I can't believe it's taken me so long to find a circular tuit to apply to this particular, perennial problem, but following a visit to that nice Mr. Falcke in Flitwick, both Suze and I are now proud owners of Gerbing Heated Gloves http://tinyurl.com/tclo I know there's a couple of peeps on here (Dr.G, for one) who've been avid supporters of the Giali stuff in the past, and other people we've met have recommended Widder, also. However, the reality is that neither of those two brands are sold as waterproof (although I'm aware that the Giali stuff can be improved with Nikwax or whatever) and the Widder gloves in particular are /stupidly/ bulky, intended for Hog or 'Wing riding murricans to sit on the interstate in. The Gerbing stuff is simply /superb/. The gloves are /less/ bulky than my conventional winter gloves, are waterproof and windproof and breathable (thanks, Helsapor!) and are lined with 3M Thinsulate, too. Wow. The hook-up simply requires connection direct to the battery (the connector has its own 15A inline fuse) and away you go! Or rather, away I didn't go thanks to Kawasaki's stupid idea of sticking the battery in a slide out tray which requires one to take off both seats /and/ the plastic tank cover before one can take the battery tray plate off... What was a 10 minute job on Suze's Honda took over an hour and half on the -12R. >:-( Once hooked up, however, they are the mutts nuts! Rode up to Brummagen on Friday morning for a conference thing; *cough* mph on the M40 in the pissing, freezing rain for 110 miles - great! Toasty warm hands. In fact, the only problem I foresee now is finding the money to buy the heated jacket liner, heated trews and heated socks to go with it all! Woo-hoo! -- | Wik -UKRMHRC#10- 2000 ZX12R-A1 -DC#1 -'FOT#0 'FOF #39 - BOD#12 BOB#12 |# You don't believe me | "Experience is the worst teacher. |That the scenery | It always gives the test first |Could be a cold-blooded killer. | and the instruction afterward." ***** human response from wik at blueyonder dot co dot uk *****
On 02/11/2003 at 17:45:37, Wik typed: Not forgetting the 5kW diesel generator strapped to the pillion pad to keep all that humming...
<snip sales> You got GLF'd didn't you? £420 to you Sir, judging by the prices on that site. I wonder how much power the whole lot draws as it would seem you can power the gloves and the trousers off of the jacket, and the socks off of the trousers. Nice and warm until you break down...
It would all be cumulative so assuming the full set of kit based on the site figures I reckon around 15.5A or 200 ish W at 13.2V. Mind you, drawing 15A with the headlights on I doubt that you'd get 13.2V for that long; I would expect that this would flatten the battery. Then pushing the bike would keep you warm...
You can get uprated alternators though can't you, well at least for Honda's and BMW's... Though of course, if you were to complete the set, you'd need to have a bike-powered Autocom unit, as well as some sort of bike-powered GPS. Mobile phone and laptop charger optional.
