Discussion
Those who have them swear by them so I'm tempted to try one. But on a cold ride it isn't my torso that gets cold, it's my fingers (despite heated grips) and toes. I appreciate the theory that keeping your core warm leaves body heat left over for the extremities but what are other peoples experiences?
Do you need a long ride to feel the benefit? Is it a case of taking the chill off when it's 5 Deg C or making sub zero motorway miles tolerable?
Do you need a long ride to feel the benefit? Is it a case of taking the chill off when it's 5 Deg C or making sub zero motorway miles tolerable?
Dr Jekyll said:
Those who have them swear by them so I'm tempted to try one. But on a cold ride it isn't my torso that gets cold, it's my fingers (despite heated grips) and toes. I appreciate the theory that keeping your core warm leaves body heat left over for the extremities but what are other peoples experiences?
Do you need a long ride to feel the benefit? Is it a case of taking the chill off when it's 5 Deg C or making sub zero motorway miles tolerable?
I have Keiss sleeveless waistcoat and I think your last paragraph sums it up entirely. On a trip back from Scotland last winter I was chilly and thought it was a waste of time....until I turned it off and nearly froze to death in 5 miles!!Do you need a long ride to feel the benefit? Is it a case of taking the chill off when it's 5 Deg C or making sub zero motorway miles tolerable?
I had the vest and now have the long sleeve one, i only wear a t shirt heated jacket and Goretex outer no matter how cold and I’m toasty, if you’ve got cold hands and feet it makes a huge difference as warmth stays in your core, heating your core with a jacket sends warmth to hands and feet so solves that problem ( for me anyway)
When you are cold your body tries to protect your core, where all your vital organs are located, by reducing blood flow to your extremities, i.e. your fingers and toes, followed by your hards and feet and so on. If you keep your core temperature up, for example by using a heated vest, the blood flow to your fingers and toes is maintained for longer so they feel warm for longer too. Obviously there comes a point where your fingers will start to feel cold, but you can delay that.
I’ve used a Keiss waistcoat for the last 10 winters or so and couldn’t do without it
Regarding cold fingers the only thing I’ve found sorts it out are muffs, goping to look at I know, but combined with heated grips and summer gloves they work great. I’m sure it’s the windchill on the front of your hands that makes it worse, heated grips on full and winter gloves/mitts doesn’t solve it, and the muffs work well
Regarding cold fingers the only thing I’ve found sorts it out are muffs, goping to look at I know, but combined with heated grips and summer gloves they work great. I’m sure it’s the windchill on the front of your hands that makes it worse, heated grips on full and winter gloves/mitts doesn’t solve it, and the muffs work well
I have keis heated gloves, gillet and trousers. They are awesome in the cold.
Gloves are a bit of a faff so I only use them on long cold rides, but pants and gillet I use most of the time in autumn and spring.
I think the biggest difference between normal clothing and heated clothing is instead of being 'not cold' on your bike, you can actually be warm.
They can also stretch summer gear out a season or two if you are mostly a fair weather rider.
Matt
Gloves are a bit of a faff so I only use them on long cold rides, but pants and gillet I use most of the time in autumn and spring.
I think the biggest difference between normal clothing and heated clothing is instead of being 'not cold' on your bike, you can actually be warm.
They can also stretch summer gear out a season or two if you are mostly a fair weather rider.
Matt
My heated jacket was the best ever bike related purchase. At the time I was commuting ~30Mi each way by bike all year round and of that about 25Mi was motorway/A road.
Yes, you are correct that fingers and to an extent toes are still a problem but the very best you can do with clothing is slow down heat loss. A heated jacket/vest actively heats you up. I used to be able to just "snuggle down" and it would feel it particularly nicely warming around my kidneys.
With heated grips and a heated jacket even subzero wasn't horrific (although it still wasn't fun).
100% recommend one if you're riding in cold weather but they're not the only solution, you do need either muffs (deeply uncool but effective), heated grips or heated gloves. I would also go for brake/clutch lever covers as I found that even with heated grips pulling on the very very cold levers would compress the lining of the gloves and transfer the heat out of my fingers, negating the effects of the heated grips.
Honestly I held off on getting one for ages, wish I'd bought one far sooner. Just go and get one.
