And today's commuting highlight is...

[Harry H]

kiethton said:

This morning was unbearable - even more so than earlier this week

Going to get the heated grips fitted this weekend without fail! - the sensation of getting to work feeling like you've had a 30 minute snowball fight (on your legs and neck too!) is far from ideal - still sat here now, in a woman controlled office with a thick jumper on (and I'm normally sweating!)

Forget the heated grips. Get a set of Gerbing heated gloves and a heated inner jacket. Jump on bike plug yourself in and toasty warm.

An investment that'll last for years and make all year biking comfortable. Why suffer ??

[Tall_Paul]

tjlazer said:

THESE GERBING GLOVES ARE fkING BRILLIANT! I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T BUY SOME SOONER! Rode in today and my hands thought it was mid-July, I normally really suffer on my fingertips in the cold but today it was beautiful. I'm riding a naked (Street Triple) no guards, nothing and they lapped it up. Cruising at 70 was nothing at all. Only at 50% on the way in, might up it tonight to try the extra toasty feeling. It makes such a difference being able to feel the controls!

exactly.

75% power for me this morning at 1 degree temperature, no issues at all.

[CAPP0]

Harry H said:

kiethton said:

This morning was unbearable - even more so than earlier this week

Going to get the heated grips fitted this weekend without fail! - the sensation of getting to work feeling like you've had a 30 minute snowball fight (on your legs and neck too!) is far from ideal - still sat here now, in a woman controlled office with a thick jumper on (and I'm normally sweating!)

Forget the heated grips. Get a set of Gerbing heated gloves and a heated inner jacket.

And a new battery Kiethton, otherwise next week's posts are going to be VERY predictable!

[kiethton]

CAPP0 said:

Harry H said:

kiethton said:

This morning was unbearable - even more so than earlier this week

Going to get the heated grips fitted this weekend without fail! - the sensation of getting to work feeling like you've had a 30 minute snowball fight (on your legs and neck too!) is far from ideal - still sat here now, in a woman controlled office with a thick jumper on (and I'm normally sweating!)

Forget the heated grips. Get a set of Gerbing heated gloves and a heated inner jacket.

And a new battery Kiethton, otherwise next week's posts are going to be VERY predictable!

Battery is covered - was new about 6 months back

Separately I've just had a call from the GF to say that my new rear tyre has arrived, delivered to her work....a children's nursery school - they're now apparently looking at her in a WTF is this kind of way....

Would love the full compliment of kit but just can't justify it all atm, especially for what is 2-3 months a year for a total of about 5 hours a week...

Biggest things for me this weekend are:

Get tyre fitted
At the same time sort out the very loose and slack chain
Fix the oil leak using the new UV dye and the heat resistant sealant stuff I bought (currently using over 0.5l a week in drips making it hard to keep on top of...gets a full oil change every month this way though!)
Then fit the heated grips and re gaffa tape the OSF indicator back on as it's currently hanging off

[675 Gaz]

I bought some rikka gortex winter gloves a few weeks ago, they are good but this morning I suffered again.
It's only 26 miles with 3/4 of it on the motorway on street triple.

Is it worth me trying to return them and get some of these xr12's ?

The rikkas cost £89 so if need to top up a bit obvisouly.

[GM182]

Took the train this morning...slow but warm.
Was glad this evening too as I didn't feel like doing battle.

[Tall_Paul]

675 Gaz said:

I bought some rikka gortex winter gloves a few weeks ago, they are good but this morning I suffered again.
It's only 26 miles with 3/4 of it on the motorway on street triple.

Is it worth me trying to return them and get some of these xr12's ?

The rikkas cost £89 so if need to top up a bit obvisouly.

For me it's a huge yes - there's really only 2 options if you want warm hands - heated grips and muffs, or heated gloves.

I changed bikes in April, was using heated grips and muffs on my old bike, the faff and cost of fitting heated grips was annoying, especially if you change bikes at any time.

