Heated gear for a Super Tenere

wjfawb0

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Jul 14, 2019
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I'm looking to spend some money on heated gear, so I can get more miles in on my Super Tenere this winter. Cycle Gear has been bombarding me with their ads on their Hotwired brand gear:

Jacket
Gloves
Pants

Reviews I read say jackets and gloves are the most important, but that wasn't bike specific. I probably want all three and maybe more. I wanted to hear what ST riders' thoughts are. I have multiple balaclavas and chin guards on my helmets, but I probably need better base layers other than the synthetic Walmart stuff I have been wearing.

I just thought I'd solicit some opinions here. I've got SAE 12V plugs on the bike for battery charging and USB power outlets, so I have that covered.
 

JJTJ2

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I have Hotwired jacket and gloves. Although I haven't ridden with them on a super cold day, I have ridden in the low 40's at highway speeds. The jacket and gloves were on low and were more than enough heat. I was wearing a Klim Latitude jacket, it has Gore-tex, so it was keeping the wind from blowing through. The bike I was riding does not have hand guards so there was no wind protection but my fingers never got cold. The heat from the engine was more than enough to keep my legs warm... but I wasn't riding an S10, so I don't have any experience with how warm my legs will be on my new bike.

My jacket is the old style with the controller separate from the jacket. The new gen jacket has the controller built into the jacket. If you are looking to run the heated gear through something like the Neutrino-Aurora to control the heat setting, then you will want something that has the controller separate from the jacket.

I was able to find my jacket and gloves used on ebay... jacket $10. Gloves $70
 

cyclemike4

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ky
I was given hot wire gloves a year ago for Christmas. I pretty much only use them below 20 degrees and they will definitely extend your riding season.
 

Cycledude

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I started Using heated gear about 25 years ago, it’s definitely great for cold weather riding. I own jacket liner, pants and heated insoles. The heated jacket liner is mostly all I ever use. It has to be a really long cold ride before I will even mess with hooking up the pants or insoles.
i recommend starting with just a jacket liner and a controller and work your way up from there.
 

Checkswrecks

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First off, the bike has the electric power, so no issues there.

I've always been fine with the heated jacket and gloves. Never found a need for the pants or socks.

After you've had a heated jacket you won't wear a heated vest again. And in heated jackets the new infrared ones which hug your body are far better than the cheaper older ones with the heated wires. I have one of the Powerlet FIR ones and when you need it that extra wattage makes a huge difference.
 

wjfawb0

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Jul 14, 2019
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I'm getting lots of recommendations for Gerbing on other sites from motorcycle cops and riders who have had their stuff last for 5+ years with no problems. I figured you all here would know what works best for a Super Tenere. I think I'll measure myself and order a jacket first. Thanks for the ideas so far.
 

VRODE

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I use a heated jacket (warm n safe) and the grip heaters, with insulated winter gloves. I’m ok riding in the 30’s. I never ride in weather colder than that anyway.
 

MattR

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North Hampshire UK
I’ve just bought Keis heated vest, gloves and insoles. I haven’t used it on a super cold ride yet but so far it’s been more than enough on its low and medium settings. Takes me about 15 minutes to get it all wired together though....
The outer gloves are only heated on the back of the hand so you still need grip warmers on. I tried the inner gloves which are heated on both sides but I found them too bulky.


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Cycledude

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My heated clothing is the original Gerbing stuff that was made in the USA before Gordon Gerbing turned the business over to one of his sons. When the son took over the business he laid off all the USA workers and had the gear made in China, well they had so many warranty issues that they got in serious financial trouble so he sold the company. About 5 years later Gordon Gerbing at about age 80 started making heated clothing in the USA again and brought back their famous lifetime warranty, unfortunately Gordon has passed away but the family has continued to make the gear, if I was buying new heated gear today it would most likely be Gordon’s. https://gordonsheated.com/
 

EricV

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I'm in the camp of heated jacket liner. For me, that and heated grips are enough these days. When I used to ride long distances in 20F weather, the heated gloves were preferred. In the 40's on up, heated grips are enough.

Like Cycledude, my Gerbing jacket liner is old school from about 2003 before things changed. Still going strong. That under Aerostich or Klim works very well. I use and prefer a Heat-Troller from Warm and Safe for control. Infinite adjustment and best at power management. You can use a Heat-Troller with just about anyone's heated gear. And with heated grips! I run a mounted H-T with my grips. In the past I've run both mounted and the portables. I used to carry a portable just as a back up for the mounted unit on winter endurance rallies. They offer dual controllers too, for pants and jacket, gloves and jacket, etc. I found that pants/Jacket together worked fine, but gloves always needed a separate controller as I needed a different setting to be comfortable with the gloves and not over heat my jacket, or vise versa.

Now, a couple of points to consider:

Some jacket liners are wind proof, some are not. Wind proof is better.

