Cold Weather Riding

My wife talked me into taking her up to see her relatives in N. Alabama. I said sure..we'll take the truck and the Bandit ( I'm not much for visiting).
Got up this morning and the truck and bike were iced over...dang...
I waited a bit so I could get it unloaded without slipping on the ice in my truck bed. Then I waited a bit longer to make sure there was no ice on the roads. I finally headed out about 9:30 CST for my ride . It was about 38 when I started and never got to above 51. I layered my upper half with a couple of shirts and a light jacket under a heavier one. Just wore jeans cause my legs never really get cold.
For the most part my body wasn't too bad, but the light gloves I like weren't great for the ride. Anyone got any suggestions for a brand or type of glove that helps in the cold, but you can still feel input from the bars?
As for the ride, it was in the triangle formed by Al., Ga., and Tn. Started out in Fort Payne, Al., rode north on SR117 to Sewannee, Tn., then back down to S. Pittsburg, followed the south shore of Nickajack Lake and the Tennessee River over to Chattanooga, then back to Ft. Payne. All on backroads and some really nice ones. Pretty scenery and lots of twisties in the hills.
I love the Bandit..I was riding without pushing it, just looking at scenery. Looked at the speedo and I'm doing 70 on a narrow back road. The bike is quiet, no vibration and I just don't realize how fast it goes with so little fuss.
From here, we head down to Gulf Shores, Al. I'll do a bit of riding along the coast there....all in all a nice winter ride.

Gerbing's T5 heated gloves. Link here.
You can feel the motorcycle and your hands stay toasty. They're excellent riding gloves even when not powered-on.

Olympia has very nice cooler weather gloves in the 4,000 series if you're looking for non-heated but I do have some gerbings now and they're awesome. Before that I had the Olympias, now I wear them out and about in the winter because they're such an awesome all around glove with good finger dexterity.
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.co...-Gear.aspx#&&Back=0-0-0,305-0-333-0-0-0-1-1-1

Also, only having jeans on means your limbs will likely be trying harder to stay warm. Keeping your core warm is most important but layering your legs is also a good idea. Otherwise your core and limbs will be trying that much harder to keep everything else warm. All it takes is one cold limb to throw everything else off and make your ride miserable. Mine was always my hands before the heated gloves, everything else I could layer until comfortable. I have some thermals I put on underneath jeans or will use my rain gear over my pants as they're windproof and good to have on you anyways. Cold sucks, wet sucks, cold and wet REALLY sucks.

I'll second Streak's point about protecting your legs. I have thermals also and leather chaps for the wind protection. Your legs are big and have BIG blood vessels - keep 'em warm.

streak07 said:

Cold sucks, wet sucks, cold and wet REALLY sucks.

Click to expand...

Amen.

streak07 said:

Cold sucks, wet sucks, cold and wet REALLY sucks.

Click to expand...

Yep, 35 degrees this morning and blowing snow. Wasn't fun.

Electric gloves for sure. If yur gonna do lots of cold weather, Spring for a vest or liner also and make sure the gloves hook up to it. And good over pants and even your rain gear over that. I had to pull two eight hour days in a row last year getting myself out of 20 and 30 degrees stuff in Canada and my old Widder vest and gloves sure were nice.
Had a lot of people say they don't like thick gloves cause they can't feel the grips really good. Guess what, you feel them less when your hands are freezing plus loosing concentration. Use the right gloves and get use to them. I carry 3 sets on tour. Just because it's 105 degrees across Texas don't mean it ain't gonna be in the 30's up in the high elevations of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, etc.
My take on heated grips. Buy electric gloves instead. I run BMW's for 11 years with them and they don't touch the heated gloves for keeping your paws warm. At times I used both to keep warm.
Course, I'm not a hot blooded young dude anymore. More like a cold older dude.

I got up this morning and scoured the weather reports, first one said it was supposed to rain all day(????). I wanted to RIDE.

After deciding that there was no possibility of rain, just sun..... and a wind chill factor at 39* @ 75 mph, I was GONNA ride!

Found my REI wool socks, climbed into some kind of thermal type "wicking" long underware & matching turtleneck shirt, then forced myself into a too tight one peice "Tiez" textile riding suit.

With a front tire that had little tread (very little), I tip toe'd through portions of a winding two lane road where I feared ice hidden by the shade. I danced around rocks, boulders, and loose sand from a land slide that peppered a half mile of twisties. I was Fred Astair, and my Bandit was Ginger, we were quite the good looking couple.

My new gloves seemed to be working, but my fingertips behind the DL650 handguards were still cold. The wind chill found my thighs, my feet in their woolies were okay, but not ONCE during the ride today could I close my face shield...... I could fog it in an INSTANT!

Over 100 miles, stumbled onto a buddy half way through the day, then the two of us piloted our way to a distant back-woods diner and had tacos by the warm wood-fire stove.

Did it all behind an 18" National Cycle windshield, and I am MOST grateful for the added protection from the elements. Only problem with the windshield was, without it.... when I'm speeding, it felt like I was speeding; WITH the windshield in place, I NEVER felt anything that telegraphed my speed..... no wind, no engine vibration, no effort, no cars in my mirror with flashing red lights..... yet.

What a great day for a ride, what a great bike!

There's really only one option for gloves that are (relatively) thin and still keep your hands warm: Electrically heated gloves.

There are basically two worthwhile brands: Gerbing and Warn'n'safe. First Gear and Powerlet gloves are made by, and identical to, Warm'n'Safe so if you can find a good deal on those don't hesitate.

I've got older Gerbing gloves, and am pretty happy with them. I can't really say anything about the new ones, except that Gerbing makes good quality gloves and warrants them well.

