SPORT TOURING

Sport Touring Corner

By Norm Kern, MSTA Editor / ReasonsToRide.com Contributor

“Should I buy heated grips or heated

Beat the Cold With Heated Clothing Advances

As I am writing this column in mid January, it's cloudy and cold with high temperatures in the mid 30s. Parked Motorcycle Syndrome (PMS) has officially arrived. April's better riding weather is about three months away. Is there any hope for riding opportunities before then? Yes. There are always breaks in the weather during winter- temperatures will not be in the 70s but there will be days when you can enjoy a ride if you and your bike are prepared.

Bike modifications

Most sport touring bikes already have integrated fairings and windshields, but there's always room for improvement. An obvious option is a taller windshield. In October I install the Yamaha Touring windscreen on my FJR, which is four inches taller than stock. The electric control gives a range of up and down motion so I can lower and see over it if it's fogged, and raise it above the top of my helmet when I want to reduce cold air on my face and upper torso. I added hand shields to directly cover the heated handlebar grips, making them doubly effective. The stock fairing lowers do a good job of shielding my legs and feet from the cold air blast. My 650 V Strom has hand shields, heated grips and a taller Madstad windshield for cold weather riding.

Dressing for the ride

Priority number one- keep your head warm. It loses heat more rapidly than any other part of your body. Wearing a full face helmet, always a good idea for safety, provides essential wind chill protection and insulation that helps conserve body heat. A Pinlock face shield insert is a musthave for avoiding fogging. It enables the face shield to be worn fully closed without fogging up as long as I am moving, a huge advantage for staying warm. Another tip: If you have good distance vision, put your eyeglasses away to get rid of two more surfaces that can fog up. For cold weather riding gear, I start with my all year round LD Comfort long sleeve shirt and tights as a base layer. An electric heated jacket liner comes next. For this Fall and Winter, I bought a new WarmNSafe Generation 3 long sleeve jacket liner. (vests are a waste of time- your arms need heat as much as your torso!) It is made from moisture wicking fabric with stretch side and back panels to keep it tight against your body for better heat transfer while minimizing bulk. It has seven heat panels including a heated collar that I love and draws 106 watts. If the temperature is above 40 degrees, all I need over the heated liner is my Klim Badlands Pro jacket, which has triple layer Gore-Tex and heavy textile shell but no insulated layer whatsoever. The LD Comfort, WarmNSafe, Klim combination is light, comfortable and cozy, making a Winter ride almost as comfortable as Spring or Summer. For colder temperatures, I have an old FirstGear insulated jacket liner to add as a midlayer between the heated liner and the jacket that extends comfort to below freezing. Most riders have trouble keeping their hands warm, and the jacket liner has plugs on the sleeves for heated gloves. Because of the bikes' handshields and heated grips, I can ride with my unlined Lee Parks Sumo gloves which are good down to about 38 degrees where I switch to heavier lined gloves.

My legs and feet are fine down to low 50 degree temperatures, as I wear Revit Factor 4 riding pants over the LD Comfort tights base layer year round. For colder days I got a WarmNSafe Generation

Windblock heated pants liner to use with them. Like the jacket liner, I love the trim fit and light weight, having heat available without feeling bundled up. The pants only draw 48 watts, but your legs don't need as much heat as your body- your legs are tucked in close to the bike and are exposed to less wind chill. The Revit pants came with a zip-in insulating liner that I can add as a midlayer between the heated liner and pants when the temperature drops below about 38 degrees.

That takes care of everything but my feet, where I was looking for an alternative to wearing heavy wool socks inside my Sidi GoreTex boots. I found a couple of heated options worth looking at. Ken Phenix Flaming Hot Heated Gear makes heated foot pads that go in the boots and draw about twenty watts apiece. Since my V Strom has limited power available, I opted for WarmNSafe heated socks that only draw 8 watts apiece. They are worn over a base layer of thin ordinary socks. They connect to plugs that are built in to the pants liner. Southwest Ohio Breakfast, 9AM, February 19 Village Family Restaurant 144 S. Main St. Waynesville, OH 45068

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Tuning the socks to get the right amount of heat relative to your legs is easy. Since the heating elements of the socks have been sized to work with the pants, I just select the thickness or number of layers of socks to use as a midlayer over the heated ones. Now my feet are just as warm as the rest of my body.

Heat controllers

Heated gear must be used with a controller to avoid overheating. A knob on the controller allows fine adjustment to keep you comfortable over a range of temperature, wind chill etc. There are several controller options to choose from. Some have a wireless remote control, allowing the controller module be kept in a jacket or pant liner pocket with a single wire to bike power. The wireless control module can be clipped on a pocket or anywhere that's convenient for the rider. I prefer a simple wired controller, perched on top of the clutch reservoir. 2202-12.jpg I can easily reach the knobs to adjust heat level, plus see and reach the connectors to plug in to my gear. If you use both heated jacket liner and pants, get a dual controller that allows independent adjustment of each.

Is putting on all this extra gear worth while?

Obviously not if you only ride twenty or thirty miles at a time or hate to wear gear. OTOH in seven weeks since December first I have already enjoyed over 2000 miles of Winter season day rides.

Remember, Parked Motorcycle Syndrome just gets worse as winter drags on. Before long even a 40 degree day will look pretty good!