What is Your Heated Clothing Paradigm

I've had the Warm 'n Safe heated liner and gloves for many years. The cold doesn't bother me that much as the rides aren't all day long. In the early spring I pack them just in case I get cold on the road and decide to ride all day. In the late fall, when the days are shorter and it takes some time for the air to warm, I start the ride with them, but have another liner and layer just in case. A few years ago I upgraded to the Generation 4 which is waterproof. I find it is a warm layer for my riding jacket. I've only experienced an intermittent failure a couple of weeks ago and I just turned off the dials in the controller for a few minutes and then back on and all was good; worked perfectly since.
The big bonus of a heated liner was the warmth around your neck and back, it is a nice treat for sure. Many years ago, when I first had heated gear, I got caught in an all day rain on the final leg home on a week's ride. It was a warm but rainy day and my jacket was no longer waterproof nor my gloves, I was soaked and getting cold. I decided to put on my heated liner (not water proof model at that time) and heated gloves. I was still wet, but warm, my hands and core were warm. The other guys I was riding with were cold and we had to stop every hour to warm up at a coffee shop. They laughed at me for bringing heated gear on a late spring ride, but they saw the advantage now.
I always carry the liners for jacket and pants and 2 extras sets of gloves, a warmer set and a regular 3 season pair, just in case.
 
Gerbing gloves and a Warm&Safe liner. Work pants (sometimes lined), wool socks, t-shirt, long sleeve synthetic undershirt, electric liner and the Aerostich. Good to about 30*F where I stop riding. Its not the temp, its the black ice, that stops me from riding. I don't worry about the electric stuff failing.
 
I now have a Keis heated Waistcoat. This is much thinner than the old jackets - it is a thin membrane rather than being wired with Ni-Cr loops. I've had a couple of those - a waistcoat made by Klan which was a fabric material and very comfy - they don't seem to make those any more - but it felt just like another layer and it kept me warmer without actually putting power through it. When turned on, it never got too hot and was comfortable to ride with the power on all day long. My brother has inherited that and he uses is at as much as I did. It has lasted well. I also had a Gerbing - which was made of some polyester sytle fabric. Very thin outer and inner and nothing much in between except wires, which you could feel. This had sleeves which I thought I needed, but they were worse than useless for me - I could feel the heat if I pressed the clothing against me with the other hand but otherwise, the wind round the side of the fairing just whisked any heat away. Wearing the Gerbing sleeved jacket meant I had to wear a thinner insulating layer on my arms - Not enough room in the outer jacket for anyhting thicker. So the heated jacket made me colder. It packed in working within a year or so and I went back to the Klan waistcoat.

Heated gear needs to be close to the skin - but not bare skin. I used to wear a thin long sleeve shirt and the heated jacket/waistcoat on top. Additional warm jumpers, jackets over the top of that. Otherwise the heat doesn't get through to you. The Klan was a favourite and it is still going strong - passed on to my brother. We were trying to gain more space, lose some luggage weight and so we bought ourselevs a couple of the new Keis Waistcoats.

We bought a battery pack with those which at medium heat reckons to give about 5 hours of warmth. Handy for those winter days when waiting for a recovery truck.

The lack of heat on my arms doesn't bother me. The blood is circulating and although the theory is that cold limbs circulate cold blood to the core - that isn't a problem as it heats up again before it reaches the core. Good insualtion on the arms is easier to achieve without jacket sleeves which out of necessity have no insulation built in. There's no point having heating elements and then insulating the body from it.

I always carry emergency gear with me. Woolly hat. Emergency shelter (a walkers 2 person bivvy shelter) - or if space is tight a chopped up flysheet which rolls up tight. And always a spare jumper and a dry towel so that I can dry my hands to get gloves back on - and an oversize pair of padded dry waterproof gloves. Not much in the way of protection but warm, dry and waterproof. There's usually a small compact brolly in the top box too - to keep the contents dry while I am hunting around for something. Probably a large brim hat to stop the water running down my neck when I have my helmet off.


I have heated grips, and winter gloves, but my hands do get cold. I bought some Oxford handlebar muffs, which fit the ST1300 very well. I've used them before many years ago and they are extremely effective. I'm trying to force myself into the habit of never taking my hands off the bars as on one occasion I took my hand out and the opening collapsed, and I couldn't get it back in again. The new ones are better for that - held in place and with stiff wire to keep the opening open. Nevertheless, there is still the chance of failing to re-enter.

I bought an XT2 satnav just recently, and I've put a note up the chimney asking for one of these new handlebar controllers for it - which might reduce the occasional need to tap a screen.

