Passes & Canyons Blog

I love how warm this flap keeps my chin and upper neck.

The snow arrived Sunday morning instead of Saturday night, as had been predicted. Doesn’t matter, it came.

Meanwhile, Friday and Saturday were good days to ride, and knowing at this time of year that any day could be the last rideable day of the year, you bet I did. Friday I rode to work, which has an even greater possibility of being the last day this year I can do that. It probably won’t be, but it has the possibility. And Saturday I took a ride up to Loveland for a meeting. Both were glorious.

Once again the cold-weather gear was crucial. The electric vest was key, and more and more, the heated gloves are also becoming key. Saturday I also wore my fleece-lined chaps because it was going to be a longer ride, at higher speeds, in cooler weather than Friday.

One item I haven’t mentioned before is this flap on the under side of my helmet, as you see in the photo above. I’m growing to love that thing. Wearing a different helmet on Friday, the wind came up under the helmet and my throat and chin were cold. On Saturday I wore the helmet with the flap and my chin was toasty. It’s an amazing difference. Of course, a turtleneck helped, too.

I’m getting more acquainted with the electric gloves as well. These are Gerbings and they are battery powered. Both the previous weekend and then again on Saturday I ran those batteries dead. That’s starting to give me a feel for just how long they are really good for. Which is to say, two hours at the number two setting is about all they’ll do. But I’ve also learned something else: they are, all by themselves, very warm gloves. Even once they go dead they do a darn good job of keeping your hands warm.

That makes sense. The designer wants to make the batteries last as long as possible. The warmer the gloves are just on their own, the lower the heat level can be set, and the longer the battery life. Now I’ll start experimenting with using them as the level three setting. If my hands are still acceptably warm, that should nearly double the battery life. It’s not really so important that your hands be toasty warm, but rather that they not become numb little ice cubes. Yes, I know some people will say you should just get gloves that plug into the bike, just like the vest, but I don’t like all those wires. And with batteries I can wear the gloves anywhere, not just on the bike.

It’s also nice that the gloves are getting more broken in now, less stiff, and are conforming to my hands.

So the forecast for the next week is cold with more snow flurries at least. Who knows when it will be decent riding weather again. It’s now time to start hoping for good weather at least on Dec. 31. That’s the date of the Last Brass Monkey Run, which is traditionally the final organized ride of the year. Of course, then there’s some group–can’t remember who, the BMW guys?–who do a January 1 ride each year. This is a big reason I love living in Colorado.

Biker Quote for Today

My motorcycle is a gift from my children, purchased with money they will not inherit.

Out on my first ride of 2013.

Finally the weather has warmed up and melted the snow and ice off our street. I was able to get out on the Kawasaki today, though efforts to get the Honda out failed because the battery was dead. It’s on the charger now, but it will be next weekend before I can get out on that one.

And what a beautiful day. As always in winter, I stayed down here on the prairie. Clear roads down here do not at all mean clear roads up there. As it was, even down here there was a spot where I ran into ice due to shadows blocking the sun.

So this ride gave me another chance to continue testing the new heated gloves. Still not a really cold day but let’s face it, most of the days I ride in the winter are not really, really cold. They’re mostly like today, with highs in the 40s or so. Still, next weekend, even if the temps are in the 30s or even lower, as long as the road is clear I’ll be out on the Honda. But at the moment next weekend looks like it will probably be even warmer than this weekend. So much for Stock Show weather.

And how are the gloves doing? Terrific. I started out with them set at 75 percent power but didn’t go too far before I cut back to 50 percent power. Plenty warm. And they’re comfortable, too. Many years ago I got some similar–non-electric–gloves and I’ve almost never worn them because they’re just so clunky. I can’t really do anything with my hands while wearing them. These Gerbings are serious gloves but they’re also flexible and allow me considerable dexterity.

Of course one of the things I like about the idea of battery-powered gloves is that I can wear them off the bike as well. I’ve been doing that; like taking the dog for walks. There’s just no reason at all to have cold hands now.

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Biker Quote for Today

Nice bike. Have you taken her to Mexico? All bikes want their owners to take them there. – tricepilot

Along the Peak-to-Peak.

Saturday was a gorgeous day so I had to ride. And it was really too warm to give my new electric gloves a test, but I figured they needed to be broken in and I could still try them out and see how warm they get. I also wore my electric vest just in case, but as I suspected, I didn’t need to plug it in.

So how were the gloves? First off, these Gerbing Core S-2B battery-powered gloves are a little stiff brand new, so breaking them in by wearing them is a good thing. I checked out their heated gloves that are powered by wires from your bike’s battery and they’re not so stiff. Presumably the latter gloves can carry more power and so need less of the fine wiring woven through them. The battery-powered gloves need to conserve energy to extend battery life, so they don’t use the brute force approach the others use.

I put the gloves on and turned them on and the feeling of warm all over my hands was instantaneous. For testing purposes, I turned the right glove up to full power and set the left at a lower level. In the process I found that it is easier to turn then on and set the level before you put them on your hands. It’s just clunky trying to do it with them on, though they are designed well enough that it can be done without too much difficulty. Still, it’s easier to do it with them off.

Riding on this warm day, you can bet my hands never got cold. And as you might expect, after awhile my right hand started getting too warm. It never felt like it was roasting–they don’t get that hot–but I did feel the desire to turn it down. And after awhile I turned the left glove completely off. My hand never got cold but I was aware that it was no longer receiving external heating.