I have a warm'n'safe vest, and am very happy with it, so I would assume their gloves are of equal quality.

For either, you'll probably want to get a variable controller to regulate the heat. At full blast, they'll melt your hands in all but the coldest weather. You could just use a switch to turn them on and off as necessary, but that will probably become a pain in the butt, and you'll likely experience wider swings in temps before you remember to turn them on or off.

On the controller, I do have a strong recommendation: the warm'n'safe heatroller. It's noticeably higher quality than the Gerbing's version.

Note that if you register on the warm'n'safe site, and say you're an MSF instructor or graduate, you get a 20% discount.

http://www.warmnsafe.com/

http://gerbing.com/Products/gloves.html

A couple of notes: It looks like the warm'n'safe ultimate glove may be what you're looking for, with less insulation allowing a thinner glove.

Sizing in Gerbing's gloves can be a bit weird. Make sure you actually measure your hand as they show on the web site and follow their guidelines, regardless of what size glove you wear in other brands. (Probably good advice for the warm'n'safe, too.)

Gerbing's makes 7.2 volt battery powered gloves, but I'd recommend against them. Neither the heat output nor battery life lives up to Gerbing's claims, and the battery technology sucks. I use them because of a heath condition, and the batteries are horribly unreliable. Gerbing has been good about replacing them, but I can't in good conscience recommend them, especially at $40 each for the batteries. I have no experience with the 12v batter powered gear, but I wouldn't count on the battery lasting for the course of a long ride.

I've gotten very good customer service from both companies. Both are family owned businesses who's owners actually ride. Many of Gerbing's products are manufactured in China, if you care. At least some of the Warm'n'safe gear is US made, but I don't know if that's true of all of it.

Was kinda checking the Warm and Safe package. Liner package with gloves would run a person near 350 bucks. Wow! But, would be worth in running in cold weather lots. My old widder stuff still works good so far. Probably about 20,000 or so riding miles with it over the years. Think I bought that vest, gloves and controller in about '95.

achesley said:

Was kinda checking the Warm and Safe package. Liner package with gloves would run a person near 350 bucks. Wow! But, would be worth in running in cold weather lots. My old widder stuff still works good so far. Probably about 20,000 or so riding miles with it over the years. Think I bought that vest, gloves and controller in about '95.

Click to expand...

Yup, my Widder vest and gloves still work great after almost ten years, and It's sad that their no longer around. A good close fitting vest has got to be the best thing you can have have as it keeps your core body temperature heated up and sends the heated blood back out to your extremities as the cold blood is sent back in to get heated up, like a radiator in reverse.

Aerostich sells a new electric vest that I may buy that is inflatable so that you can adjust it for a good fit around your torso, they also have a slick little, easy to pack electric chest bib that looks pretty neat.

I also use a thick tubular fleece neck sleeve that I slip on before I put my helmet on that seal all around my neck and the base of my helmet, and not only keep the cold air from coming in, but also cut down on the wind noise to the point that its very quiet even without ear plugs. I also have a Balaclava, but I don't like having my whole head covered up.

The neck sleeve along with the vest really keeps you warm. I also have several weights of thermal underwear from Cabelas's that I also wear depending on how cold it gets, and they don't take up a lot of room to pack if you decide to pull them off latter in the day if it warms up, which I have done on many occasions.

You're a tougher man than I am, Shotrod. Be glad your wife's family doesn't live in Fargo.

Try these for medium cold: http://www.newenough.com/street/glo...r_master/scarab_winter_motorcycle_gloves.html

Real cold? I go with the Gerbings heat.

tshelfer said:

You're a tougher man than I am, Shotrod. Be glad your wife's family doesn't live in Fargo.

Click to expand...

Amen .... thanks for all the suggestions fellas..I live in Florida, so my cold weather riding is limited to few occasions. I may go for some heated gloves, for even there we do have some days in the 30's and rarely 20's. I ride my bike to work most days, so they would come in handy. I'd need a plug in so if I remember right , there's a thread about power outlets on the board.
This website is awesome for all the info.

Hey shotrod, you don't have to have a plug in, but it is easier to have one...
I have a Gerbings jacket liner and from the battery the cables slip right under the seat and you just plug it in...Excess cable I just wrap around the passenger peg bracket...

I recommend using Powerlet plugs for the convenience. (I also use the plugs for GPS, phone, and Battery Tender.) Do a search from "User Reviews of Bikes, Mods, Gear, here and etc." for plenty of threads.

I use a Powerlet , to the bottom left of the black portion of the fairing for easy access, for my heated gear and for the air compressor. The red and white wires running up in front of the tank is a simple 2 wire plug which I use to run my GPS and also hook up my Battery Tender to when needed.

I now also have another wire coming to the front for my Radar Detector with the supplied cord and its own connector. All going to a fused terminal board with fuses also to each application.
The front mounted Powerlet makes it easier for me to unplug my vest/gloves at stops. Course, it's mounting point is flimsy so you need to support it with your hand when plugging and unplugging stuff. But, I only use the heated stuff on tour. Not a lot of use for it down here in SW Louisiana Bout like Florida.

MetrickMetal said:

A good close fitting vest has got to be the best thing you can have have

Aerostich sells a new electric vest that I may buy that is inflatable so that you can adjust it for a good fit around your torso, they also have a slick little, easy to pack electric chest bib that looks pretty neat.

The neck sleeve along with the vest really keeps you warm.

Click to expand...

One thing I like about the warm'n'safe liner is that it has elastic side panels that hold it tight against your chest and back. Simpler, but just as effective as the inflateable vest. And it will never leak.

+1 on the neck. A lot of blood moves through the neck, and if it gets cold you'll get cold.