.... Or at least I hope not... this is the plan[8D] Cycle Gear finally got some grip heaters back in stock so I went and picked them up the other night. I'll put them on tomorrow and hope for the best! I hear some grip heaters work really well whereas others are so/so.... we'll see. I really wanted to get the Firstgear heated gloves but $130 for the gloves and another $65 for the heat controller... OUCH! They also make a heated vest too... really nice stuff. I'm broke right now though Also got another little gadget to go with it.... only thing I'll really use on it is the temp gauge to see how cold it really is, and the volt meter. I plan on getting more heated gear, but you gotta be careful with all the heated stuff that you don't overdue your chargingi system with too much load, so this way I can keep an eye on the charging status and turn stuff off if need be, before I get myself into trouble.




It's supposed to be in the 20's at night next week, so I'll be able to try them out and see if they really work. Also gotta change out my coolant (redline supercool) tomorrow to some engine ice.... no freeze protection with the supercool, and I don't need a cracked block! LOL After that I think I'll be good to go until I can get more heated gear! Or I could just drive my car with the nice toasty heater, but...nahhh, heheh

I'll report back with just how well they work!

 

I rode one day in my CBR gloves when it was approx 35-40. Never again. I through I would lose my hands they HURT SO BAD. I have never had them hurt so bad in my life. I seriously thought I would lose feeling in my fingers permanently.

 

My only advice for those are to wrapeach handlebar with electrical tape before installing the heaters....nothing crazy, once around is fine.

You will likely see a heat sink issue if you don't use electrical tape directly on the bar.




Heat controllers are over rated, IMO. I have Gerbing's gloves and run 'em without a t-stat just fine.

 

Yea same here, though I don't think mine were THAT bad, haha. But I do know what it's like... I remember when I was a kid up in northern Illinois. We lived on a farm so we spent alot of time outside... shoveling snow, taking care of the horses, working in the barn, ect... and I remember quite a few times my hands and toes were just stinging and hurt sooooo bad cuz it was so cold, even with gloves and heavy boots. That sucked!!!

When I moved up here to GA I didn't really have much of any cold weather gear cuz there was none down in south Florida. I had my Dainese lightweight gloves... they're leather but still more of a summer glove. I rode with those and another pair of general purpose insulated gloves over them and it was a lil better but still cold. Went to cycle gear and bought some leather Olympia insulated winter gloves (not the really big thick ones) and they're much much warmer, but still in the mornings when it's 30 degrees out, along my 32 mile commute to work the fingers are still getting a bit numb. Hopefully this will solve that problem

 

Oh yea?? Alright cool... thanks for the tip! Is that to help keep the metal from absorbing all the heat? The glue on the electrical tape doesn't become slippery after awile?

I hear Gerbing heated stuff is real nice too! I'm debating which ones I should get when I do buy some....

 

Yeah, the electrical tape seems to be a decent insulator for this application. Clean the bar nice and good and make sure you have quality tape and you should be all set. 3M makes good tape, IMO.

I have not seen any issues with the glue so long as the bar has been cleaned of all contaminates and the tape was layed down with care.

What I meant by "wrap it once" was "all you need is one layer". I go diagonally from the inside out to the end and cut the excess off at the bar end.

 

+1 Go with 3M Scotch brand elect. tape.
I think its rated for -40 to 220F
Anything else will turn to goo even wthout heat.

 

I rode earlier tonight. 28 degrees outside. Was more worried about traction than anything. But I have the Joe Rocket Honda Superbike gloves...............with the huge "hood-scoop" thing to shove air into the gloves. It was HORRIBLE, like giving birth out of my hands.

 

Well I got them installed today! Kind of a PITA but not too bad. My switches ended up sticking out a littel too far behind the plastic cover, and they're hitting something, so it pushes them out a bit. I'll have to change that later. But for now they appear to be working great!! I left them on high for a few mins and they got hot enough I almost couldn't hold the grips with my bare hands[:-]

Anyways... a few pics








I had to go and get some switches with the LED indicators, otherwise I know I'll forget their on and leave them on when I turn the bike off. At least until I can wire them up with a relay to a switched power source



It was still climbing, but was slowing down so I think that was pretty close to their peak. Not too bad at all, considering the surrounding outside air was 42 degrees



Time to try them out tomorrow!!

 

what the hell are you doing up at 130am???

oh wait... its 136 here now...[&:]