Heated clothing

[stogiepuffer]

OK, I know this might sound a bit too late for this subject but here goes. I'm going to start saving up for heating clothing to purchase this upcoming fall/winter. I want to end up with a heated jacket liner, pants liner, heat controller, and maybe gloves liner. I would like to keep them all the same brand for compatability and for simplicities sake. For those of you that have them what are your recommendations? I am leaning towards Gerbing because of their reputation and they have a complete line of equipment. I don't tour very far and most of my riding is a forty five minute commute (each way). Any opinions, etc are welcome.

[deilenberger]

Gerbing is good.. I've had it for over 10 years. Also WarmNSafe is good.

There are some newer products now appearing that use resistive carbon-fiber cloth instead of heating wires. They would be of interest to me if they had more of a track record - the advantage to them being very uniform heat. Disadvantage - very uniform heat (sometimes you want more heat in certain areas - with heating wires - you just add more in those areas..) I think the biggest one I've seen advertising is made in the UK (and I forget the name..) perhaps some of our UK members might have comments about them.

[Dan-A]

I have Gerbing as well. I bought the jacket liner (NOT THE VEST as my arms get cold too), and the gloves.

I got the jacket liner that accommodates the DUAL CONTROLLER. This allows the gloves and jacket to be set at different temps. When I bought mine not all the liners offered supported this. The gloves are nice cause the heated grips don't heat the windy side of my hands, but the gloves do. The Gerbing gloves I have are slippery on the handlebar grips though, and are sometimes difficult to get back on if they get damp inside from sweat. You can't always tell your hands are sweating from the heat cause of the wind. I might be tempted on the next pair to see if they have an improved design, or look at another brand.

I also bought the leather case for the controller. The belt clip on the case increases the options on where you can put the controller while riding, and though it prolly goes without saying, on the left so I can adjust the temps while moving.

I skipped the pants, so I cannot make a recommendation there, but I do have the socks. The socks without the pants require a Y wire from the jacket down the pants legs. If you had the pants liners I suspect the socks would connect to the bottoms of the legs, the way the gloves attach to the ends of the jacket sleeves. Also, the socks I bought only heat the tops of the feet, and the ankles. I guess it has to do with the wires, walking on them would not be comfortable.

Also, on the dual controller jacket I have the socks are wired to the temperature of the jacket, not the gloves. I have tried switching the input wires from the controller to the jacket to no avail, so I guess it is just the way they wired it.

I would prefer my socks and gloves be on one temp control, and my jacket (and pants if I had them) on the other, as my extremities often get colder than my body.

I have ridden in the 30's on my R with no fairing with a headsock and a good touring gear over the Gerbings, and in the 20's on my GoldWing and been just fine.

It is great stuff.

One final note. I was told to wire directly to the battery, don't use the cigarette adapter. They vibrate causing the possibility of an intermittent connection which is bad for the circuits on the gear, and maybe for the bike too. I also put the wiring harness on all my bikes so I can use it on all of them, and I bought the adapters that convert the single gerbing connector to the dual connector found on most battery tenders, so I have only a single pigtail from my battery to use for charging and heated gear.

That same converter can be used for adapting to a Slime air pump so I can use the single pigtail for all three purposes, and it bypasses the CANBUS on the bike.

[NCGS]

I use a Gerbing jacket liner, no pants and no gloves. I find the heated grips keep my hands as warm as I need them to be, although I may try to buy the pieces/parts to add a pair of previous generation GS hand guards to my R12 before next winter.

I don't use a controller - and I haven't been "too" warm. If it's warm enough that I need to turn it down, I simply unplug it (which I rarely do).

Advice - try on what ever you're going to buy before you pays yo' money. Take the jacket and pants that you'll put your heated clothing under when you go to try on the heated clothing. I bought a jacket liner that I thought was going to be ok; I ended up selling in and going up one size.

[kudzu]

I am leaning towards Gerbing because of their reputation and they have a complete line of equipment.

Yep. My personal experience with Gerbings has been that besides excellent products that work well and hold up over time, they offer exceptional customer service. Their might be other good stuff out there, there is certainly plenty of inferior junk on the market, but you won't go wrong with Gerbings. And, if you haven't used electrics, you are in for a pleasant surprise -the comfort level is astonishing!

[Lost Rider]

+1 Gerbings.
I have the socks (for below 35º), the G3 gloves ( for below 40º), and a jacket liner ( for below 55º )
All have proven to be very useful, extending my riding season to 12 months! My trip in January this year wouldn't have been possible without the Gerbings.
They might be a little more $, but as others have said the CS is top-notch. When riding home from Florida, my left arm on the jacket stopped working so I stopped at the big bike show in Atlanta (lucky timing eh?) and they swapped out the jacket on the spot. Granted I was one of the only guys there in (wet) riding gear since it was snowing, but either way they took good care of me, what's that worth in the grand scheme of things?

I mounted the single controller here permanently on my bike with the whip coming up between my legs where the seat and the tank meet. I have it strain-relieved under the seat so when I forget to unplug it, it just pulls apart. It works well for me...
I didn't get the dual controller because if I'm using the socks or gloves you better believe it's COLD out and it just stays on high... Just know that if you get a single controller and you want to use more than the jacket you have to get the Gerbings y-cable.

[mechanic savant]

I'm using a gerbing vest w/collar delete (saves $10) as I have no-neck & a pair of heated socks w/dual controler ,and I'm pretty comfy even @ 18-20deg f. !!!!
also I've got gs hand guards w/added 2" wings on top , w/heated grips I see no need for htd gloves!!!
the hand guards olso keep me mits dry in the rain (tested to at least 200mi)
when it's below about 35deg I wear my frog togs under my riding gear w/the hood up inside the helmet this makes a HUGE diff. bon voyage !!!