Winter Gloves

[HammyUK]

sjtscott said:

I was considering getting a set a heated grips for my speed triple but a mate suggested heated gloves. I'm looking at the xrs12s as they have the shorter cuff as i always put my Goretex jacket sleeves over my gloves.
In terms of cabling and day to day use how are they? Assuming you get into the habit of connecting and disconnecting yourself from the bikes battery lead eventually? How do you route the cabling for the gloves themselves?

Gloves come with "Y" lead that goes down each arm.
Some I know don't bother and just plug them into the gloves from by the tank but it means you have loose cables.

Down the sleeves and out the cuff is best - one into each glove with cuffs over the top and one lead into the bike by your left thigh.
SImple.
Unlike grips - doesn't matter if you wire them direct to the battery as when you walk away from the bike you can't exactly leave them plugged in

[tom_e]

sjtscott said:

I was considering getting a set a heated grips for my speed triple but a mate suggested heated gloves. I'm looking at the xrs12s as they have the shorter cuff as i always put my Goretex jacket sleeves over my gloves.
In terms of cabling and day to day use how are they? Assuming you get into the habit of connecting and disconnecting yourself from the bikes battery lead eventually? How do you route the cabling for the gloves themselves?

I've got the short cuff ones and they're great.
Takes a bit of practice to throw the cable down each sleeve and leave it dangling down your back without getting tangled but it's not too bad.
I still have the odd time where I forget to disconnect from the bike before walking away but it's a low friction push connector so it just disconnects without any real pulling anyway.
I've got my wires coming from my battery out the side of my frame and back towards the pilly pegs, it's long enough then to pull out from under my subframe and connect up on my left.

[CoolHands]

CoolHands said:

Fitted mine tonight, ready for the cold weather this week. R363 model if anyone is looking for them. If any of you regularly commute in the winter and haven't ever used barmuffs you really must try them. They make a massive difference. Only downside is less filtering possibilities but it's worth it.

[TheInternet]

CoolHands said:

Fitted mine tonight...They make a massive difference. Only downside is less filtering possibilities

How much extra width are they, and when are you updating your username?

[CoolHands]

Actually theoretically they are only about a cm each side wider as the fit directly over the existing bar ends and are quite tight fitting. But they do seem to affect your filtering ability if you know what I mean? Maybe it's all in th mind.

[WarmHands]

[Biker 1]

tom_e said:

I've got the short cuff ones and they're great.
Takes a bit of practice to throw the cable down each sleeve and leave it dangling down your back without getting tangled but it's not too bad.
I still have the odd time where I forget to disconnect from the bike before walking away but it's a low friction push connector so it just disconnects without any real pulling anyway.
I've got my wires coming from my battery out the side of my frame and back towards the pilly pegs, it's long enough then to pull out from under my subframe and connect up on my left.

I have Alpinestars Celsius. Same Y cable configuration & wouldn't leave home without them in winter!! The only pain in the neck is at petrol stations, when you need to disconnect everything & reconnect after paying. A bit of a faff. Also, its quite tricky plugging the bike end connector in, as its taped to part of the frame below my left thigh, which I can't see with my lid on.... Anyone tried these: http://creamcarbon.co.uk/heated-over-grips.html

[HammyUK]

Biker 1 said:

I have Alpinestars Celsius. Same Y cable configuration & wouldn't leave home without them in winter!! The only pain in the neck is at petrol stations, when you need to disconnect everything & reconnect after paying. A bit of a faff. Also, its quite tricky plugging the bike end connector in, as its taped to part of the frame below my left thigh, which I can't see with my lid on.... Anyone tried these: http://creamcarbon.co.uk/heated-over-grips.html

No faff at all - just make sure the bike side is a little longer. Add some self-adhesive velcro and its simple.

Those overgrips will be no different to any other - palms only which isn't where you lose 90% of the heat.

[Biker 1]

HammyUK said:

Add some self-adhesive velcro and its simple.

Hmmmm... sounds like a plan - are you suggesting fixing the velcro to the bike??

[HammyUK]

Biker 1 said:

Hmmmm... sounds like a plan - are you suggesting fixing the velcro to the bike??

Yep - I buy rolls of 3M self-adhesive which comes with both parts.
Soft onto bike - so on the lower tank for instance.
Hard wrapped around end of lead back on to itself.
In use no issues and when you get off you just stick the cable back rather than having to faff around pushing the excess back under somewhere.

[obscene]

sjtscott said:

obscene said:

A vote here for Gerbing XR12's. Got a set of them which I can't be without through the colder months. I have absolutely no idea how I got by before. I remember having to take my KTM back to the dealer in Norwich for a map update from Reading and had to pull over at South Mimms as my hands were so cold I was near tears. Never again.

