Posts Tagged ‘heated motorcycle gear’

High Tech, Low Tech, And No Tech

Thursday, October 3rd, 2024

Years later John and Bill, in the center, were still riding those Shadows with no windshields.

Revisiting the OFMC’s California trip the other day got me to thinking about how jerry-rigged the whole thing was even then. Yes, we did have good rainsuits, probably the first thing we learned early on that we needed. But what about things like a throttle lock or cruise control?

We rode a lot of days on that trip where we covered many miles and as I would imagine you know, holding onto that throttle grip for that long can get pretty dang tiring. But if you read that post you may be saying, What? How did Bill ride 35 miles hands-free if you didn’t have throttle locks?

Well, John is pretty inventive. What he rigged out for the two of them–I was OK just holding onto the grip–was a string tied to the handlebar with a Popsicle stick on the other end. They would get up to speed and insert that Popsicle stick between the grip and the float, wedging it in tightly enough that it would stay. It didn’t always stay put but hey, you just grab it and stick it back in. They covered a lot of miles like that.

And these long days were even longer than they might have been. Right from the start I have always insisted on having a windshield on my bikes. Those guys were just the opposite. Neither of them had windshields on their Shadows.

Now, John had had one on his Virago up until the time he and I spent a night out in Laramie doing some heavy drinking and he then went down on a patch of gravel making the turn into our motel. He got a little road rash was all, but his windshield was busted and rather than replace it he just took it off and rode without. Then he got the Shadow and it didn’t come with one and he never put one on.

OK, so fine, to each his own. But on this trip, when we were covering so many miles, I naturally wanted to run a little fast. But guess what? They didn’t like the buffeting they got from the wind so they didn’t want to go fast. In fact, much of the time they wouldn’t even go the speed limit. It’s a long ride across Utah and Nevada if you don’t even go the speed limit.

Neither of these guys ever got windshields until they each moved on to their first Harleys, which came with fairings. Then they wondered how they had ever done without them. I had wondered that for a long time before that. At least we all had gotten throttle locks eventually on the older bikes but windshields? Nope.

So that’s the low tech and the no tech. The high tech–at least relatively speaking–was, as I mentioned before, heated gear. It didn’t matter how cold they got on this trip while we were along the coast. And it didn’t matter how cold they got any other time, whether we were on the trip or just doing a day ride. And we did one day ride where we got surprised by an unexpected snow storm. They never got heated gear, despite complaining about being so cold and hearing me rave about my electric vest. And then later my heated gloves. OK guys, your choice.

Of course, now I’m the one who doesn’t have an actual cruise control on either of my bikes. And the throttle lock on my V-Strom really doesn’t work very well. But retrofitting them with cruise control would be a real job and costly, if they even make units that would work on those bikes. That’s what I’ve got my eyes set on with the next bike I get. Whatever I get, assuming I ever buy another bike, I really, really want cruise control.

Biker Quote for Today

Why motorcycles are better than women: Your motorcycle won’t leave you for another rider.

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Posted in Honda motorcycles, Motorcycle Gear, motorcycle touring | No Comments »

February Riding, Heated Gear Testing

Monday, February 4th, 2013
odometer showing all 5s

By the time I got stopped I almost missed my shot of my Kawi odometer with all 5s showing.

I got out on both bikes yesterday so I have checked off February 2013 in my unbroken string of months that I have ridden each bike ever since I bought them. I lose track of when I bought the Honda CB750 Custom–25 years ago or so–so that’s about 300 consecutive months for that bike. The Kawasaki Concours is at about half that.

Of course every ride lately is a test of heated gear in one way or another. Today the temps were in the 40s so I decided to wear the heated vest but not the heated gloves. After all, one key to seeing how well the heated gloves do is to periodically ride without them.

I took off on the Kawi first. With its full fairing it’s a warmer bike to ride in any conditions. I didn’t feel the need to turn the vest on until the point where I was headed home and was getting chilly. My hands were fine.

