Cold Weather Ride Report - Saturday 1/5/2013

Red looking Hi Viz

Today Red, Wheels, and I got the bikes out for a short 25 degree weather ride. We choose to meet at a local Yamaha dealership. It was the closest motorcycle dealership to me and I suspected that I might need new gloves for cold riding days.

On the way to the dealership it became evident that I was going to have two problems in the weather. Fog in my face shield and numb fingertips. I was trying to do the windshield calculation on the way over, wondering if it was cold enough to do permanent damage to my fingers. Running full blast, my grip warmers did do a great job of keeping my palms warm but they couldn't keep up with the wind passing over my finger tips.

Wheels packing the BMW F 800 GS

With all the torture, you couldn't help to feel a little hardcore when you pull into a motorcycle dealership that was dominated by cars in the parking lot. Even drivers on the road look at you in amazement or disgust, it was hard to tell through the fog.

I settled on a pair of Firstgear Carbon Heated gloves. Of course I didn't have a controller to run them and after spending $130 another $60–$150 just wasn't in the budget. Graciously Wheels had a spare at his house.

Foregoing our original trip plans, we rode to Wheels place to install the control unit. The installation was quick. Slinging a few zip ties and attaching the unit to the bikes battery we had the installation done in no time. Because the gloves didn't come with the appropriate Y cable, wheels let me borrow his Firstgear heated jacket which had glove plugs in the sleeves.

When we got back on the road the first thing I noticed was how warm that jacket was. We weren't sure which way the switch increased and decreased the heat so we just cranked it clockwise. The jacket got warm. very warm. The gloves themselves felt warm or at least my fingers weren't hurting.

Hanging out at the coffee/bank.

The rest of the ride was spent between grabbing coffee and checking out eye candy at the Ducati dealership.

About 15-20 minutes into my ride on the way home, my hands were nice and toasty in the gloves. I am very impressed with them.

FirstGear Heat Control Knob

Also, I moved the switch from its temporary home to the fairing near my heated grip switch. Now I needed to figure out if I'll purchase the Firsgear heated jacket or grab the Y DC Coax cable to use the gloves without the jacket.

The girls back together