I was considering getting a set a heated grips for my speed triple but a mate suggested heated gloves. I'm looking at the xrs12s as they have the shorter cuff as i always put my Goretex jacket sleeves over my gloves.
In terms of cabling and day to day use how are they? Assuming you get into the habit of connecting and disconnecting yourself from the bikes battery lead eventually? How do you route the cabling for the gloves themselves?

As mentioned in one of the posts above, it comes with a Y lead and you can thread it through your jacket. I however couldn't be arsed with all the faff and bought the battery packs which fit in the gloves. Only downside is that if you're riding for over 2 hours the battery will probably run out (not tested how long) and therefore you would need to go back to the wire. Assuming you sort a route through your jacket, I can't see how being permanently wired in is an issue. As my commute is only an hour it made sense to use the battery packs. I did use the wire originally but always faffed about putting the wires through the arms each day instead of looking at a permanent solution.

Edited by obscene on Monday 7th November 13:14

[HammyUK]

obscene said:

As mentioned in one of the posts above, it comes with a Y lead and you can thread it through your jacket. I however couldn't be arsed with all the faff and bought the battery packs which fit in the gloves. Only downside is that if you're riding for over 2 hours the battery will probably run out (not tested how long) and therefore you would need to go back to the wire. Assuming you sort a route through your jacket, I can't see how being permanently wired in is an issue. As my commute is only an hour it made sense to use the battery packs. I did use the wire originally but always faffed about putting the wires through the arms each day instead of looking at a permanent solution.

Edited by obscene on Monday 7th November 13:14

MOst jackets come with a liner so you thread it between the jacket and that.
The loops that hold the liner in make perfect cable keepers to thread it through.
Same with the end - loop through on the left in a simple granny knot where it exits at your hip and it never moves.

[Biker 1]

HammyUK said:

MOst jackets come with a liner so you thread it between the jacket and that.
The loops that hold the liner in make perfect cable keepers to thread it through.
Same with the end - loop through on the left in a simple granny knot where it exits at your hip and it never moves.

I found it easiest to put the bottom part of the 'Y' through my jacket's hanging loop, then feed the other ends through the sleeves with my fingers, as I'm putting the jacket on. The bottom part can then be fed through the velcro waist adjuster in my trousers, which gives control over cable length. I will try the velcro method for mounting the socket, as mentioned by Hammy; this seems the way forward for quick connection/release. However, the problem I ALWAYS have, is connecting the sleeve ends of the 'Y' cable to the gloves. I think its operator error/ham fistedness....

[sjtscott]

obscene said:

sjtscott said:

obscene said:

A vote here for Gerbing XR12's. Got a set of them which I can't be without through the colder months. I have absolutely no idea how I got by before. I remember having to take my KTM back to the dealer in Norwich for a map update from Reading and had to pull over at South Mimms as my hands were so cold I was near tears. Never again.

I was considering getting a set a heated grips for my speed triple but a mate suggested heated gloves. I'm looking at the xrs12s as they have the shorter cuff as i always put my Goretex jacket sleeves over my gloves.
In terms of cabling and day to day use how are they? Assuming you get into the habit of connecting and disconnecting yourself from the bikes battery lead eventually? How do you route the cabling for the gloves themselves?

As mentioned in one of the posts above, it comes with a Y lead and you can thread it through your jacket. I however couldn't be arsed with all the faff and bought the battery packs which fit in the gloves. Only downside is that if you're riding for over 2 hours the battery will probably run out (not tested how long) and therefore you would need to go back to the wire. Assuming you sort a route through your jacket, I can't see how being permanently wired in is an issue. As my commute is only an hour it made sense to use the battery packs. I did use the wire originally but always faffed about putting the wires through the arms each day instead of looking at a permanent solution.

Edited by obscene on Monday 7th November 13:14

Thanks for the feedback on the gloves everyone.
Having measured my hand seems I'm a medium in these gloves, anyway ordered from a place I've used before for bike stuff through amazon

[HammyUK]

Biker 1 said:

I found it easiest to put the bottom part of the 'Y' through my jacket's hanging loop, then feed the other ends through the sleeves with my fingers, as I'm putting the jacket on. The bottom part can then be fed through the velcro waist adjuster in my trousers, which gives control over cable length. I will try the velcro method for mounting the socket, as mentioned by Hammy; this seems the way forward for quick connection/release. However, the problem I ALWAYS have, is connecting the sleeve ends of the 'Y' cable to the gloves. I think its operator error/ham fistedness....

Won't work with the Keis as the lead is asymmetrical.

