Okay I need an education in heated gear, what is worth the money and what is not. Is firstgear could stuff? If I am going to spend the money I want to spend it right! Please help, my budget is low, but willing to spend more if it is worth it...

I live in Missouri and hate the cold but love to ride...

Come on guys help me out!

 

Revzilla has a bunch of videos on the subject to school you and help in selecting the right gear for your needs. I bought a complete set of Gerbings gear in the fall and it works great. The only thing I would change is rather than get the Gerbings dual controller, I would go with the FG/Warm & Safe (same product apparently) wireless controller so I could attach it to the bike in a place easy to see and adjust. The Gerbings one works fine and you eventually get used to doing it without being able to see it - it would just be more convenient. I would also suggest you find a local dealer and try the stuff on, I probably would have bought the wrong size if I hadn't tried it on.

 

I wasted a bunch of money on raingear and heated stuff ... eventually I wised up ...

I got a set of FirstGear TPG pants and some ordinary rubber 'galoshes' overboots that fit over my riding boots ... only time I've ever been wet since then is one day I rode about 5 hours in hard steady rain with occasional downpours ... the pants have zip in/out quilted liners, but I rarely use them ....

For cold weather I use the Gerbing heated glove liners under some 40 gm Thinsulate gloves with water resistant gauntlets ... I can ride for hours in 32-40 degree weather comfortably ...

For a jacket, I just use a Fox Creek leather jacket ... I have the same raincoat that came with the crap set I got originally ... depending on how cold it is, I wear the jacket over my leather jacket ... if it is going to be cold, I'll layer with long john shirt, sweatshirt, etc ....

The pants were somewhere between $125 and $150 ... can't recall offhand ... but, for me money well spent ... the gloves, controller, etc was about the same ... Fox Creek leather jacket was a little pricey, but excellent quality ....

R/
'Chop

 

The hot setup is the HD/Gerbing jacket liner w/ thermostatic control. Would like to add to that a pair of glove liners. Even thought it might be good to add heated liners to my chaps.

 

- Heated gloves + heated jacket liner + dual channel temp controller + insulated motorcycle pants + FF helmet means you can ride comfortably in any tempature, for any length of time at any speed.

- Skip a heated vest in favor of a heated jacket liner with heated collar.

- Do get a dual channel heat controller for gloves and jacket liner, an on/off switch just does not work for this

- Clip your controller to the outside of you jacket or some other place where you can adjust it while riding

- Tourmaster is cheapest and includes a controller, FirstGear/Warm&Safe, Gerbings and Powerlett are all higher quality than Tourmaster

- A heated liner needs to fit tight over just a long sleeve T Shirt to transfer heat efficiently. Most heated liners don't have much insulation so will work best with extra insulation over top (like the full sleeve insulated liner your jacket came with) in temps below 40-45F. In temps above this you can simply replace the insulated liner with the heated liner. You can avoid hot/cold spots with a layer of insulation over top of the liner.

- Good quality insulated motorcycle over pants provide enough warmth, in conjuction with a heated jacket liner, that I don't see any point in heated pant liners unless you are riding at temps below 32F or snowmobiling. I've never had cold legs with my Olympia over pants.

- Jeans (don't stop the wind even with insulation) and chaps (do a poor job of stopping the wind and provide little protection) are poor choices for cold weather riding

 

I have both FXRG pants and jacket, I replace the jacket liner with the Gerbing and wear the Gerbing pants liner over some long (wool) underwear then put the pants directly over that and use the heated sock (newer ones) - I've found this combo to work quite well, I can turn the jacket and or pants up and the gloves (T5) or socks never get too warm.

 

Gerbings liner,gloves and dual controller..Put my leather jacket over and warm as toast..Add one of our controller mounts so you can see the *****..

 

The Gerbings stuff is top shelf. They also make the hd branded stuff. I have a jacket liner and gloves and use insulated pants. I can ride in the 20's and be comfortable. Our winters are dry though.

 

Had the Gerbings, HD and brand X stuff; I was tryng to get one that would work with batteries off the bike so I could use it at work up here in the sub-arctic; but that's another story. Gerbings is great stuff and great service, HD is theirs' with labeling and price increase...I actually just use a cheap 12V electric vest under a fabric FXRG jacket and have a pair of BMW riding pants that are even more money than HD stuff,,, but work awsome in a wide range of temps/weather. For underclothes I only wear "Smart Wool" brand stuff...it's worth it too me; I need it in the winter and thier thin stuff is really efficient. As for gloves, I have the HD rain gloves but they're a real struggle to get on and off when soaked (the innards wanna pull out as my buds are pulling away). My wife wears XXL disposable gloves over her leather gloves...works for her, and I then have gloves on the road if I need to get my hands "dirty"...

 

I don't mean to thread jack but how many pieces of heated gear is to many for a 97 dyna charging system? A lot of good info on here and I've been thinking of getting some, but I think I'm going to be limited to 2 maybe 3 pieces and want to choose wisely.