The cold is coming. Time to plan. Hands.

[Image]

I ride my storm throughout winter and have serious cold hand probs at sub-zero. Tried heated grips, they just gave me sweaty palms and frozen knuckles (a weirdly horrid feeling). Tried handlebar muffs but had problems operating switches and getting my large hands in and out. I'm wondering now whether to try electrically heated gloves. The AA battery one are out, don't last long enough. Would the 12v ones be too much of a drain on the storms battery? Another thought was the handguards like you get on trail bikes to stop the windchill.

[lumpyv]

cant help mate im a southern(eastern) softy ,fair weather bike rider. i was amazed just how hot the frame was the other day just by my thigh near the rear cylinder head . i have often wondered if a bike design could incorporate some way of transfering this heat to the bars somehow?

i reckon heated gloves should work. what about those inserts you warm up in the microwave that fishermen use?

[Image]

Anything that goes inside the glove tightens the area inside the glove which make the hands even colder. Found that out with thermal inners. I've never tried the electric gloves and I'm wondering how warm they actually are and how much drain they are on the battery. Don't want to keep warm by bump starting the bike

[lumpyv]

praps you need even bigger gloves for your big hands to get inserts in.

push starting motorbikes definately keeps you warm ( i used to have a bsa!) good luck with it mate.

[tony.mon]

I think the charging sytem would be fine for gloves, maybe even a heated vest as well, but to be safe i'd fit a voltage indicator, so that you can keep an eye on it, and not use headlights at the same time. You could wire a couple of LED spotlights for the visibility you will need in winter.

Connect your heated kit via a relay that only provides power when the ignition is on. That way you won't get a flat battery if you turn the engine off and forget to unplug quickly.

I'm dreading having to put away the summer perforated gloves, the thicker ones always feel awful for a few days until you get used to them again.

[Image]

Bigger gloves not an option. I already feel like Mickey Mouse with my winter gloves. Yeah, electric gloves via a relay sounds good. As does the vest.

[VTRDark]

Gortex. half the battle is the the wind chill.

(:-})

[Image]

Goretex overgloves or goretex bike gloves?

[benny hedges]

yesterday over cat n fiddle at night i was fookin froze to the bone.
not nice.
tonight i went out in my rst textiles and was toasty warm. what a difference!

much better riding in ordinary comfy gloves with heated grips rather than wearing bulky winter gloves.

[Rob]

Had to use my heated grips coming home tonight (10pm).

They are good, but as you say the backs of your hands (and more impotantly your fingertips) still get cold. Will look into heated gloves, that sounds good

Don't worry about the battery, the heating element would be inside the insulation and wouldn't actually need to be that strong, I would say they would use a lot less than heated grips (I think mine are 4 amp) and I've never had a problem.

[Rob]

http://www.motocentral.co.uk/EXO2-Storm ... AZVTP.aspx

Definitely interested in heated gloves now - they sound great and the price is reasonable. Will look around some more.

[VTRDark]

Goretex overgloves or goretex bike gloves?

Either but the key is Gortex which is windproof up to something like 180mph, 100% waterproof you could put your hand under a running tap and water wont penetrate. And 100% breathable so any moisture from your body is allowed to escape.



(:-})

[lloydie]

i put it away for winter and jump in the car with heated seats and climate control .
sod freezing my nuts off in winter on the bike , i did it for 5 years never again

[VTRDark]

You should be allright with all that fur.

(:-})

[Trainraider]

Driving too much, in too cold. And having a pleasure to have a 4 months full winter with snow more than half a meter (well, at least the last two winters)

First of all, forget the gloves. What you need is good mittens.

You can try to put how many layers of goretex and tixtex and tex-willers and your fingers will still be frozen.

Something like this

Also forget "winter gloves" and go directly to arctic. Try snow scooter gear. Much better and they are actually made for cold weather, not for chilly autumn nights like the motorcycle gear usually is.

Also I recommend something like this:

The "muff" above is very good solution and is often used by the legion called "Enduro drivers".

They actually have winter-rallies in Finland. Take a look for example this link: http://www.matkaendurot.net/forum/downl ... &mode=view
And the regular road conditions: http://www.matkaendurot.net/forum/downl ... &mode=view

So with the muff and mittens you can drive up to arctic circle. After that you need something bit stronger, like vodka...

There is no too cold weather, just wrong clothing.