[PurpleTurtle]

HammyUK said:

PurpleTurtle said:

Likewise, -1 on my ride in today in Hampshire (excellent for scrubbing in a brand new Pilot Sport 4 ) and even with factory heated grips on my VFR800 and some decent Hein Gericke winter gloves I was still in a bit of pain at the end of my journey.

I like the look of the Tucano Urbanos, but have only previously seen them fitted to maxi Scooters, not a Sports Tourer like mine. Years ago I had some cheapo Oxford ones, but they weren't attached to the bar ends, so at speed would blow backwards against the brake and clutch levers. The ones with a bar end fixing look like they would prevent this.

Yes, I know it would make me look a bit of a knobber, but I don't care if I'm warm and toasty on a 20 mile winter commute. Seems like the R363's are the one's for me, although I'm a bit dubious about being able to operate indiactors, horn and high/low beam through them.

Perhaps heated gloves would be a better all round option? I feel the cold in the back of my hands, particularly in a couple of previously dislocated fingers, which unfortunately the standard heated grips don't prevent.

http://scooter-wear.com/tucano-urbano-handlebar-mu...

at "please select your model on our muff selector"

Edited by PurpleTurtle on Thursday 3rd November 13:33

Turtle - as you're in Hants, welcome to try my Keis kit to see if that works for you.
No one who has so far has not bought heated kit though

Thanks for the offer, very kind, although happy to take a recommendation. The X800i's look just the job, I want something with a relatively narrow cuff so my jacket can go over them. Think I might be giving these a punt.

http://www.keisapparel.co.uk/product/keis-heated-x...

[HammyUK]

PurpleTurtle said:

Thanks for the offer, very kind, although happy to take a recommendation. The X800i's look just the job, I want something with a relatively narrow cuff so my jacket can go over them. Think I might be giving these a punt.

http://www.keisapparel.co.uk/product/keis-heated-x...

Wouldn't bother with the X800i - they run at half the amperage of the X800.
Unless you're planning on using batteries Keis themselves recommended not to bother as they don't get quite as warm

Edited by HammyUK on Monday 7th November 22:48

[HairyMaclary]

TheInternet said:

CoolHands said:

Fitted mine tonight...They make a massive difference. Only downside is less filtering possibilities

How much extra width are they, and when are you updating your username?

I put my on this weekend. They do affect my spacial awareness. I thought it was just me! Hoping that I'll get used to this quickly.

Warm toasty hands and a couple of tapped wing mirrors is the price you'll pay

[PurpleTurtle]

Before I do plump for anything heated, it occuured to me that my hands are getting cold because of the nature of my commute - 5 miles town filtering/10 miles open countryside/5 miles town filtering. One would think that the fast, middle bit is where I'm getting the problem, but it's actually the start and end of my journey. Why? Because I'm constantly working the brake and clutch i.e.e two very cold metal bits stuck out in the wind that radiate (for want of a better expression) the cold through my mitts.

So, this morning, I chucked a pair of these things on the levers.

http://www.wemoto.com/parts/picture/sc-2290-83-110...

Combined with a set of heated grips and some Hein Gericke Pathans that I've had kicking around for years (those things that look like lobster claws) I arrived at the end of a -1 Deg C 20 mile ride with toasty mitts. Very worthy of a whole 2 quid (plus delivery) outlay. They need a bit of washing up liquid as lube to get them onto the levers, but once on are absolutely fantastic. I'll see how we get on as autumn/winter progresses, I tend not to ride much below zero simply because I am self-employed and can't afford an off on any ice, but with the weather as it is at the moment they are just the job.

The Pathans are an odd one. I've had them for years and do struggle with the feeling of the 'claw', it isn't natural to me, but there's no getting away from the fact that they are very warm gloves. I thought HG had disappeared completely, but it seems you can still get them online.

http://www.hein-gericke-outlet.com/hein-gericke-gl...

ETA: HG only selling them in size XS, which probably excludes most PH-ers

Edited by PurpleTurtle on Tuesday 8th November 11:51

[King Herald]

heyhomes said:

Crikey, I rode to work this morning in my summer gloves and the pain in my fingertips after 45mins was unbelievable, I thought that I was gonna have to do a Ranulph Finnes and saw my fingers off!

Tucanao urbano muffs and Oxford heated grips duly ordered as soon as I got to work.

Reminds me of when I was a teenager, in the 70's, used to ride 7 miles to work in two pairs of wooly gloves. I had to put my hands under the COLD tap when I got there, just to get the temperature up. Hot or even warm water was was agonizing.

That was long before I knew anything about wind chill or proper protection....

[Jezz172]

Well the stolen MT 09 Tracer has been replaced by a shiny new R1200 GS Triple Black.
The heated grips are amazing!
So swapped from searching for winter gloves to just warm all round gloves.

Off to the NEC Bike Show tomorrow so hope to find a deal there