Difference between revisions of "Heated cold-weather gear"

Revision as of 00:06, 27 January 2008

Gerbing's

Gerbing's carries a complete line of heated gear for motorcyclists. They have everything from socks and pants to gloves and jackets, along with the controllers and accessories needed to make them work.

Widder

Widder electric gloves and vests are recommended by many club members. They can extend your riding season a full month at both the beginning and the end of the season.

The Competition Accessories and Twisted Throttle catalogs have them listed. Your local shop should have them, too.

The electric thermostat is the recommended one, as the old style cycles on and off, so you get cool periods. The new one is constant and reduces flow from the battery as you adjust it down.

Widder products come with a harness, with a connector lead to the battery. You can snake the lead under the seat from the battery out to the tank, then plug it in or out when you get on or off the bike. The battery connector lead can also be used to attach to a trickle charger.

If you get a vest, fit it snugly so you feel the warmth directly on the body. You want to wear it close to the skin, over a turtle neck and under a fleece. The vest with the collar can be bulky at the Aerostich (or jacket) collar closure. The new collarless vest has a higher neck than the old one had.

Heated grips or gloves?

We try to keep opinion to a minimum here in the FAQ, but when it comes to comfort, it's always opinion. Here's the gloves vs. grips opinion of one experienced club member:

• I had a set of Widder gloves, but I just sold them on eBay. I now have Kimpex grip heaters on both of my bikes and am much happier. For me, the gloves are a big hassle; they're quite bulky, and connecting/disconnecting the wires every time you stop, plus dealing with the wires running through your jacket, are a big pain.

The grip heaters are always transparently there. They get quite warm; however, they obviously heat only the palms of your hands, but I find that works well enough for the convenience. They cost only about $30, and they aren't too difficult to install, though you should allow a couple of hours for a clean install with neat wiring.

Here is the copy from Kimpex on their grip heaters:

• Kimpex Grip Heater Kit

This kit is for placing heater strips under your grips and wiring into your bike. It has a three position switch for low, high and off.

To find these, go to your local dealer or run an online search. The Kimpex online catalog is nearly impossible to use.

Places to buy winter gear

One can always Google for what you want. Here are a couple places to start:

CozyWinters is a good place to look for winter clothing for motorcycling and other outdoor pursuits.

Forest City Surplus has discounted cold-weather gear.

Campmor is one of the most popular places for outdoor gear.

Installing heated grips

"Heated grips are the BEST modification anyone can do to their bike." Well, some may vote for the 15T sprocket, and others will go for 'non-stock tires', but we'll grant a little leeway to our enthusiastic clubber, considering that these grips can add some real time to each end of the riding season. "They are soooooo cozy and warm. I did not want to get off my bike when I was testing them out!" (In all fairness, he seldom wants to get off his bike. We like that in a fellow rider.)

They are fairly simple to put on, but do require some electrical know-how. The switch was provided, but a female crimp connector and some heat shrink tubing needed to be bought. You also need to know how to solder and have a decent iron to help you out. Here are the directions as provided by Aerostich. (Really! The dog ate my homework!)

There are two joints to solder. You can see them and the rest of the wiring in this photo.

Here is a close up of the soldering points covered in shrink tubing and electrical tape.

Here is a picture of the female end you need to attach to the switch. These are just standard crimp connectors, available at any hardware store.

These are the accessory wires (yes, the ones that everyone writes in and asks about). The stock wiring on the bike is 18 AWG. If you're using these accessory wires, then there's no use in using any bigger wire than that for this modification. If you're running the hot and ground wire back to the battery, however, you might want to use something a little heavier for this heat-producing application. Ring connectors (not shown) were used to plug into the accessory connections. Obviously, each one is only connected to one wire.

One important thing to remember: The aux/accessory wires get power ALL of the time, even when there is no key in the ignition. This page on Canyon Chasers has good ideas on how to use relays so you can turn off the accessories when the key goes off. This bike has the high/off/low switch mounted on the right side fairing. Just consider how easy it would be to forget to shut off the switch when it is cold out and you want to be in.

Some manufacturers say to glue the grips to the heaters, but that's not necessary. They stay put just fine. Just mount them in the usual way.

There is another good article on mounting heated grips on the Canyon Chasers.net website.