Santa Claus brought me some Christmas moneywill be enough to spring for a heated vest of some sort. I'm looking to extend my riding season maybe a week or two on either end. Plus, it'll make that last 15 degrees that I do ride more comfortable.
Currently I cut off at 37 degrees. I tried once this year at 33 and my fingers were definitely compromised, even with my TourMaster Gel gloves. I reset and maintained my 37 degree rule; I was amazed how much difference 4 little degrees made.
With heated gear, I may be able to extend that riding range down to 25. Regardless of temperature, I never ride with ice on the road.
I'm doing my own research, and rereading recent threads on the subject. But also I would welcome any first-hand testimonials of what folks have tried and works well.
Considerations:
1. Money. I'm not made of it. But I do have some to spend.
2. Convenience. I don't have time to sew my own super suit. I doubt that I have the skill to solder my own temptroller either.
3. Modularity/Expandability. Once my trunk is kept warm, I don't know how necessary gloves and pants might be. But, a system that supported add-ons would be good in case the need arises in the future.
The primary use of this gear would be for extending the season for using my bike in its commuter-vehicle role - 45 minutes each way.
As I learned from my November adventures "Brown County Trip Report", 8 hours at 47 degrees is colder than 30 minutes at 37 degrees. Sounds like a duh, but I never thought about it until I experienced it.
I'll share my findings with the group.
Thanks in advance.
Get the Gerbing Liner AND the gloves, spring for a dual controller (I have the single but the dual's on my list). Thank me later.
ReplyDeleteAll the usual suspects offer systems with expandability, so there's no worries there. And you can mix and match as well, though obviously it's easiest to stick with a single manufacturer, as far as connection goes.
ReplyDeleteSpring for a jacket rather than a vest, if you can pull it off. The
difference is quite noticeable. Most of the manufacturers have stopped making vests now, anyway.
Prices are kinda a wash. They're all fairly comparable nowadays.
I've never used electric chaps or pants, and can't honestly see a day I'll ever need them. They're a huge drain on your electric resources, and don't really
offer much, IMO. Legs just don't seem to be a major source of discomfort, compared to your upper body. Feet are about the only issue south of your belt, but the added complexity required to heat them isn't worth my effort, so
far.
Gloves, on the other hand, are required, unless you're going to do
something else to keep your hands warm (heated grips or Hippo hands).
Your hands are pretty damn important, in the riding scheme of things.
I (and a few others) found the Widder gloves to be insufficiently heated, so I built another harness (easy to do) and put them in parallel, rather than series. This generates 4X the amount of heat, and then absolutely requires
a controller of some kind, but for me it was a good choice. I like the Widder gloves because they're good winter gloves even without the heat, however,they're not especially protective when you're talking about injuries. The Gerbing's are full leather, so they're equal to your usual leather riding gloves.
I have a Widder jacket...it's okay, but there are still some issues, the worst being where the cable exits. It comes out right in front of you, which is stupid. The Riderwearhouse jackets have cables that exit on the side, which makes much more sense. I don't know about the Gerbing. The
Widder has a heated collar, which is nice...but since it's not able to be regulated separate from the rest of the jacket, I have often found it to be too hot against my neck when the rest of me was just comfortable. I regulate this using the collars on the rest of my layers.
Speaking of controllers, make up your mind that you'll get one eventually. It's worth it. It's kinda like making the choice to buy electrics in the first place....once you do you'll wish you'd done it sooner.
Reading your sig it appears you'll be wiring this all into a baby Magna's electrical system? You won't get very far with that. Check your available
amperage carefully and buy gear accordingly. A full jacket and gloves might be pushing it. A PCM controller can at least help in this regard, as the rheostat-style controllers draw maximum wattage even when they're turned down.
A windshield helps, of course. L. L. Bean supplies me with 2 layers of longjohns (first is silk, second is flannel), wool socks, a thinsulate jacket, and heavy thinsulated ski gloves that cover the wrists. Jeans, a sweatshirt, and a full-face modular helmet complete the picture. Drove into NYC from northwest Jersey for the IMS show. Started out at noon around 40 degrees, but came home in the dark in mid 30s. Comfy all the way.
ReplyDeleteThe trick to staying warm in the cold is making sure you do 3 things.
