Monday, February 18

Dear VTwin Mama,
I ride my my motorcycle year-round. Last winter I had a bike that was a little temperamental in the extreme cold, but I'd usually manage to get it running. This year I'm running the Kawasaki, which not only starts right up regardless of weather, but is also light and nimble enough to ride over ice and snow, where I feel safer on it than in my car . (I did about 6 miles of riding on unpaved snow this winter, and although it took over an hour, it was a heck of a lot of fun!)

Thermal underwear, a Scorpion anti-fog helmet, wool socks and snow boots solved all the problems of winter riding except one: keeping the hands warm! I did a lot of testing, and I wanted to share some of the results with you.

It's too bad that the weather is starting to warm up again, so this may not be as useful as if I'd posted it a few months ago--but then I'd still be testing! Hopefully the Northern crew will be able to find use for the info, and if not, there's always next year---and those in the southern hemisphere!

I concluded that wind is the worst thing by far, and that air is the best insulator by far.

I tried all combinations of:

Joe Rocket riding gloves (designed for summer use - ~$50)
Thin, cheap polyester gloves ($1 at Wal-Mart)
Thick winter gloves ($10 at RiteAid)
Yellow latex dishwashing gloves ($3 anywhere)
Latex/vinyl examination gloves (swiped from the cleaning crew)
Electric WarmGear premium heated glove liners ($70 from cozywinters.com)
BOSS thick chemical hazmat PVC gloves ($7)

It didn't get as cold this year as it has before--the coldest weather in which I rode was about 18/19 degrees F. I rode about an hour that day--doesn't normally take that long, but I kept finding ice on the road so I was going pretty slow. I don't remember exactly what I was wearing that day, but I do remember it wasn't anything with wind protection, and I arrived really, really cold. If you don't ride in weather that cold, you won't need to do all this stuff. If you ride in colder weather, Kudos! Please let me know what you are doing!

You want to stop the wind flowing into your hands, hence the latex and PVC gloves. You also really want to use air as an insulator, which means trapping air just like a double-glazed window does. That's why using latex exam gloves on your skin, a cheap glove over that, followed by a dishwashing glove is so effective--you have two air-tight seals around your hands, so you get NO wind chill, which is the worst enemy. And you can still wear the protective gloves (Joe Rocket in my case) overtop. This was a big issue for me, since when it's well below freezing and I'm commuting on old country roads, I know I'm going to hit some ice patches and I want to hand protection. (Luckily, I stayed upright the whole season, but I don't want to take the chance).

The warmest seemed to be wearing the thin latex exam gloves, then the really thin gloves over that, and the electric glove liners on top, with the dishwashing gloves over that, and then the hazmats. Kept me really warm for interstate travel, you really need a throttle rocker then, and I found myself frequently clutchless shifting and using just the rear brake because I just didn't get a good feeling on the clutch and brake levers. I can't recommend it around town, though, where you really want to be able to feel exactly how much you're squeezing the lever as you come up to stops.

The opposite, of course, is no better. Wearing only the exams, the electrics, and the JRs give a great sensitivity in your hands, but your fingers get so cold you can't feel the controls anyway after a while.

Which brings me to the electric glove liners:
I don't really recommend these, but they are okay. I wanted something that I could wear to keep my hands warm even in full rain. Gerbing makes excellent heated gloves, but they aren't waterproof, are very bulky, and aren't going to help protect you at all in a crash. Since these are just thin liners, I figured I could use them with different things, depending on the weather conditions. And I can--they are great for that. The problem is that they only heat the BACK of your hand, and the top of each finger and thumb (the non-premium ones don't fully heat the fingers, so don't consider those.) This would be great if I had heated grips, but I don't.

Furthermore, when the back of your hand is warm, your fingertips are cold. When your fingers are warm, your hand is scorched. This situation is made better by wearing a the cheap thin polyester gloves underneath, so your skin isn't directly in contact with the heating elements, and by wearing the dishwashing gloves immediately on top of it, keeping the heat trapped in so it circulates to your fingertips.

The hazmat gloves are actually pretty cool. I don't know where I got them--some project my father was doing on a boat, I think. I used to use them for working with high voltage (over 1,000v) circuits, and then when I had to catch a squirrel, then forgot I had them until this weekend. They are thick and stiff enough to prevent you from wearing anything else on top of them, however they are also thick and hard enough to give you some protection in a crash--certainly better than your average leather gloves (I remember I was very surprised one when I absolutely shredded some $15 leather gloves I was wearing to keep warm when I fell of a unicycle at less than 10mph. If you're not wearing leather gloves for motorcycles, they're not giving you any protection.) To be clear: I've seen "chemical resistant" gloves that look just like slightly thicker dishwashing gloves. I'm talking about the blaze orange, non-stretchable thick PVC things.