Yes, you are correct that fingers and to an extent toes are still a problem but the very best you can do with clothing is slow down heat loss. A heated jacket/vest actively heats you up. I used to be able to just "snuggle down" and it would feel it particularly nicely warming around my kidneys.
With heated grips and a heated jacket even subzero wasn't horrific (although it still wasn't fun).
100% recommend one if you're riding in cold weather but they're not the only solution, you do need either muffs (deeply uncool but effective), heated grips or heated gloves. I would also go for brake/clutch lever covers as I found that even with heated grips pulling on the very very cold levers would compress the lining of the gloves and transfer the heat out of my fingers, negating the effects of the heated grips.
Honestly I held off on getting one for ages, wish I'd bought one far sooner. Just go and get one.
When I used to ride in winter I got a Gerbing heated "blouson" type jacket that I wore under a textile jacket and it was very effective - with decent gloves and heated grips I was able to ride quite happily (temperature wise) to minus 4 degrees or so on a VFR800 - sleeved heating seemed to go a long way to help my hands stay warm. In practice the only bit of me that got cold was my feet on motorways at c 75mph when it got to minus 6 or 7 - hands were fine though.
Even though I poo-poo'd the idea in the first reply, now I'm thinking I might buy one. I think the problem with the heated vest I had last time, was that it was just a vest, so it was an extra item of stuff to carry around.
Now I'm thinking I can ditch the removable thermal liner in my existing jacket and buy a full inner jacket with heating. Can just stay inside my main jacket all the time. Not so cold trip to shops = no heating. Extra cold longer ride = use heating.
OTOH my last gillet did cactus itself after only 2 winters, so it is a bit of money for something which doesn't last that long. Any expereince with one of these two options:
Keis: https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/...
Gerbing: https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/...
Keis seems to use some carbon fiber elements. Gerbing seems to use thin wires. I think it was a Keis gillet that I had and cactus'd itself.
Now I'm thinking I can ditch the removable thermal liner in my existing jacket and buy a full inner jacket with heating. Can just stay inside my main jacket all the time. Not so cold trip to shops = no heating. Extra cold longer ride = use heating.
OTOH my last gillet did cactus itself after only 2 winters, so it is a bit of money for something which doesn't last that long. Any expereince with one of these two options:
Keis: https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/...
Gerbing: https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/...
Keis seems to use some carbon fiber elements. Gerbing seems to use thin wires. I think it was a Keis gillet that I had and cactus'd itself.
Iminquarantine said:
Any expereince with one of these two options:
I had the keis full jacket initially, and returned it for the gillet.I too remove the thermal liner and just ran the gillet under it.
Issues with jacket was it was a bit of a pain to get on, dragging as you try to put the jacket over it, but the main problem was the collar. With the collar and the outer textile zipped up, neck movement was really restricted.
Depends too much space you have in your textiles I guess.
Thanks
Matt
Iminquarantine said:
Now I'm thinking I can ditch the removable thermal liner in my existing jacket and buy a full inner jacket with heating. Can just stay inside my main jacket all the time. Not so cold trip to shops = no heating. Extra cold longer ride = use heating.
.
I mainly rode on long trips (300-400 miles weekend commute) but wore a cheap thermal wicking type sleeved t-shirt, rubgy shirt, back protector, then the heated jacket, then a Hein Gericke textile jacket with the liner removed. It wasn't too bulky and fine for most occasions - certainly sitting in a blizzard one evening stuck in a mile long tailback 1500 feet up at at Drumochter pass on the A9 in Scotland it was warm enough..
The controller effectively allowed you to take on or off a few layers whenever it suited.
My older Gerbing had quite a high collar which was heated and I quite liked as it kept your neck very warm - although I did manage to burn my neck the first time I used it as the original controller didn't work and I was manually plugging it in and out to regulate the temp as I rode along ......
Just realised Garbing has a lifetime warranty on the heating elements in their gear. So may be a good buy. Always something to buy with bikes.
What about wiring it unswitched direct to the battery? Obvs you cannot forget to unplug the jacket, since you are wearing it. But is there any small power draw at all when unplugged which could drain the bike battery if it is direct wired?
What about wiring it unswitched direct to the battery? Obvs you cannot forget to unplug the jacket, since you are wearing it. But is there any small power draw at all when unplugged which could drain the bike battery if it is direct wired?
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