• Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to register so that you can join the community and use the numerous features on the site. After registering, don't forget to post up an introduction!

These here cold days

Forums New posts
Rdslvr04

Rdslvr04

0
Joined
Apr 20, 2003
Messages
1,591
Reaction score
668
Just wondering how many of you rode or are planning on riding today?
Kinda of a shame that there were just a handful of us on the roads this morningq.

Might be alone in this but, one of the things I really treasure about riding is the mental separation/clarity, almost that single private momentary instant of zen that riding offers when all of the noise of the day/world disappears as the bike is warming up and you’re putting on all your gear. This single act of oneness with process of riding that cagers will never have in their hurried acts of tossing their stuff in their car in an effort to get home asap.

This must also be why as I looked at all the people cramed in their cars this morning I kinda felt a little bit of saddness for them.
 
I rode 89 miles this morning ... 45 out, 44 back (same route...How did that happen...LOL)
One piece cold weather suit, winter gloves, thermal underwear.
It was not bad, but not good and enjoyable.....fingers and toes took the brunt of cold.
I'd love to use heated gear, but I can only power a single item and the cold days I ride are so few I just have never spent the time and money to do it.
 
I rode today. Definitely cold but this afternoon is totally going to be worth it. Definitely identifying areas I need to work on in my gear. Riding is truly medicinal.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
E.Marquez said:
I rode 89 miles this morning ... 45 out, 44 back (same route...How did that happen...LOL)
One piece cold weather suit, winter gloves, thermal underwear.
It was not bad, but not good and enjoyable.....fingers and toes took the brunt of cold.
I'd love to use heated gear, but I can only power a single item and the cold days I ride are so few I just have never spent the time and money to do it.
Click to expand...

go to walmart and get a lithium ion jump pack!! you power the gear from it and with the larger ones you get several hour of heat!

there are self powered gear available, I have a dewalt heated hoody on the way that will let me run heat on my little Honda.
 
focus frenzy said:
go to walmart and get a lithium ion jump pack!! you power the gear from it and with the larger ones you get several hour of heat!

there are self powered gear available, I have a dewalt heated hoody on the way that will let me run heat on my little Honda.
Click to expand...
You have to do a write up on that DeWalt heated hoodie. It's seems like the perfect awnser for the KLR. And I like the price as well.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
focus frenzy said:
go to walmart and get a lithium ion jump pack!! you power the gear from it and with the larger ones you get several hour of heat!

there are self powered gear available, I have a dewalt heated hoody on the way that will let me run heat on my little Honda.
Click to expand...

This is interesting. Can lithium be deep discharged often like a deep cycle battery? How big to run a vest 3 or 4 hours? That sounds like a lot of amps.
 
SL350 said:
This is interesting. Can lithium be deep discharged often like a deep cycle battery? How big to run a vest 3 or 4 hours? That sounds like a lot of amps.
Click to expand...

it depends on what the vest is rated at, my jacket liner is rated at 90 watts, that is full power and you can't run it full power as that equals a fire!

90 watts at 12 volts = 7.5 amps the jump pack I tried it with has a 10 amp outlet and is rated as 15,000mah or 15 amps capacity so it should last at least 2 hours at full power.

the legitimate (not no name chepo E-bay specials from china) power packs have built in protection that turns them off when the internal battery gets low to prevent over discharge. lithium batteries are good for hundreds of cycles.

the DeWalt hoodie I ordered runs on a standard Dewalt 12 or 20 volt lithium ion battery and is rated to run 9 hours on low using a Dewalt 2.0 amp hour 20 volt battery pack.
I amp going to be using it for the Big Bend Christmas adventure this year.
 
focus frenzy said:
it depends on what the vest is rated at, my jacket liner is rated at 90 watts, that is full power and you can't run it full power as that equals a fire!

90 watts at 12 volts = 7.5 amps the jump pack I tried it with has a 10 amp outlet and is rated as 15,000mah or 15 amps capacity so it should last at least 2 hours at full power.

the legitimate (not no name chepo E-bay specials from china) power packs have built in protection that turns them off when the internal battery gets low to prevent over discharge. lithium batteries are good for hundreds of cycles.

the DeWalt hoodie I ordered runs on a standard Dewalt 12 or 20 volt lithium ion battery and is rated to run 9 hours on low using a Dewalt 2.0 amp hour 20 volt battery pack.
I amp going to be using it for the Big Bend Christmas adventure this year.
Click to expand...
Where did you order yours from. I think it's worth giving it a try for these cold winter months. This 30 deg in the morning is a bit much

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
Which? the Dewalt hoodie I ordered from homedepot dot com.
the lithium power pack I got from Lowes.
 
you will want to look for one with a 12 volt output of at least 10 amps
this would be other than the jump start output, although I did see one on amazon that it had a adapter that plugged in to the jump start jack.
 
Been riding in all week and I'll do it tomorrow. Still only wearing mesh pants over jeans, just like the summer. However, I've switched to a solid jacket and liner instead of mesh and liner. Uninsulated leather gloves. No neck gaiter yet either. I will admit though, that the 8 miles I have to cover I don't need much. Plus the K1600 has excellent wind protection with my bigger screen on. Oh, and heated grips and seat. Although the seat is just starting to feel warm as I pull up to the office. :-)

Anyway, I do own heated gear and use it on longer rides and it makes a huge difference. On the GSA I have generic Hippo hands to cover the grips and that is massive for keeping my fingers warm. I just need to wrap the levers with something to keep the cold metal from the gloves.
 
Heated gear makes a big difference for me. I'm a cold air wimp. I can handle 104 better than 34. I learned to carry extra fuses for the power cord after the seven amp fuse in my power cord sizzled two hours from my destination. So far, the ten amp fuses have held up to my Gerbing heated gloves and liner.
 
Last edited:
:tab A good heated vest goes a LONG way toward keeping your hands and feet warm. I've found that to be as effective, if not more so, than the heated hand grips. I will wear one layer under the vest, then another over it, like a basic sweat shirt. Then I put the riding jacket on over all that and stay quite toasty even down into the mid to upper 20s. Also, a good balaclava makes a BIG difference. Keeping the wind out of the neck area, especially up the sides and back of your neck going up behind the ears, makes a big difference. It is amazing how much heat you lose from that area! The vest and the balaclava do wonders for keeping the rest of me warm.
 
Being from the Laurel Mountain area of SW PA I put heated grips (I like the heaters that go under your grips so I can use whatever grip I want) and a heated vest plug to be a necessity on any bike I own. Even though it doesn't get nearly as cold here as it did in PA, the temps I would ride in would still be the same. I just don't enjoy riding once it gets into the 30's anymore. One winter in PA the transmission went out of my Honda Civic and I rode my WR250R all winter until I could afford to get it fixed. Riding an hour in 15 degree weather and snowy roads is not my idea of a good time anymore :) . But without the heated vest and grips I never would have been able to do it regardless of what layers I wore.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top