Heated vests re-vested, oops I mean re-visited

[chewie]

Coming into Autumn here and whilst I may never ride in the snow (unless I get caught) it does get chilly chill chill up in the hills and around these parts.

Looked up the previous threads thanks, but am wondering about the full arm long sleeve t-shirt type that will plug and play on the 12 via the existing plug. I dont want to have to mess about with things - I need simple

...and can I get Long Johns? ie, leggings (did I just say leggings? OMG)

thanking you in advance

[lee1980]

On long cold trips here in UK i have worn a thermal top and ladies tights (pantyhose) under my leathers work suprisingly well and are thin so dont add to the bulk

I borrowed some of the gf's older opaques lol lol

[Guest24]

Originally Posted by lee1980

On long cold trips here in UK i have worn a thermal top and ladies tights (pantyhose) under my leathers work suprisingly well and are thin so dont add to the bulk

I borrowed some of the gf's older opaques lol lol

Just don't ever have a get-off while wearing those "lady's tights" They'll be in stitches when they "out you" so to speak. lol

[throttlemeister]

Originally Posted by lee1980

On long cold trips here in UK i have worn a thermal top and ladies tights (pantyhose) under my leathers work suprisingly well and are thin so dont add to the bulk

I borrowed some of the gf's older opaques lol lol

I wear very thin long "technical underwear" under my leather pants, summer or winter. It does not add bulk, helps keep warm in winter and wick away sweat in summer for a comfortable ride year round.

And it doesn't make the paramedics go in stitches.

[markjenn]

There's a couple good brands, but the Gerbings are hard to beat if you just want a simple heated liner. (Aerostich has a some great models that are more like heated fleece jackets.) I believe they have a model which is a direct plug-n-play with BMW style plugs.

- Mark

[Super_Spark]

I just bought a Aerostich heated liner.

It works great. I rode with the outside temp at 9 deg. and stayed warm except for my hands.

You want to make sure you get them snug. I wear a 42 one piece suit and i got a 38 heated liner.

Also a direct plugin for the BMWs

http://www.aerostich.com/catalog/US/Aerostich-Kanetsu-Wind-Blocker-TLtec-Electric-Liner-p-18920.html

[Kiriath]

Originally Posted by lee1980

On long cold trips here in UK i have worn a thermal top and ladies tights (pantyhose) under my leathers work suprisingly well and are thin so dont add to the bulk

I borrowed some of the gf's older opaques lol lol

omg...

I would rather freeze to death than do that, guess my balls just aint big enough

[lee1980]

Yeah i laughed at first to lol, and thought nah but are so cheap to compared to good thin breathable thermal stuff. And many modern tights are breathable to!

I even cut feet off to and wear socks so dont even look like ladies tights could be cycling leggings etc!

[on2wheels52]

The Gerbings go on if it's below 45 degrees F, even the DRz is wired for it. Don't like to be cold.
Jim

[George_in_KG]

I have a Gerbings jacket and an Aerostich vest (the green one). The vest is my favorite because it fits well, packs to nothing and provides plenty of heat down to about 40 deg F. I use the Gerbings jacket when it is really cold and when I need to plug in hte Gerbings heated gloves. The jacket has plugs as the wrist to power the gloves. I just wish the Gerbings was better quality with a better fit. I find it is too tight in the neck for comfort. I don't think that I'm an unusual size, it just that the Gerbings has that odd made-in-asia cut that doesn't fit right.

[EZ-RIDER]

http://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Products/Powerlet/Heated_Clothing/heated_clothing.html

[Steve Carlton]

I wouldn't mind upgrading from my vest to a liner with sleeves and also some glove liners. And I'd rather have a rheostat than an on/off switch. Where do I go? What do I get?

Doesn't the CAN-bus have a 5.0 amp limit that shuts off per the Aerostitch site? What's with that? Seems kind of low, and un-BMW-like. I expect to power a small household from that socket. I suppose it's no big deal to wire the socket to the battery, and that would allow charging from the socket, right? Any downside?

[squall_line]

Rheostats, sleeves, etc, you're likely looking at Gerbing, but they don't make heated glove liners, just heated gloves. And then, yes, direct to the battery, or to one of those fuse boxes (the brand escapes me now for some reason).

IMHO, the rheostats, etc are where a dealer can get you with the Gerbing's. On more than one occasion, I was tempted to pick up a nice used jacket or pair of gloves, and then found the temperature controller would set me back another $100-200. Looking at Gerbing's web site, though, a portable dual-zone controller should only run around $100, and a permanent only slightly more, so my memory may be faulty.

I definitely recommend the dual temperature controls, but I don't remember if the gloves can be at a different temperature than the jacket, or only the pants can be a different temp than the jacket. Either way, it's nice to have individual control over multiple pieces.

As George said, the gerbing gloves plug right into the sleeves of the jacket liner, which greatly reduces the hassle of cords and dangling.

[George_in_KG]

Originally Posted by squall_line

.........

I definitely recommend the dual temperature controls, but I don't remember if the gloves can be at a different temperature than the jacket, or only the pants can be a different temp than the jacket. Either way, it's nice to have individual control over multiple pieces.

As George said, the gerbing gloves plug right into the sleeves of the jacket liner, which greatly reduces the hassle of cords and dangling.

That is a good point to mention about the glove wiring. I bought the gloves before I had the gerbing jacket. After one outing on the bike, I realized that the wiring required for just the glove was WAY too much of a hassle for a daily commute to work. The jacket is necessary for a convenient place to plug in the gloves.

Regarding temp control, the default setup has the gloves powered off the same line as the jacket. In other words, one power connection to the jacket that also powers the gloves. Fewer connections, but the gloves will run at the same setting as the jacket. This is not good in my experience because the gloves can get too hot.

Gerbings offers a no-cost option to wire the jacket as a dual input. You get two power connections: one for the jacket and one for the gloves. This will require the dual temperature controller. Temp control plugs into the bike and the two circuits from the jacket plug into the temp control. Advantage of this setup is that you can set the glove temp separately from the jacket temperature.

By the way, the controller isn't a rheostat. It is really a timer that cycles power on and off at a variable rate. There is an LED that blinks to show the ON/OFF status for each line.