Heated Clothing

[wukie]

I bought my first heated jacket liner this October (Firstgear - $169.99). I absolutely think it's the berries! My commute is 70 miles from the ocean up to 2200 feet and then back down to see level at San Francisco Bay. My hands use to freeze at 40. Not any more!!! I started with a wireless troller (Firstgear ~$85). I have since decided to go the mounted route for both the troller (Firstgear $55) and connection ($15). I then convinced (sold as a safety feature) my son to wear heated gear on his cruiser. The extra free wireless troller and heated gloves (Firstgear $118) as an early Christmas present also helped seal the deal. He purchased a full liner jacket (same as mine) as well. He and I both ride from 28or above.

I also just started to install the heated grips.

Pic shows the mounted heated gear connection and controls. It also shows the wires ready to receive the heated grips - this weekend I hope.

Note: I also purchase a 2' extension (~$15) to connect the gear to the mounted connection on the left side of the bike.
-- update grips (Honda) are on. FEAKIN AWESOME! (only 1 screw left over!)

 

[Old Can Ride]

I really like the way you mounted your power supply and heated clothing in the side wing panels. Now I have to go back and change mine. Great Idea!

 

[ziggie]

I agree.looks good where it is.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[waverunner22]

I just bought the Sedici Jacket Liner, and Glove liners. Can someone tell me how to run the cord from the battery to the Jacket? Thanks..

 

[netizen]

Heated gear is on my wish list (well technically the wishlist I started on amazon doesn't have it on there, it will be once the other more important items find their way off of the wish list and on to the NC)

But everyone seems to be talking about temps near freezing (I assume we are using Fahrenheit because if you need heated gear near 30C this conversation needs to take a different turn)
And lots of the location tags on this thread indicate warm areas (Everything might be bigger in Texas... except I have a hard time believing people who tell me your winter storms are bigger (yes people have told me this.))

My current gear is good down to around freezing (sure I look like the michelin tire guy on a motorcycle) except for my gloves (and even then it's mostly just around my thumb at high speeds and hand guards to block the wind seem like a cheap solution for that) and maybe helmet leaks too much cold air (and I've not seen a heated helmet... and if any of you go out and invent one after reading this please include heated wire in the visor to keep it from fogging up or maybe a defrost fan.) and a better windscreen might help there.

So is the difference just being comfortable vs. being really comfortable? or just not looking/feeling like the michelin man?
Does heated gear actually keep up at 0F? or -10F?
Or is it just that my definition of cold is so far removed from the norm? (because it's pretty standard up here that cold is when you are standing around on the patio at the bar and your beer freezes over... and even then it might just be that you need to switch up to some stronger beer, or to make a cup holder in the snow so your beer can be kept some place warm (yes snow is warm, it's a great insulator))

Like you I have never used heated gear.... until I got a battery powered heated vest several years back.

To answer your question, heated gear IS necessary for longer rides. You can do short rides without it, but on a long ride, even geared up like the michelin man, you would slowly lose core heat to the point that you would be in danger of hypothermia eventually.

I opted to the battery powered version (2 battery packs) as my VFR could not handle running heated gear on it's system.

Now I want to get powered heated gear since the NCX has no problem running it. The down side to powered heated gear is obviously the heat stops as soon as you disconnect from the bike. I enjoyed that battery powered heated vest once I was off the bike a great deal. Most of my riding buddies had powered heated vests and when we stopped they got cold very quickly while I was nice and warm