I know, I'm late to the party... Missed the thread first time 'round.
In the interest of keeping things packable, skip the jacket liner, and go for a vest. They are smaller, and will keep your core temp up, which in turn will keep blood flowing to extremities. I have ridden a couple hours in temps 10F+ with just the vest (and other normal gear.) I'm a fan of the Exo2 StormRider Vest, but it is a bit on the pricey side. On the other hand, you do not need a heat controller with that setup. My second choice would be the new Gerbing Microwire Vest.
Skip the gloves and go with heated grips. Once you install them, they are always available. They won't keep your hands quite as warm as heated gloves, but they will take enough of the edge off to make riding tolerable, and they keep you from having to pack an extra set of gloves. I have the Symtec grip heaters installed on two bikes, and Magura heated grips on the third. The Magura's get so hot even on the low setting, it is usually 5 minutes on, 5 off. The Symtec's depend largely on bar construction and grips, but on both bikes, they will get uncomfortably warm on the high setting even through the thick Progrip 714. I don't anticipating ever having a street bike without heated grips again. My feet are what usually end up doing me in before my hands. (Unless I just took the front clip off, and forgot to reattach the switch for the grips.)
In the interest of keeping things packable, skip the jacket liner, and go for a vest. They are smaller, and will keep your core temp up, which in turn will keep blood flowing to extremities. I have ridden a couple hours in temps 10F+ with just the vest (and other normal gear.) I'm a fan of the Exo2 StormRider Vest, but it is a bit on the pricey side. On the other hand, you do not need a heat controller with that setup. My second choice would be the new Gerbing Microwire Vest.
Skip the gloves and go with heated grips. Once you install them, they are always available. They won't keep your hands quite as warm as heated gloves, but they will take enough of the edge off to make riding tolerable, and they keep you from having to pack an extra set of gloves. I have the Symtec grip heaters installed on two bikes, and Magura heated grips on the third. The Magura's get so hot even on the low setting, it is usually 5 minutes on, 5 off. The Symtec's depend largely on bar construction and grips, but on both bikes, they will get uncomfortably warm on the high setting even through the thick Progrip 714. I don't anticipating ever having a street bike without heated grips again. My feet are what usually end up doing me in before my hands. (Unless I just took the front clip off, and forgot to reattach the switch for the grips.)
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