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Hot Wired Heated Jacket Liner (is amazing...)

Jeff S

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I did my first ride yesterday with this heated jacket liner - my first ride ever with heated gear. My two complaints about this liner:

1. The 'LOW' setting might be too high. I never had it above LOW, and even in with the temps around 41°, unless I was at quick highway speeds for more than a few minutes, I was a bit on the warm side
2. Related to #1 - the On/Off/Temp control will take some time to be able to find while rolling (it's attached to the jacket, so only a simple pigtail cord is attached to the bike). Once stopped, it's trivial to change settings - but as I got warm later in the day, the easy solution was to just unplug the jacket instead of feeling around for the button.

I got a medium, and it's perhaps a half-size too large (6 foot, 160#). The small was a too restrictive, but the medium is a little roomy. I tightened up my jacket to maintain close contact with my torso, which worked and provides a nice, warm place to ride.

Other than this jacket liner, I was wearing long johns, and my riding jacket with the rain liner (which I use in the cold as extra wind breaker). This was totally sufficient in the low 40's up to short highway jaunts (lime creek, 1431, cow creek, 1174. One longer run of 10 miles at 75+ mph at right at 42° is the only time the cold started creeping it. My fingers were FROZEN and I'll be adding their heated gloves before my next 40's ride. Once I've got these, I suspect I'll be able to comfortably ride in the low 40's all day, and probably even down into the high 30's (remember, I never tried medium or high power) for short rides.

Bottom line: it's hot in Texas, but not always. Electrical gear WORKS and keeps you from having to wear many bulky layers. 40° used to be my absolute low riding temp - and that was in many layers: uncomfortable, sweating while not moving, perhaps dangerously bulky and movement restrictive. With the heated liner, 40° is "easy" and actually enjoyable.
 
That was my test ride for the same gear.. I was also wearing long johns, liner, jacket. I did not find it too hot at all but it definitely made the ride still pleasurable instead of painfully cold. I notice though that ypu say a short stint at 75mph.. I was running 70-85 for multiple hours- that probably makes a huge difference.


What bike were you on? I'm running a triumph speedmaster with just a fly screen, so wind hits my arms and upper chest.
 
I was on a Versys with a "touring" screen. And yeah, hours on end at 80+ would be colder for sure. Probably would need at least medium, if not high, to endure that comfortably. My legs and feet were fine - just in riding pants, boots, long johns and wool socks.
 
I have been thinking about heated grips vs heated glove liners. My V650 has barkbusters so wind doesn't get a direct path to hammer my hands but they are the worst thing to get cold. I think a jacket liner heated and heated grips could change my feelings about cold weather riding altogether.
 
Good to read about this. I recently purchased the glove liners and the jacket, pending arrival. Excited to try them out.

Yesterday @Elio tried out the glove liners and said his hands were super comfortable.
 
Thanks Ocho! Correct, I got the Hotwired gloves liners from Cycle Gear. My hands are medium and I bought the liners in small. I was able to try them at the store with my 2 sets of riding gloves. My hands were comfortable, not hot or cold. The liners keeps a constant 90 degrees. I used them in the morning with my "winter" riding gloves and in the afternoon with the summer gloves. I was able to tell the difference every time I took out the gloves yesterday. The gloves comes with the battery cable and wiring harness for the jacket. It took me 30 min and a beer to install it on my bike and jacket. :) For $70 dollars, beats the price of other battery gloves that last a couple of hours that are over $150 price mark. Also, the liners were nice overall with no hot or cold spots. the heating membrane goes around the outside contour of the hand and fingers. I'll keep y'all posted on their durability by end of winter.
 
My avoidance so far with heated grips is due to:
* custom to each bike, so gotta re-buy and install for each ride
* my gloves are designed to insulate - meaning keep exterior temps OUT. Heated grips are designed to heat the outside surface of my gloves. That's just silly.

The "heated liners" vs "heated gloves" question: I'm not a huge fan of my current winter gloves, so I'll need to see if the heated gloves appear to be better than what I've got. If so, I'll go that route...
 
