Tweet
I lived in Florida for the first 43 years of my life and never needed anything more than a leather jacket to stay warm on my old GSXR 1100.
I moved to eastern TN in 2007 and I bought my Katana in July of last year. Riding in truly cold conditions was a real learning experience. Too many layers makes it tough to actually enjoy the ride and be able to do anything like stop for lunch, bio-breaks, etc.
I spent some time talking to a few of the local guys at Cycle Gear. They all had experience with heated gear, some of their own brand (Sedici) and some with other brands. ALL of them said once you have heated gear you won't understand how you ever rode without it. So I decided to buy the heated vest and heated gloves.
For my inaugural ride, I wore a t-shirt, followed by a pair of thermal underwear (Rocky heavy type, for hunting), followed by the vest, topped off with Bilt waterproof & zip-in liner armored pants and jacket.
I will say that the heated vest was amazing. Even on it's lowest setting I was comfortable in 37°F temps. I actually stopped and removed the thermal underwear top, leaving just the t-shirt, vest and Bilt outerwear. That proved to be the perfect combo and, as the sun went down and the temps fell, I did bump the heated vest to Medium and the gloves to their Medium setting. I looked at my weather station and the outside temperature when I arrived home was 31°F.
My GF complained that she was still getting cold, and I was tired of the hassle of the wires going to the gloves snaking through the jacket, so I purchased the heated jacket and gave the vest to the GF. The heated jacket makes the connection to the gloves a painless process and the extra heat in the arms is noticeable. The GF was now comfortable with the vest, but kept complaining her hands got cold. We bought a pair of the Sedici heated glove liners for her. No controller necessary, they just plug in and run. She reports that they keep her hands comfortable when she uses them inside my heavy leather gloves.
The ultimate test for me was performed during the recent single digit temps we had. I purchased the heated pants and boot liners. I dressed as follows :
Long-sleeve T-shirt, Rocky hunting thermal underwear, heated apparel, Bilt armored jacket and pants, wool socks, Bilt Hurricane boots with heated liners.
With the suit set to Medium and the gloves set to High, I rode for several hours in low double-digit temperatures. I will admit that my head, ears and nose got cold, but the rest of me was comfortable.
They happen to have their heated gear on sale right now and they are giving a controller away with the jacket, pants or vest. The lifetime warranty on this stuff seems to make it a no-brainer. I've used mine quite a few times and I have to say I am very satisfied so far.
http://www.cyclegear.com/lp/hotwired
Anyway, just wanted to share my experience.
Ride safe !!!
I moved to eastern TN in 2007 and I bought my Katana in July of last year. Riding in truly cold conditions was a real learning experience. Too many layers makes it tough to actually enjoy the ride and be able to do anything like stop for lunch, bio-breaks, etc.
I spent some time talking to a few of the local guys at Cycle Gear. They all had experience with heated gear, some of their own brand (Sedici) and some with other brands. ALL of them said once you have heated gear you won't understand how you ever rode without it. So I decided to buy the heated vest and heated gloves.
For my inaugural ride, I wore a t-shirt, followed by a pair of thermal underwear (Rocky heavy type, for hunting), followed by the vest, topped off with Bilt waterproof & zip-in liner armored pants and jacket.
I will say that the heated vest was amazing. Even on it's lowest setting I was comfortable in 37°F temps. I actually stopped and removed the thermal underwear top, leaving just the t-shirt, vest and Bilt outerwear. That proved to be the perfect combo and, as the sun went down and the temps fell, I did bump the heated vest to Medium and the gloves to their Medium setting. I looked at my weather station and the outside temperature when I arrived home was 31°F.
My GF complained that she was still getting cold, and I was tired of the hassle of the wires going to the gloves snaking through the jacket, so I purchased the heated jacket and gave the vest to the GF. The heated jacket makes the connection to the gloves a painless process and the extra heat in the arms is noticeable. The GF was now comfortable with the vest, but kept complaining her hands got cold. We bought a pair of the Sedici heated glove liners for her. No controller necessary, they just plug in and run. She reports that they keep her hands comfortable when she uses them inside my heavy leather gloves.
The ultimate test for me was performed during the recent single digit temps we had. I purchased the heated pants and boot liners. I dressed as follows :
Long-sleeve T-shirt, Rocky hunting thermal underwear, heated apparel, Bilt armored jacket and pants, wool socks, Bilt Hurricane boots with heated liners.
With the suit set to Medium and the gloves set to High, I rode for several hours in low double-digit temperatures. I will admit that my head, ears and nose got cold, but the rest of me was comfortable.
They happen to have their heated gear on sale right now and they are giving a controller away with the jacket, pants or vest. The lifetime warranty on this stuff seems to make it a no-brainer. I've used mine quite a few times and I have to say I am very satisfied so far.
http://www.cyclegear.com/lp/hotwired
Anyway, just wanted to share my experience.
Ride safe !!!
Comment