1. Keep your body heat in your body
2. Keep the cold wind away from your body
3. Keep your perspiration away from your body.
Think of yourself as Sir Edmund Hillary or the new generation of
explorers like Ed Viesturs (http://www.edviesturs.com/) or Mike Libecki who are out in the extreme elements.
Why? Cause you are. The
windchills you experience on a motorcycle in the winter can be down right deadly. So you must gear up appropriately. Although I'm not a great explorer of Greenland and wasn't the first American to climb the 14 8000+ meter peaks I have and do spend alot of time outside in the
freezing cold. At first most people think I'm nuts with all the
research and experimentation I do with winter clothing. But I can
assure you 100% that I am rarely if ever cold.
The most extreme I have been was skiing when the ambient temp at the
base was -17F They claimed windchill at the bottom was -25F. No idea what it really was as we were coming down the mountain.
Rule #1: Cotton Kills. Doesn't matter if its waffled, flannel
whatever. Cotton and Cotton Blends do nothing but hold your sweat next to your body which zaps your body of its warmth.
Rule #2: Actual layers. The STay puff mashmellow method really doesn't work.
Rule #3: wear layers that will move your sweat away from your body.
Some of the good stuff is really expensive, however there are lots of discount sites and if you look closely enough you can get most things for pretty cheap.
Layers:
You need to find the right mix and match layers for yourself. As long
as the outer layer is windproof and the one next to your skin is good at wicking moisture you should be ok. I'm going to give what I would wear on the bike. There are other options that I have and use regularly to ski/snowboard but we are talking about bikes. Although I can be headstrong I'm telling you to listen to me. I've converted
many. My current GF laughed at me until we were on the slopes the
other day and she looked at me and said.. Ok, I wasn't cold at all
Baselayer: I prefer things like UnderArmor or something similar. My favorite top base layer is a 10 dollar shirt I got at the Adidas
outlet. For my legs I switch between expedition weight thermals,
silks and mid weight stuff. All depending on the temperature and the activity.
For real warmth for the base layer I would suggest polypropylene. Big
name but can be had real cheap.. like 10 bucks.
Pants:
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/Product.aspx?baseno=14618&cdf=AffinitySale
(10.95)
Shirt:
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/Product.aspx?baseno=14118&cdf=AffinitySale
(10.95)
On top of that baselayer I would go with either Polartec 200 or
something similar. My personal favorite is: http://tinyurl.com/2fklpa from LL BEAN (not really technical but I love it)
This would work:
Jacket for 22.95:
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/p/,38489_World-Famous-bbbbbPolartecandbandbandbandbandb-200-Jacket-For-Men-and-Women.html
for
Pants for 19.95:
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/p/,38492_World-Famous-bbbbbbPolartecandbandbandbandbandbandb-200-Pants-For-Men-and-Women.html
Try a pair of glove liners under your big windproof water proof
gloves. I find that just a pair of simple ones makes an amazing
difference.
Then all you need is a windproof outlayer which for the most part
Cordura Motorcycle clothing is. Now you can mix and match on your
layers.. such as a mid weight baselayer and a warmer mid layer.. etc.
However what I've just illustrated is you can get really good warm,
technical, NON COTTON gear for a very cheap maggotly price. As with
anything you can pay the big bucks for the brand names. In this space
I can attest that the big brand stuff is much better made.(I prefer
Mountain Hardwear) However, I still have tons of no name stuff for doing average things.
One thing that I find is great with Sierra is the amount of online
coupon codes that can be had.
Usually they are listed here:
http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/243140/
I've bought alot of stuff from them from the cheap fleece to high end mountaineering stuff. Great company, stands behind their products and a very liberal return policy.
I opted for a Gerbing sweater because at the time they were
ReplyDeletethe only ones whose sweater covered the neck. Also, having
glue-stitched an electric shirt, the importance of having heated arms was apparent (to me at least).
Oh, my electric short was sewn in only one place, where the connector
to the bike went. Everything else was glue stitched with fabric glue
and covered with that iron-on tape. Visit your fabric store or Molly Wart.
Gee Ted...if it weren't for line number 1, then this might have been up your alley...oh...never mind..that common sense line number 2 would have kicked in.
ReplyDeleteThese units were definitely not made with us(motorcyclists, esp. maggots) in mind.
Check out the price and the battery efficiency.
http://www.heatedclothing.com/
Ouch.