Winter survival?

[LimeyRider]

Hey guys, it's getting to that time of year again where riding is difficult due to the cold, but as my car is currently knackered I have no other option.. so reaching out for some advice from you 'all weather riders' out there

Last winter I rode to work in below 0 temperatures and my hands were that cold it made me feel physically sick and light headed when I arrived at work, I imagine I probably wasn't too far off spanking in.

So looking for advice to negate the cold,

1) do handguards make enough difference to wind chill to invest in? looked at a few sets, despite being ugly as hell I don't fancy nearly passing out mid ride again!
2) heated gloves or heated bars? which is the better option with cost vs practicality in mind? I've noticed grips are considerably cheaper, but is that because they're just not that warm or?
3) are heated jackets worth the money, or should I just buy a decent winter jacket and bang a thermal on under it

Apologies for the daft questions, this will be my first full winter riding without having the option of a car when it's too damn cold, and all the gear I currently own is all summer gear!

Cheers!
Limey

 

[PhilTonic]

Handguards don't help.
Heated gloves are too fat. No feel for your lever and switch gear. You either have to go with bulky batteries or cable faff. Both are a pain in the bottom.

Get yourself some muffs for the handlebars (yes they look very silly) and some normal heated grips. I prefer the Daytona 3. Fitted them to my wife's RC 390, since I don't like the haptics (too much girth). My lady likes it though

Good luck.

 

[Theodor]

Wind deflectors and windscreen definitely provide the largest effect overall.
Heated grips are probably better than gloves, because you can't forget to charge them.

 

[R-Rated]

19F is my limit. Below that and de-icing the roads where I live gets iffy.

Having a faring that goes out to the hands works pretty good. Snowmobile gloves with heated grips do great. Thermals then regular clothes then a couple of thin insulated layers toped off with chaps and a leather jacket is super cozy. Modular helmet to finish the ATGATT and stay warm. Something around the neck to keep the cold out of the helmet. Insultated boots. Then a heated saddle added for that extra.

Keep your core dry and warm so your body does not start restricting bloodflow is vital but also keep your extremities protected. I learned that on a long distance ride across the American Southwest almost 30 years ago. I ended up going into hypothermia with a little frost bite on the backs of my hands. That was despite wearing a snowbile suit full face helmet and dual layer gloves. I got caught in a rain storm at the beginning of the night. By dawn my gloves that had gotten too wet had drawn my body heat out.

I stopped just before dawn after feeling nauseous and went into a fuel station to warm up. The clerk looked at me and turned pale. I saw why when I went in to bathroom and locked the door. I had gone cynotic even under my suit. The back of my hands were worse.

Lesson learned. Modern gear is much better now.

 

[Drakhen99]

That's wild, @R-Rated ! Whoah.

For me, I have a Street Glide, so fully-faired, with other wind protection bits on it. That makes a huge difference.

Barring that, I have heated grips and wired heated gloves. The cables aren't that big of a deal, and I have enough dexterity to work the controls reliably. They suck if they fail though. I had them for several years before I got heated grips installed on my bike, and last winter I didn't even need the gloves.

This leads me to believe that heated grips are more effective.

I have a pair of winter riding pants, and they also make a big difference - probably 20 degrees' worth of warmness.

Good luck!

-John

 

[HippoDrone]

Good kit and layers is best for body, def get proper winter gloves, but yeah... heated grips are a game changer.
One of my mates suffers with bad circulation so has a lot of heated clothing, and he massively rates it, but you then either become wired to the bike, or ad Phil mentioned, need to have batteries for all the kit and they don't last all day.

 

[MotoWolfUK]

Glad you made this thread as I was wondering the same lately. I’ve never ridden in the winter so have no idea what it’ll be like. I have got some winter gloves that seem to be ok but this was a reminder to find my jacket+trousers inner linings back in.

Heated grips seems to be a great addition but I’ll be following this for other ideas

 

[R-Rated]

Glad you made this thread as I was wondering the same lately. I’ve never ridden in the winter so have no idea what it’ll be like. I have got some winter gloves that seem to be ok but this was a reminder to find my jacket+trousers inner linings back in.

Heated grips seems to be a great addition but I’ll be following this for other ideas

I am not going to sugarcoat it. Cold weather riding is damp, cold, and downright biting.

BUT

For those that can hack it is also one of the best thrills of riding in my opinion.

 

[Drakhen99]

I am not going to sugarcoat it. Cold weather riding is damp, cold, and downright biting.

BUT

For those that can hack it is also one of the best thrills of riding in my opinion.