I'm wondering about having a heated visor. When I renewed my licence recently - compulsory when you reach a certain age - I made the mistake of saying that I wore glasses when riding - which I do. But I don't need to. Only to see the dash and the satnav, and for the reactolite lens. When it is throwing it down, I'll take my glasses off - or used to, and I've just realised the disadvantage of wearing glasses and a visor in torrential rain. Optician says I am OK to ride without - eyesight easily meets the criteria. I'll just have to tell the licence people, havemy licence changed.

But relying on anything that uses battery power. No - it needs something else. Just like the hill walkers that rely on satnavs for navigation on the hills. You still need a map and compass. Although there was a case this last week on Kinder Scout in Derbyshire. Someone slipped and fractured tib and fib. No phone signal - but their phone had an emergency SOS mode which sends a text to the satellites. They were rescued 7 hour later. You don't get that with map and compass - or with my phone apparently.

In the old days when gear was shockingly poor, my gloves were thick leather gauntlets. They were not warm and the combination was our only mode of transport, my only way of warming up was to stop and grab the exhaust. Get a bit of movement back and we'd be OK for the next half hour. Partner in the Sidecar was snuggled up with a Thick down duvet - cosy and dry.
 
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Warm and Safe heated shirt and long johns here. Love that shirt! I do need to add heated gloves. Left Amarillo last November late headed to Austin and 22F when I left home. Heated grips were not enough. Hands were very cold. Could not get Dring strap to work on helmet because hands were too cold.

I do bring along extra layers during cold weather just in case. Sometimes the heated gear doesn't want to work. Back in earlier October I left Boise, Idaho headed for Blaine, WA. Was 44F in town but outside it dropped down to 35F so I kept turning up the W&S controller and nothing. Worked great for the first hundred miles and then no heat. Stopped at a rest area to see what was wrong and put on some more layers if could not fix heated gear. Turns out the batteries in the controller had run out of juice. I did have new batteries just in case this ever happened so got out the tool kit and changed the batteries. Caution, if you find yourself in this situation be sure you have a very small phillips screwdriver. The screws in the controller are very small and a normal phillips head will not work.

Also suggest you take you cleaning towel out and spread it under the controller to catch all the loose pieces. It would be so easy to lose those screws into the abys of a picnic table or on the ground.

Replaced batteries and all was warm again.

Also have on old BMW heated vest that served well in years past. Keep you core warm and the rest of you will be warm also. Still use the vest unless it gets really cold. Just wearing the vest is usually good enough unless it gets under 40. Seldom ever connect it.

And I'm sure this goes without saying but that rainsuit in your saddlebag makes a pretty good insulator if all else fails. I remember looking like the Michelin man in many layers before heated gear so heated is the way to go but throw in some layers just in case.
 
-Fly Mesh
-Gerbing Electric jacket/gloves
-Long sleeve shirt, Moreno wool, polyester or cotton
-short sleeve heat gear (Costco)
-rain jacket

Down the road in all temps…
 
I'm sort of experimenting with a Warm and Safe heated shirt and a pair of Gerbing gloves I got recently. I really like the versatility of layers for riding out west when it can get pretty cold at night but pleasant during the day. Heated gear also prevents me from feeling like Randy in A Christmas Story, and holy cow was it nice leaving Barstow a couple of days after Thanksgiving with the bike indicating 31*.

I think my takeaway here is that if the shirt dies, do I have a wool or synth layer to help make up for it enough that I can keep going? I will try to from now on.

Just as an aside, I whipped up a quick-release mount for my last trip using an action-cam mount and some velcro and scrap I had in the garage. Super-easy to see if the gear was on and at what setting, and maybe five seconds to detach at lunch.


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Smudgemo said:
I'm sort of experimenting with a Warm and Safe heated shirt and a pair of Gerbing gloves I got recently. I really like the versatility of layers for riding out west when it can get pretty cold at night but pleasant during the day. Heated gear also prevents me from feeling like Randy in A Christmas Story, and holy cow was it nice leaving Barstow a couple of days after Thanksgiving with the bike indicating 31*.

I think my takeaway here is that if the shirt dies, do I have a wool or synth layer to help make up for it enough that I can keep going? I will try to from now on.

Just as an aside, I whipped up a quick-release mount for my last trip using an action-cam mount and some velcro and scrap I had in the garage. Super-easy to see if the gear was on and at what setting, and maybe five seconds to detach at lunch.


