Electric vest or full jacket liner

[toadshoney]

Squidchief-

I'm the OP. My leathers are good ones, the jacket has the cheesey liner installed and my lowers are full pants, not chaps. I also wear my rain jacket as a wind breaker, which it does well. I have leather gauntlet gloves that are lined with fleece.

It is not a matter of wind, per se, getting to me. It is the loss of heat by convection through the insulation layers and also by conduction of the air traveling across the outer layer of clothes. The problem is a persons body can only make up for so much heat loss, especially when sitting (relatively) still on the bike as opposed to walking or running. The electric heat makes up the deficit.

Think back to your early career; If you stood any pier sentry watches in any of the colder ports you might compare how chilly that might have gotten. I know the topside watch standers in Norfolk got cold in January.

To all-

Thanks for the feed back, think I'll go with sleeves.

Dean, EM2/SS

[MikeB]

Last question for the electric folks. For long rides, is there some kind of thermostat or won't they get kind of warm after a while?

Yes, there is something called a Heat-Troller that modulates electrical output to the desired amount. It does it by pulsing at different rates. You can use it with any heated element, from clothing to grips.

Most heated things come with at least a three-position switch, though (OFF/HI/LO) which is usually good enough. The Heat-Troller just allows a more precise setting.

[adlowe]

Originally Posted by squidchief

No thanks on the heat packs!!! I'd rather try your energy-intensive causing neural activity gig... maybe run some porn scenes through.

If you're wearing chaps, that will actually chill your whole body by running more blood through... Aw, you should know all about that.

Originally Posted by squidchief

Last question for the electric folks. For long rides, is there some kind of thermostat or won't they get kind of warm after a while?

Not a thermostat but a controller. Usually costs extra. They regulate the amount of electricity running through the jacket/vest and/or gloves and thereby make the level of heat output adjustable. On my Widder, the controller goes up to 10. I've never had it past 4, even when riding at 10°F. (Yes, riding in temps that low is easy. Safer than in the mid-20s to mid 30s because you don't have to worry about freezing melt water. Or salt spray.)

Originally Posted by toadshoney

It is not a matter of wind, per se, getting to me. It is the loss of heat by convection through the insulation layers and also by conduction of the air traveling across the outer layer of clothes. The problem is a persons body can only make up for so much heat loss, especially when sitting (relatively) still on the bike as opposed to walking or running. The electric heat makes up the deficit.

EXACTLY!

[squidchief]

Toadshoney.. REALLY????? You had to bring up pier sentry???? I just about those memories buried. I stood most of mine in Alameda, and a few in Norfolk also. Point well taken, but with that in mind, the thermals and foul weather gear we had back in the day was crap... especially as compared to what is available today. What caused most of my questioning was we see here quite often folks trying to cut corners for the sake of either finances or personal creativity, or try to just "make do". I'm too much of a wuss to commute back and forth in the winter but I do take the bike out a couple of times throughout the winter to keep the fluids moving... that and the occasional toy run. Wearing quality underarmour and good outer gear (leather) that keeps the wind out, I've never really caught that much of a chill except for my head... and the frozen faceshield thing. Depending on what you wear under, I can really see the benefit to wearing the one piece thermal suits, and if you can warm them up electrically, seems even better but that still doesn't solve the frozen head and shield problem. I'm not a big fan of the cold, but no way do I want to bundle up and feel bulky to ride a motorcycle. You are quite correct on a lot of the sports gear out there designed to keep upi warm. It's designed to retain the heat you generate by moving... heat you're not going to create by sitting on a bike. if you could start all the way over again, would you just get a wind resistent, snowmobile or winter bike type one piece, electric or otherwise, instead of trying to stay warm one piece at a time?

Either way. Happy Thanksgiving to all and a special wish to my brothers and sisters deployed with American forces throughout the world.

[toadshoney]

I may yet someday get a full riding suit... I hear tell that eventually people say "oh ef it" and spend the big money on a BMW suit.

Having said that, in my mind you can't beat leather for abrasion protection. I realize nothing protects against 65mph into something solid, but I'm hoping for some slide time to slow me down.

I have a Shoei Qwest helmet and wear it with a Silky brand skull cap liner.
The helmet comes with a chin curtain that cuts down on the wind onto your lower face (yeah... your chin) and the visor has a setting that lifts it slightly off of the sealing gasket and allows some minor ventilation at speed. Still need to crack it open for the slower speeds and wide open when stopped, but over all I have no problems with fogging or skull/brain freeze.

Finally, sorry for dragging up old memories, but you did get my point.

Dean

[Scrapdog2grand]

Whats up Dean, just tough it out would ya!!

[GDI]

I have a Widder electric vest that I ran since 2005 or so, and just bought a First Gear (Warm N Safe) jacket liner this year.

During that time I've run two different leather jackets. Yeah the leather jacket definitely makes a difference! My previous jacket was by "Interstate" that I bought cheap at a local Farm & Fleet. It was sized a little to large for me. That made it good for layering, but it didn't block the wind the way my current Scorpion jacket does.

The Widder vest is great. It really kicks the heat. If you leave it on the high setting long enough it actually makes you feel sick to your stomach. It's the same feeling that you got as a kid right before you'd hurl! The trouble is that your extremities can still be quite cold even when your core is that warm. . . . That's why I've gone to the jacket liner instead--well, that and the Widder was getting kind of worn.

The jacket liner is a much more refined heat. It's all over and not that "punch in the gut" kind of heat that I got from the Widder. Make no mistake the jacket liner can really bring it too, but I'm not as tempted to overcompensate for cold arms, etc. by running it on max heat all the time.

If your head is getting cold, get yourself a balaclava. I've got just a lightweight "headsock" that really makes a big difference. It blocks that wind at your neck that makes you cold. My other one is a fleece-type at the neck w/ lightweight material over the crown of the head. It is sized a little small for me or else it would be much better than the cheaper, lightweight one that I have. I got a big ol' noggin, so it's always a struggle to get it covered adequately. . . .

I really like the balaclavas. I start wearing them when the temps are in the 50s as they really do make a huge difference in comfort.

I've been running these cheap grip heaters (Kimpex, Symtec, Dual-Star, etc.) now on 5 different bikes. They're always there when you need them, and they're much more convenient than heated gloves. I bought a pair of heated glove liners when I got the jacket liner last winter. I didn't even think that they worked at first, because the heat comes on kind of slow, and I was confused about how to use the heat-troller. I've been using lightweight, summer gloves with the heated grips, so don't really have any good gloves for use with the heated glove liners, so that may be part of my problem. I'm still not 100% sure which way to go there, but something is definitely better than nothing!

GDI