I don't typically ride in the rain when it's cold out - but @R-Rated is right - it's invigorating!

-John

 

[scooterwuf]

Once it gets below freezing temps I try not to ride. It’s not so much the discomfort of the cold - the heated grips suggestions are tops along with wearing layers, a good winter riding jacket, balaclava, modular/full face helmet, and insulated boots.

But freezing temps bring up the possibilities of black ice, or frozen manhole covers and metal construction plates. These are possible hazards if you are commuting in a city, or even in a rural setting.

My wife uses our car (we only have one), so if I can’t ride, I use public transportation. Not always possible for everyone, but a possible option in many places.

- Wolf

 

[LimeyRider]

Thanks for the replies!

took on a lot of advice and went down to J&S and bought some big thick winter gloves and ordered some heated grips. The idea of having even more things to remember to charge put me off the heated gloves.

To be fair, just the gloves alone have been a game changing experience although it has only been -1 here, so I imagine they may begin to struggle further into winter.

Likely another silly question but I take it heated grips are a one time use? once they're on they're on, no going back from it or are they removable?

Also @MotoWolfUK glad you reminded me about that, I completely forgot I took all the liners out of my gear for summer, time to get them back in! haha

Cheers again!
Limey

 

[R-Rated]

The few add on heated grips I know of in the US are adjustable on temp setting somewhat.

 

[MotoWolfUK]

The few add on heated grips I know of in the US are adjustable on temp setting somewhat.

Are they wired straight to the battery or an SAE splitter kinda job?

 

[HippoDrone]

Thanks for the replies!

took on a lot of advice and went down to J&S and bought some big thick winter gloves and ordered some heated grips. The idea of having even more things to remember to charge put me off the heated gloves.

To be fair, just the gloves alone have been a game changing experience although it has only been -1 here, so I imagine they may begin to struggle further into winter.

Likely another silly question but I take it heated grips are a one time use? once they're on they're on, no going back from it or are they removable?

Also @MotoWolfUK glad you reminded me about that, I completely forgot I took all the liners out of my gear for summer, time to get them back in! haha

Cheers again!
Limey

You can remove them, although very little point, in the same way you'd not change the standard grips on a bike unless you needed to. Generally though, removing grips will trash them, so most leave them on the bike when they sell it, and if the replacement bike doesn't come with them fitted, just buy a new set.

 

[Slorida]

Heated grips warm the palm of your hand, heated gloves warm the back of your hand. You can get heated gloves that connect to your bike's battery, meaning no charging is required, though obviously if you have more than one bike you'll need extra connectors.

Heated under jackets can be very useful in really cold weather, again these can be bought with connectors to your bike's battery in some cases.

 

[Drakhen99]

Heated grips warm the palm of your hand, heated gloves warm the back of your hand. You can get heated gloves that connect to your bike's battery, meaning no charging is required, though obviously if you have more than one bike you'll need extra connectors.

Heated under jackets can be very useful in really cold weather, again these can be bought with connectors to your bike's battery in some cases.

While true, I found much more comfort out of my grips + regular winter gloves, compared to non-heated grips + my heated winter gloves [which are wired]. That's just my experience, though.

Also, I'm not sure about Deltran battery tender plugs, but my Harley has a factory-installed tender pigtail sticking out of the side cover, and it runs my wired heated gloves just fine. I bought an SAE-to-battery-tender wire. Maybe this winter I'll try my heated gloves on my Vulcan 800 and see if it can power them - it has a Deltran battery tender pigtail on it already.

-John

 

[MotoWolfUK]

So after looking into it - heated grips seem to be much cheaper than heated gloves. Another pro heated grips vs gloves is; if the weather is a bit mid you can wear summer gloves and heat them up :3

 

[Kofla]

In the 80's, these hand covers were called Hippo Hands. The coldest I've ever ridden was 18 degrees Fahrenheit, when I was living in Brooklyn NY. I prefer not to ride in the cold weather, but sometimes you have no choice. Pic was taken in 1985, on my Kawasaki KZ-1000.

 

[HippoDrone]

I have a set of Hippo-Hands for winter riding, they are great unless they fill up with water :-D

 

[R-Rated]

In the 80's, these hand covers were called Hippo Hands. The coldest I've ever ridden was 18 degrees Fahrenheit, when I was living in Brooklyn NY. I prefer not to ride in the cold weather, but sometimes you have no choice. Pic was taken in 1985, on my Kawasaki KZ-1000.
View attachment 6914

Hippo-hands are still around. I see motor officers use them which makes sense due to needing dexterity to write.