The gloves themselves are quite comfortable. They seem to be extremely well made and could serve as just a regular pair of riding gloves if you chose. The one thing I had expected that proved correct was that the battery, which mounts in the gauntlet, was uncomfortable sitting right on top of my watch on my left wrist. So I took the watch off and put it in my pocket.

The gauntlets are not as wide as on my regular gloves, so it was a bit more of a trick getting them over my sleeves, but not a real hassle–just not quite as easy. But then they were nice and snug to help keep cold air out.

So far I rate them very highly. Of course, the real test will come when it gets colder. Just from my experience on Saturday I suspect I’ll end up running them either at full power or 75 percent power most of the time. At those levels the batteries are good for either 2 hours or 4 hours, and if it’s really cold I don’t expect I’ll be out longer than that anyway, so why not be as warm as possible?

More to come.

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Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if, when the weather is too bad for riding, you start your bike and sit on it in the garage.

My new Gerbing Core S-2B heated gloves.

It’s a done deal, and an early Christmas. I’ve got a pair of Gerbing Core S-2B battery powered heated gloves.

I checked around town at all the shops that carry Gerbing gear and only one, Performance Cycle, on south Broadway just north of Evans, carries the battery powered gloves. As it was, they only had size Small and XXL in stock, but this weekend, the weekend of Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, they were on sale for only $170. That’s a bargain.

So we went over to the shop on Saturday because I wanted to see them for real and try them on. I figured I needed a Medium but if I bought them I would pay the sale price and then just wait for them to come in.

Turns out Small seems to be the size I needed. Judy whipped out her credit card and wished me a merry Christmas a month early.

At home, I immediately plugged in the batteries to charge and then last night we went for a walk to give them their first test. One thing I noticed immediately, as I had suspected might be the case, was that the battery in the gauntlet sits right on top of my wristwatch. For comfort I figure I’ll need to take the watch off when I wear the gloves. No big deal.

The controls work very easily. You plug the batteries in and insert them into the pouches on the gloves. Through a mesh window you can see the setting, so you push the Power button and then keep pressing it until it gets to the heat level you desire. What Gerbing says is that at 100 percent power the batteries should last you 2 hours. At 75 percent you should get 3 hours, at 50 percent 5 hours, and at 25 percent 10 hours.

I figure in the winter I’m not likely to be riding longer than 5 hours so 50 percent should do me well. On our walk they were set at 25 percent and though it was pretty cold, my hands stayed warm. Nice.

So we’ll see. Of course I want to take a ride and give them a real test as soon as possible, but Sunday was a warm day, in the 60s, so that didn’t seem like a good test. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of cold weather soon enough. Of course I’ll report the results here. Stay tuned.

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Biker Quote for Today

I say, there’s no such thing as a bad day’s riding. — metaljockey

Gerbing offers battery-powered heated gloves.

My wife, Judy, was reading this blog and told me last night that I had better not go running out and buy heated gloves because that would ruin her plans for a Christmas gift. Then she thought a moment and said that actually, she probably ought to do some of her Christmas shopping early, before Gerbing realizes they lowered the price on their gloves to meet the competition, while the competition raised their price. I think I’m going to have warm hands when I ride this winter.

I also heard from my friend, Dan Leffert, in regard to his experience with heated grips and heated gloves, and I figured I would pass that along. Here’s what Dan had to say.

I have Gerbing heated gloves and I have heated grips on both bikes. On the Harley, with a full fairing, heated grips are enough down to about 40-45*. Heated gloves are much more comfortable below that for any extended riding (more than about an hour, not the Iron Butt stuff). But I hear ya about what a PITA all the cords are!

Riding the BMW 650 with OEM hand guards, grips are enough for me for rides less than an hour and only down to about 45-50*.

I just bought a pair of ridiculously expensive Lee Parks Design heavier weight gloves that have some magical insulation that changes phases and is supposed to be good in both heat and cold, and to work better with heated grips. I’ve worn them in 80* temps and switched back to my summer weights, while the jury is still out on the lower limits since it really hasn’t gotten that cold, yet. I have worn them in temps in the higher 30s and they’ve been fine, just haven’t done lengthy rides in those temps.

So there you go. Hey, why have cold hands when you can have warm hands? I look forward to sharing my experience with all of you.

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Biker Quote for Today

Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.

OK, it may be too late to put this on your Christmas wish list so maybe you’ll just have to buy it for yourself.

Gerbing, the heated riding gear folks, have just announced a new heated jacket, the Hybrid LT, that plugs into the bike, but can also be hooked up to a battery so you can be warm even off the bike. The battery fits in the jacket pocket and is supposed to be good for keeping you warm up to three hours.

I don’t know if you’ve tried heated gear but I love it. As long as I’m riding, my electric vest keeps me nice and toasty. It’s when I get off that things get chilly. I’ve thought for a long time that it would be good to have a battery-powered vest so it would work away from the bike. Heck, you could wear it to football game or any other outdoor activity that doesn’t have anything to do with riding.

But what I particularly like about this idea is that you get all the heat you need while you’re riding and then only start using the battery after you’ve arrived. If you only had a battery and rode half an hour to get somewhere, you’ve only got two hours of power if you also intend to use it riding home. With both sources you ride however long it takes, stay warm off the bike three hours, and then ride home as long as it takes.

This goes on my list of good ideas. Plus, it’s an attractive-looking jacket.

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Biker Quote for Today

Keep the bike. Ditch the fiancee.