Heated Gear and Cruisers

[noobie]

Speaking of Brrrrrrr...
I commute in Seattle. The weather has been a bit too cold for my poor little fingers. I wear liners, winter gloves and the gloves have a slot for hand warmers. But at 40 degrees driving 60 on the highway, my fingers freeze!!!
Now I have a cruiser so I don't have a plug-in for heated gloves. Does anyone know if I can have that type of plug installed on a cruiser? Or any info about heated gear on a cruiser. I miss riding just 'cuz it falls below 45

Help a noobie out!

[jstark47]

Noobie - it may be challenging finding a mounting place for an auxiliary outlet like a Powerlet on a cruiser. I've put Powerlets on two bikes, but these bikes have fairings and I mounted the outlets in the fairing plastic.

However, you can always run electric clothing straight off the battery. If you use Gerbings gloves I think they always come with a "pigtail" - attach the pigtail's leads to the battery, then find someplace to tie up the plug when not using it. To use, just untie the plug and plug it into the gloves. That's how my wife ran her gloves for a couple of years before I installed the Powerlet outlet on her bike.

[noobie]

Thanx jstark47,
I like the 'direct to battery' idea. Just a little history on me: I rewired the harness on my VW Bug and ended up with an under-dash fire - hehehe. I don't trust myself with electricity any more!
But, I've gotta bring the bike in next week for another issue… I'm totally gonna ask the mechanic about that.
Thanks for the info - I appreciate it!

Stay warm,
The Noobie

[Gummiente]

Further to what Jon said, the heated gear usually comes with or you can purchase separately the battery leads. The positive wire has an inline fuse on it, so you needn't worry about burning up the bike. But as a veteran of several winter riding seasons, I would suggest you invest in a few other accessories first before getting the gloves - a heated vest being the first and foremost. With one of these (and proper layered clothing over top) you would be surprised at how much warmer your hands will be. What the vest does is keep your body core artificially warm, which allows blood to continue circulating to your fingers and toes keeping them naturally warm. When your body core gets cold (which is what happens to you now on your commutes), its defense mechanism is to restrict blood flow to the extremities in order to keep vital organs warm... this is why your hands get cold. In addition to a heated vest, you should really consider adding a windshield to your bike if it doesn't already have one. The less cold air there is pushing against you, the better chance you have of retaining body heat and staying warm. Snowmobiler's gloves will go a long way towards keeping your hands warm, too, along with being flexible enough so that you can still safely operate all the controls.

With the proper gear, you'd be surprised at how cold it can get outside while you're motoring about all warm and comfy...

[joolz]

Who let the gimp out?

[Gummiente]

Who let the gimp out?

??? 'Splain, please.

[Wrider]

Who let the gimp out?

??? 'Splain, please.

Ever seen Pulp Fiction?

Click here for the Gimp scene, kinda graphic

EDIT: Very graphic because they included the scene after...

[Gummiente]

Who let the gimp out?

??? 'Splain, please.

Ever seen Pulp Fiction?

Click here for the Gimp scene, kinda graphic

EDIT: Very graphic because they included the scene after...

Ah. Okay. The Gimp. Right.

[Johnj]

LOL

[noobie]

Hey thanx Gummiente,
I have a friend who's going to help me install a battery tender. I'm out of motorcycle gear funds for the year… they rack up fast! But, I'm planning on getting the tender installed and buying heated gear before next winter.
Damn, so you ride in the snow eh? That's gotta be slippery!
Peace Out,
Noobie