I have the same concerns on heated grips, but at the same time I am unreasonably picky about gloves - I hate wearing them and if they are even a little bulky I'll probably take them off mid-ride... even when my fingers are going numb... So the odds I can find a pair of heated gloves I'll actually wear are pretty low. But I really liked having the jacket liner, so I may just have to try some gloves.

Rode to work today as my car needed to go to the shop. Heated jacket just over my regular button up shirt was much more noticeable than over the long johns. It may be best to add a layer outside the heated jacket instead of wearing thermal type stuff underneath it. More experimentation needed. Wearing over bare skin would probably be a bad idea no matter how cold it is outside.
 
My avoidance so far with heated grips is due to:
* custom to each bike, so gotta re-buy and install for each ride
* my gloves are designed to insulate - meaning keep exterior temps OUT. Heated grips are designed to heat the outside surface of my gloves. That's just silly.

The "heated liners" vs "heated gloves" question: I'm not a huge fan of my current winter gloves, so I'll need to see if the heated gloves appear to be better than what I've got. If so, I'll go that route...

Hi Jeff,

I had the same concern; to spend over $150 on heated gloves that might hate or use my existing gloves with a $70 heated liner. I'm very picky on gloves and the liners are the best option. I used to wear the freeze-out liners. Therefore, it was just replacing the old non-heated liners with heated one. I'm glad I did and after yesterday's ride on 35 degree in the morning with a high of upper 40's, feel happy with my $70 investment. otherwise I would be returning them in a blink of an eye.

Hope that helps.
 
The nice thing about heated grips is that you never forget them and leave them behind. They are always there when you need them. A Jqueen mentioned, I don't like bulk gloves. So until it starts getting pretty cold, I prefer the heated grips because I can use the normal gloves longer before switching to the bulk winter gloves. That said, the inside of your hands can be toasty while the outside can be freezing because the heat doesn't move quickly enough through the glove/hand to the back of the hand. Hand guards don't make as much difference as you might think, especially for your thumbs.

Regarding the heated jacket/vest, I find that using it helps my hands and feet stay much warmer regardless of gloves/heated grips. Keeping your core temp up allows blood to flow to the extremities. This was the most pleasant surprise when I first wore a heated vest. Mine only had the Hi/Lo switch. A variable controller would have been much nicer. The same is true for many heated grips. A variable controller for the grips is also nice. I had one on my old VFR 800, mounted on my dash in easy reach. They aren't always inexpensive though...

When I head out on a trip where I know it will be cold, I take the heated vest and thick gloves. However, things can, and often do, fail to go according to plans. Heated gear can fail. So it is a good idea to be prepared for that. I still carry an extra sweat shirt, jacket liner, pants liner, nice thick socks, etc,...

Another item that can make a HUGE difference in your comfort during cold weather is a quality balaclava. This will help keep the wind off your neck, especially above the collar and up the back side of your neck into the helmet. It will keep your face warmer. Even with a nice heated vest/jacket, you can loose a tremendous amount of heat around the base of the helmet due to the airflow. One thing I really like about my vest is that the collar comes up right under my chin, it is fleece lined, and it is heated as well! Keeping the neck insulated/heated makes a BIG difference.
 
Another item that can make a HUGE difference in your comfort during cold weather is a quality balaclava
Exactly right. I had a Cycle Gear cheapo ($9 on sale if I remember correctly) balaclava on yesterday - and even that was dern nice! My long john tops are semi-turtleneck, so the balaclava went under that. Then the heated liner has a neck cuff that's heated, too. Then on top of everything, the actual jacket. Sounds really bulky, but in fact it was totally fine.
 
If it is really cold, which for me is 40 F or less, I will put the heated vest on over a simple long sleeve tee shirt with no collar. Then I will put my jacket liner on over the vest and then the jacket. Having the liner on over the vest makes a HUGE difference in heat retention. My vest has no sleeves, but that is rarely an issue. At times, things get a little crowded around the neck, so I might not zip the jacket liner all the way up so that I can keep its collar folded down rather than up around my neck. Between the vest collar, a balaclava, and the jacket collar, it can still be a bit more crowded on the front side of my throat, which I am a bit sensitive too. I've not worn a tie since... um... I don't know... :shrug:
 
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