The only issues with the XR12's are that the right arm power lead could be a bit longer, but I'm 6ft 3in with long arms so that won't apply to 95% of people. And they take a tiny bit longer to put on. They're excellent gloves even if you forget the heated part, comfy, soft leather, waterproof, and compared to my Held Racetex GTX gloves there's not that much loss of feel. Don't expect the fit the cuffs on the XR12 under your jacket though, they're huge!




Back to commuting, had some bloke in a 3 series (poverty spec, of course) who was tailgating about 5ft behind me on 2 roundabouts between DC sections on the way home, in this weather I tiptoe around roundabouts, with diesel, oil and the added threat of ice or slimey cold tarmac I'd rather stay upright thanks. Needless to say on the straight after the roundabout his headlights become a speck... until the 3rd roundabout where he is in the left lane, me beside him in the right, me turning tight - he goes around me overtaking me on the outside to the same direction as me...

I gave a him a little wave as I passed him 2 miles down the road as I filtered past him and 30 other cars at a set of lights. Dunno what goes through these people's minds, what do they thing they'll gain?

[obscene]

I have the same gloves as tall Paul, funny that! Don't suppose you have a set of Knox Handroids? :haha:

I recommend using the battery packs as I got sick of faffing around with wires in jacket liners. Well worth the extra cost. Plus they run cooler on batteries, not that I could use anything more than half on them without burning my hands.

[Tall_Paul]

obscene said:

I have the same gloves as tall Paul, funny that! Don't suppose you have a set of Knox Handroids? :haha:

I recommend using the battery packs as I got sick of faffing around with wires in jacket liners. Well worth the extra cost. Plus they run cooler on batteries, not that I could use anything more than half on them without burning my hands.

No Knox handroids here, my third set of gloves are RST Tractech EVO R's.

TBH the wires don't bother me at all, and I wouldn't want the gloves to be any cooler - at 50% in 3-4 degrees you can't feel the 'heat' as such, but they're doing the job of keeping my hands at just the right temperature. A couple of reviews have said this too.

On the commute today at 75% I could feel the warmth more if I put my fingers out straight, but overall your hands feel 'comfortable' - no direct heat and I doubt if even 100% heat level would get close too feeling it was burning, but I know how cold my hands would be in 1 degree temperatures with the wind chill on top. Apparently that's around -9 degrees at 60mph... Previously wearing the racetex gloves at 3 degrees my fingers have been physically in pain at the office after riding. It's possible they're changed the heating tech from previous versions, as I've also seen reviews where people had a 'scale' effect on their hands after wearing the gloves, with mine if you tuck the power cable into it's zipper you would not be able to tell they have heating elements in them.

[675 Gaz]

I think I may be sold, if they'll return them. The other option is the Rst thermotech gloves, can get them £140ish and they are battery operated as opposed to wired

[Cbull]

Looks like you're going to have to add quite a bit of dosh to get those gloves then, probably still worth it.

Wish I had got them. As good the Kies Heated Inner Gloves are, they're a bit of a pain setting up and squash my hands/fingers making it a bit uncomfortable. They do a very good job of keeping the fingers warm.

Bit risky riding in to work today. It's hard to judge point it becomes a bit of a stupid decision to use the bike rather than the car. Decent ride in this morning, traffic wasn't too hectic. Strange how some days the traffic seems to be backed up miles with everyone in a rush then some days it's just busy but flowing and even some days not so busy at all.

[Alex@POD]

Interesting ride in this morning, got to try the abs on snowy patches... At least I know it works!

[CAPP0]

675 Gaz said:

I think I may be sold, if they'll return them. The other option is the Rst thermotech gloves, can get them £140ish and they are battery operated as opposed to wired

I bought a pair of heated gloves last year (Alpinestars iirc). Wore them just the once and the heat was absolutely negligible so I asked to return them. They weren't having a bar of it, because I'd worn them, but I did win in the end. Good luck returning yours.

