10-29-2007, 03:43 PM
+1 on fairings/windscreens being very useful when it's cold.
Heated grips are damn nice to have though. I wear typical leather gloves with a thin liner over the heated grips in winter and it's great. The tips of your fingers get cold, but that's better than having your whole hand get cold. Also, since your hands are like little heat-shedding radiators, having something to replenish your body heat at the extremities is an added overall benefit. You're just afraid of letting the magic smoke out. Wiring in a key-on relay is stupid easy.
I'm riding with a heated jacket liner now too. It plugs into the accessory socket on BMW's and does a fantastic job of keeping me warm, even when I'm only wearing a leather jacket over it. Riding the 90 miles home from my parents place at dusk last night I felt not the slightest discomfort. I'm sure that wearing it under my winter textile will be uncomfortable, due to excess heat.
Which brings me to something you should add. With a winter jacket, it should have adjustable straps so it can accommodate layering. Riding with a T-shirt under your winter jacket only works down to about 40 degrees, below that you will want to layer, or for long distances you will want to layer. Thermal undershirt, T-shirt, and a wool sweater is usually what I wear. A neck covering is also good....a turtleneck sweater, or a scarf of some sort. You can lose a lot of heat from the major arteries running near the surface of your neck.
Heated kit is great, but not all bikes will support it. Most will. My '71 R60/5 would not. Anything with a modern three-phase charging system and a solid-state regulator/rectifier will. except maybe a VFR. It might not produce enough current at idle, but as soon as the motor spins up and you're moving it will.
Heated grips are damn nice to have though. I wear typical leather gloves with a thin liner over the heated grips in winter and it's great. The tips of your fingers get cold, but that's better than having your whole hand get cold. Also, since your hands are like little heat-shedding radiators, having something to replenish your body heat at the extremities is an added overall benefit. You're just afraid of letting the magic smoke out. Wiring in a key-on relay is stupid easy.
I'm riding with a heated jacket liner now too. It plugs into the accessory socket on BMW's and does a fantastic job of keeping me warm, even when I'm only wearing a leather jacket over it. Riding the 90 miles home from my parents place at dusk last night I felt not the slightest discomfort. I'm sure that wearing it under my winter textile will be uncomfortable, due to excess heat.
Which brings me to something you should add. With a winter jacket, it should have adjustable straps so it can accommodate layering. Riding with a T-shirt under your winter jacket only works down to about 40 degrees, below that you will want to layer, or for long distances you will want to layer. Thermal undershirt, T-shirt, and a wool sweater is usually what I wear. A neck covering is also good....a turtleneck sweater, or a scarf of some sort. You can lose a lot of heat from the major arteries running near the surface of your neck.
Heated kit is great, but not all bikes will support it. Most will. My '71 R60/5 would not. Anything with a modern three-phase charging system and a solid-state regulator/rectifier will. except maybe a VFR. It might not produce enough current at idle, but as soon as the motor spins up and you're moving it will.
horizontally opposed>*