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I had my shop fab me a simple aluminum L-bracket with a notch in the top that I could hang a W&S controller in one of their pouches.
I Dual Lock it to the top of the clutch reservoir so it is easy to see and adjust if need be.
**EDITED**- A picture of it -

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Mophead said:
Warm and Safe heated shirt and long johns here. Love that shirt! I do need to add heated gloves. Left Amarillo last November late headed to Austin and 22F when I left home. Heated grips were not enough. Hands were very cold. Could not get Dring strap to work on helmet because hands were too cold.

Turns out the batteries in the controller had run out of juice. I did have new batteries just in case this ever happened so got out the tool kit and changed the batteries. Caution, if you find yourself in this situation be sure you have a very small phillips screwdriver. The screws in the controller are very small and a normal phillips head will not work.
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This happened to me. I simply replace the batteries at the beginning of every season....and carry the old fashioned wired controller as a back up!
 
I rode to the Arctic Circle on the Haul road in 1999 on a KLR650 with no heated clothing and about froze to death on several. cold rainy days. i bought a set of Gerbings heated gloves/jacket liner shortly thereafter and have been warm since then.

My current set up is a Warm and Safe 90 watt jacket liner and Gerbings gloves as well as heated grips/handguards on all four bikes. I wear mesh summer overpants year round with the rain liners in during colder weather over blue jeans. I have no issues riding in the 20s which beats our hot, humid summers in the 90s. I always carry an extra HeatTroller having had one fail about 10 years ago.
 
I use heated gear as well as layers. I don't like to be cold when I ride. I don't worry too much about a heated gear failure because of the layers that I wear/carry. I will say that it carry less layers because of the heated gear.

Unless it is obvious that I won't need my heated gear like 90*+ in July and going less than several hundred miles, I carry it. Heck, I left on a Thursday morning from East Texas and ran into 70*+, Rain, sleet, hail, sunshine, and 25*, returning on Sunday afternoon, and never left the state of Texas!

Also, for those that use a wireless controller that takes AA/AAA batteries, use lithium batteries. Alkalines are rated down to about 20* then they shut down. Probably less because that is not factoring in wind chill. Lithiums are rated down to around -40* not counting wind chill. FWIW.
 
Weaselinsuit said:
I bought a pair of these handlebar muffs. They have a rigid plastic insert for the mouths to keep them open. When you want to store them, you remove the insert, it lies flat and the muffs fold down flat as well. They work reasonably well but I have only tested them down to about 3C. No complaints, particularly given the price.
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I have had a pair of snowmobile handle bar muffs for years that were hardly ever used and still look brand new. They do wonders on a snowmobile so every time that I experience cold hands I think that I should dig them out and see if they will fit safely on the ST. The trouble is that I can not legally ride my ST between December 01 and March 15 unless I can get tires that are legally rated for winter driving. Because this eliminates the times when I would most likely have a need for them I guess I am not to motivated and just never get around to trying them.
 
Andrew Shadow said:
I have had a pair of snowmobile handle bar muffs for years that were hardly ever used and still look brand new. They do wonders on a snowmobile so every time that I experience cold hands I think that I should dig them out and see if they will fit safely on the ST. The trouble is that I can not legally ride my ST between December 01 and March 15 unless I can get tires that are legally rated for winter driving. Because this eliminates the times when I would most likely have a need for them I guess I am not to motivated and just never get around to trying them.
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Really, they mandate you have to have special tire to ride in winter up there?

I've been using handlebars muffs since the original Hippo Hands back in the late 70's, although the ones I use now are made by Kemimoto

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I started off with Gerbing jacket, pants, gloves and socks. $200 used from some guy in Florida. Mostly used the jacket and gloves, the pants and socks were a pain to put on and wear.

Now use W & S jacket, gloves, socks and dual remote controller. Socks are seldom used, but nice to have if temps are near freezing. I normally wear non mesh gear the first and last months of the season and then mesh gear for the balance. Layering is critical. Mornings even in June or August can be cold, heated gear is used + a windbreaker jacket if necessary. Late morning the windbreaker comes off and in the afternoon the heated ger is removed as well if temps are in the 20s C. I usually ride with 3 sets of gloves, heated, mesh and non mesh with the extras stowed in my tank bag. Windbreakers, liners, heated gear etc...... live in my 52L Maxia top box for easy access throughout the day. New batteries in the remote controller at the start of every season.

I've never had a heated gear failure on the road. If I did I've have have enough layers on board to continue on, but maybe not as comfortably. Tracer has heated grips as well.
 
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