I might resort to some Gerbings now, I think.

[TheCommuter]

Cbull said:

Looks like you're going to have to add quite a bit of dosh to get those gloves then, probably still worth it.

Wish I had got them. As good the Kies Heated Inner Gloves are, they're a bit of a pain setting up and squash my hands/fingers making it a bit uncomfortable. They do a very good job of keeping the fingers warm.

Bit risky riding in to work today. It's hard to judge point it becomes a bit of a stupid decision to use the bike rather than the car. Decent ride in this morning, traffic wasn't too hectic. Strange how some days the traffic seems to be backed up miles with everyone in a rush then some days it's just busy but flowing and even some days not so busy at all.

Do you think Kies heated inner gloves would be comfortable if the outer glove is oversized? Appreciate there may be no right answer to this question

[SBDJ]

Been wondering if I should have opted for the Gerbings too from what you guys are saying. I have a Keis jacket so bought the Keis gloves for easy connection.

The cuffs are quite large but because the power connector is on the outside the only real option is to wear the cuffs under your sleeve which is a squeeze.

I've also had to have them on 100% power the last few days and they are just about coping, might be problematic if it gets colder.

Mine is a slightly more extreme usage than most; around 2-2.5 hours at a decent cruising speed.

[terry tibbs]

TheCommuter said:

Do you think Kies heated inner gloves would be comfortable if the outer glove is oversized? Appreciate there may be no right answer to this question

can be i went to size 11 from 9. i took them into the shop and tried different pairs/sizes on with the inner

it would have been cheaper to just buy heated gloves as the 11 are too large when not using the inner

[Biker 1]

CAPP0 said:

I bought a pair of heated gloves last year (Alpinestars iirc). Wore them just the once and the heat was absolutely negligible so I asked to return them.

Hmmmm.... I've got these & couldn't be happier. They're certainly not roasting, but easily enough to keep off the cold.

[sjtscott]

Nice to see everyone is discussing heated gloves. Got my gerbing xrs-12s last year - the s on the end means short cuffs (as I've said before) works better for under the jacket cuffs and you can only power them from the bike.
Made winter riding the bit more pleasant, will be busting them out of hibernation once I'm back from Thailand where the weather is about as far from any usual nov/dec expectation of mine and yes I'm in the northern hemisphere so it is officially winter.

[Biker 1]

sjtscott said:

..... once I'm back from Thailand where the weather is about as far from any usual nov/dec expectation of mine and yes I'm in the northern hemisphere so it is officially winter.

Not jealous at all, you lucky fker.....
Nipped down the shops half an hour ago - I had to wear a hat & gloves. fking winter in England. Humbug.

[Angrybiker]

My commuting highlight coming home on Friday:




Lights on York Road, Wandsworth, intersection of plough road. Going towards Wandsworth roundabout.
Scooter in front of me went off the lights the millisencond it turned amber and raced away. I made off on green together with a Fazer on my left. Car raced through its red from the side road on the right, slammed into my side - apparently pushing me sideways about 2 yards and into the Fazer who also came off. I'm told I did a rather spectacular cartwheel and bounced a few times before getting up immediately.
Woman tried telling us and 3 other witnesses that she went through on Amber - to which all 5 of us said "No, love, don't think so".

Unquestionably jumped the red - and not only just. a) scooter had time to clear the way so she hit numbers 2 and 3; b) 4 witnesses say our light was green. Police mandated to attend because I was injured so they will be doing their own investigation. I guess there's maybe a good chance of a dangerous driving charge; and if they're feeling mean they could also do red light - in which case if they do both then that's her license.

Nothing broken but right leg hurt like hell; and the obligatory 'felt like 2 rounds with Mike Tyson' on Sat and today. Advised by the quack to stay home keep it elevated for a few days with frozen peas and nurofen, to reduce swelling and stop 'compartment syndrome', which I didn't know about until yesterday.