The Honda offers a lot less protection so I very soon turned the vest on. Going on a longer ride than I had on the Kawi, my hands eventually were pretty dang chilly. I was wishing I had the electric gloves.

Back home again I wanted to take the Kawi out again just because I noticed that I was only about 3 miles away from the odometer reading 55555.5 (see the photo above). At this point I put on the Gerbings. That warmth on my hands felt really good instantly.

Up till now, when I’ve used these gloves I’ve been interested in determining how long the battery power will last. I’ve been using them at the lowest setting that was comfortable, which has meant that my hands were not toasty warm but they were not cold either. This time I figured I’d just crank them all the way up and see how they feel like that.

In a word: toasty. At full power my hands were not only not cold, they were downright warm. In fact, after awhile I’d have to say they were too warm. I didn’t bother dialing them back because I wasn’t going a long way, but yes indeed, they put out the heat.

Through all of this, of course, I was loving the heat from the vest. I’ve had that vest for many years and have loved it ever since I bought it. I know people who just put their bikes away for the winter because they just don’t like riding in the cold. If I could only get them to understand that it doesn’t have to be that way. Get some heated gear and dress for the weather and you really can ride all year round. Don’t tell me you’re just a fair-weather biker. Come on, don’t tell me that. Get out and ride that thing.

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Biker Quote for Today

“…I am a motorcycle-Samurai, and I have beat my Demons.” -YK

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Hoping For Warm Hands In Winter Riding

Monday, October 22nd, 2012

Mobile Warming's website showing the LTD Max gloves.

I’ve had my eye on getting some battery-powered heated gloves for winter riding, and I thought the time had come, but things do change.

I am specifically interested in battery-powered gloves because I tested a pair awhile back that had cords plugging into the bike and those cords were a pain in the butt. I know some companies make heated jackets where you can just plug the gloves into the sleeves of the jacket, but that means you need to buy the jacket, too. Now we’re talking expense.

So last winter I ran across this company called Mobile Warming and they were new in the market with battery-powered gloves that were much cheaper than their main competitor, Gerbing. I decided to ask them to send me a pair to test and review, and I added what I figured was a sure-fire selling point, I said “If I really like them I’ll buy them.” The woman I reached replied that she’d love take me up on that, but late in the season as it was, they were all out of stock. Get back in touch in the fall, she said.

So OK, I got back in touch with her recently and this time she said she can’t handle this, I need to contact someone else. Now I don’t know about you, but when someone offers me an opportunity to sell a product and generate some significant favorable publicity, I would tend to do what I could to bend the rules a little to make it happen. Oh well.

Then, I don’t recall how this came about, I checked their website again and found that they have raised the price of the gloves substantially. Checking Gerbing’s site I also found that they–perhaps in response to competition–have lowered their price substantially such that the two have completely shifted positions. Gerbing now sells for what Mobile Warming was asking while Mobile Warming is now selling for what Gerbing used to cost. Obviously, if I’m going to buy I’m going to be interested in the Gerbings.

But there is a third option, though it’s not as good an option. My friend Jungle recommended getting some Aerostich Warm Wrap Grips, which are pads that wrap around the grips and connect to the bike. One huge difference is the price. They only cost $45, whereas the Gerbing gloves are $200 and the Mobile Warming gloves are $270. Heating the grips instead of my hands would mean no fuss with the wires once they were installed on the bike. And at that price I could get the wraps for both my bikes and still pay less than for either pair of gloves.

The disadvantages would be that the heat would only be on the palm side of my hands, and I would not be able to walk around with warm hands as I would with battery-powered gloves. I mean, I figure that with battery-powered gloves I could take the dog for a walk in the dead of winter and keep my hands warm. That’s part of the appeal.

So I don’t know. I do intend to do something, I’m just not sure yet what. But one thing for sure is that I won’t be buying the gloves from Mobile Warming. They had their chance and blew it.

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Biker Quote for Today

There’s no adventure in turning around. — Shoganai

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Posted in Motorcycle Gear | 2 Comments »