and I didn't have a trailer. I'm not doing that again.

 

[DrD]

When my 16-yr-old son called me a puss for using heaated gear, it really got me thinking.
It used to take some serious commitment to a way of life to ride year 'round in Oregon, even more to do so on a Duc.
Being able to say you rode 20+K miles a year meant you were some kind of hard ass/ bad ass who had to suffer for his
Beloved sport/way of life. Not so much any more. I can go out, jump on my Duc in pretty much any weather short of ice/snow
On the road and be comfortable in one or another of my riding suits and count on my bike to be about as reliable as an anvil.
As much as I loced "the good ol' days'" I'll take being a puss in some people's eyes any day!