Some jacket liners have their own insulation layer too, along with heating elements. If you're wearing the jacket liner around town when stopped for the night, this is really nice as it serves as a 'normal' jacket quite well. Uninsulated jacket liners are not warm enough by themselves to wear around at night if its cold. And let's face it, if it wasn't cold, you wouldn't have been wearing the heated jacket liner to begin with.

Any heated liner should fit snug to your body. Do NOT wear extra layers underneath heated clothing. A thin base layer or long sleeved tee shirt is best. (I like LDComfort) You want the heat close to your skin, but not on your skin. Need some extra? Put something over the heated clothing that presses it close to your body and is wind blocking. A cheap old school windbreaker works great if it's the right size. Too big works against you unless your riding jacket is pulling it tight to the body.

Now, about that heat control. You are aiming for "Not Cold". You do not want to feel "warm". If you feel warm, the heat is too high and you will start to sweat. When you sweat, every tiny drop in temperature will give you the chills. (liker dips in the road, crossing rivers, etc.) Which, in turn, will cause you to turn up the heat. Pretty soon you're at max and both baking and freezing and don't know why. This is where the infinite adjustment of the HeatTroller performs so much better than a controller with pre-set levels. You can perfectly dial in "not cold" and adjust as conditions change w/o ever being too hot or too cold.

Some riding jackets will allow you to zip the heated jacket liner in to it like the fleece or quilted liner. This is kind of nice, as you can don the jacket with only one zipper to deal with. However, when it's really cold, don't do this. The single zipper will bleed some air thru. Using both the jacket liner's zipper and the riding jacket's zipper means they don't line up exactly and you have a better block for any stray breezes. It will keep you warmer when it's seriously cold.

My old school Gerbing works fine for my needs now, but if I were in the market now, I would not consider wire technology. As CW said, the new FIR stuff is way better. The carbon fabric elements were a big step up from the wires, the FIR is a generation ahead of that. Gordon Gerbing makes his own stuff again, not with Gerbing brand. Gordon's Heated Clothing

There is a ton of good gear out there. Poke around and see what looks appealing to you. The quality of Gerbing, Warm and Safe, Gordon's Heated Clothing, Powerlet and others is first rate. Note that First Gear and Harley branded heated gear is made by someone else. Depending on the vintage, it could be Gerbing or Warm and Safe. Side note, don't buy a Gerbing controller. They stole the Warm and Safe design long ago and got a flawed version that has since been fixed. Heck, Gerbing may have fixed the flaw by now, but they don't deserve the business on those since they stole the product and reverse engineered it in China. Just my opinion. (I used to have some interesting conversations with the owners of Warm and Safe when I lived in Portland, OR.) Really good guys and very knowledgeable, helpful and would go out of their way to make sure you got your stuff when you needed it and got what you needed to keep you comfortable.

Sorry for the long winded reply. I used to think nothing of getting on the bike at midnight in 22F and riding from Portland, OR to Beatty, NV at the end of January for an endurance rally.

One last bit of advice: When ever you put on your heated gear, PLUG IN. That way when it gets cold enough to need the heat, all you have to do is turn it on.
 

yoyo

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Swansea UK
Thanks for the excellent reply Eric, some really good points in there, I'd always been one to try and feel warm on the rare occasion I've needed my Gerbing jacket here in the UK, where in fact feeling not cold is all I should have been aiming for. I ended up burning my neck due to having the heat too high, a lesson learned there.

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B

ballisticexchris

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I ordered the heated bib from Aerostich. Between my Smartwool 150 base layer , bib, and 250 Smartwool over that I'll be plenty warm.
 

MattR

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Nov 16, 2019
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North Hampshire UK
A lesson I learned two years ago at a toll booth in France.
It was raining and although I was wearing some very good quality gortex lined Rukka gloves, my hands were soaked. So much so that the toll ticket turned to paper machete and was impossible to insert into the machine! I couldn’t understand why my hands were getting wet.
It was my grip heaters. Gortex is designed to transport moisture away from the heat source (normally the body) to the outside. Because my grip warmers were hotter than my hands it defeated the gortex which then transported moisture from outside to the inside of my gloves. A bit like reverse osmosis.


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lddave

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Sep 24, 2014
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Frydek,Texas
I started out with a Widder heated vest sometime in the late 80's . Moved to Gerbing jacket and gloves in 2000 , two years ago took advantage of the trade in policy Warm and Safe had on competitors gear . Every change in gear has been for the better . My recommendation is Warm and Safe product with the remote dual control controller.
 

MattR

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Why? I’ve just got a vest and am very happy with it. I don’t like the bundled up feeling you get from a jacket. My Rukka jacket has a Outlast lining which is very effective by its self so a vest on top of just a T-shirt under it is all I need.


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