The thicker winter gloves I've only used a few times. I wouldn't have bought them, except I was 130 miles from in early January when I got a bit cold and saw them at a Rite-aid. They are NOT the windproof kind--just the fuzzy fabric kind. They are great for medium weather riding and still fit well under my JR gloves, but once it gets too far below freezing, they just don't cut it. The main problem I have with them is that I haver large hands, so I can not buy dishwashing gloves that fit overtop of them. If I had smaller hands, then I could just put dishwashers overtop and it would probably be the warmest--lots of space and air-right insulation between my hands and the wind.

The exam gloves I get free where I work--they're the cheap disposable ones that we put on whenever we have to pick something up that we don't want to touch. I'm not sure they do much, but they're free and they're so thin and small that you don't notice them, so I figure every little bit helps. I have thought about cutting the fingers off, when wearing the electric liners overtop, in the hope that the electrics will then warm my fingers more the back of my hand less, but I haven't tried this.

Finally, the Joe Rockets are my summer gloves, and offer no protection from wind, rain, or cold. However, they do offer good protection from asphalt, and that means I wear them year-round, every time. Well, except for the few times I wore the hazmats.

I few other considerations:
"Hothands" and other Hand Warmer packets:
You know this things--you take them out of the air-tight container, shake them, and they stay hot for 8 hours. They are excellent if you're out walking. On a motorcycle, they're slightly better than nothing at best. They are activated by air, so put them in your pockets on a walk and you'll keep your hands warm. Put them inside a windproof glove--what we've been trying hard to achieve--and they shut off. (Little known fact: you can make these last over a few days by storing them in a zip-lock bag when you're not using them.) The opposite effect is even worse. Wear them on the back of your hand without wind insulated gloves, and you can get a bad burn, as all the extra air going through that packet at 65mph will make it get REALLY hot. Last time I used on on a 150 mile trip, my hands were so cold that I didn't have any feeling in them. It wasn't until my hands warmed up a little bit that I noticed a huge giant welt on the back of my hand, right where there was a vent in my JR gloves, and where the warmer was. It swelled up to a second degree burn and even now, 3 or 4 months later, I still have a big scar there. They can be used to keep palms warm with gloves that don't block air (since there's no fast wind under your palms) but the benefits are much less than if you'd just wear windproof gloves.

I've heard good things about heated grips, but I've never had the chance to try them, so I can't comment.

With the gloves and other stuff on my bike, I'm drawing a max of 74watts over stock. I already have to choose between electric gloves and high-beam. Electric heated grips aren't really an option for me....perhaps I should revisit my idea of routing the exhaust or engine coolant through the bars? – Skippii

Dear Skippii,
I just loved that you tested out so many more common, less-expensive products as a possibility of solving the cold/wind factor! I myself installed a Throttle Rocker last November and it's a keeper ... let's your palm hold the action of the throttle, which also helps uncurl your fingers from the tight grip usually needed ... a true bonus in cold weather riding.

My BMW does in fact have heated grips and I find that there is an interesting phenomenon that happens when you use them ... they warm your hands and do keep fingers from freezing as much ... however, for some reason, I also don't feel as cold overall body-wise ... perhaps it's more mental ... there's a heat source that I can feel at an extremity (hands) so I don't get to bone chill level as fast.

I have heard a number of people note that heated vests are the ticket, but honestly, I always think it's the thighs that are the biggest problem (beyond feet and hands). You lose so much heat here and that forced sitting position doesn't allow for thigh muscle action ... so I'd opt for heated pants first!

So, back to hands ... I honestly don't know why every make/model doesn't come with heated grips as standard ... it's truly the greatest thing since sliced bread in my estimation! – Mama

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Thursday, February 21

For Skippii who tested out cold weather glove ideas and reported results:

It's -7 degrees Celcius here this week (19F) so Skippii's letter was of interest, even if the MC is staying tucked away until Spring! I have a suggestion, and another option to add to Skippii's test list. 

On a similar quest to remove wind effect, I found Rain-Off overgloves. They are totally water and windproof. I found that I can wear my mid-weight gloves under them, and be warm for a long time, up to 1.5 hours. That's enough time for the next washroom or hot chocolate break in any case, in the cold! The added clumsiness from the gloves (which look worse than they feel because under the hand is fitted fairly closer and there is extra material on the top to allow for various thicknesses of glove) is offset by not having to wear my bulkiest winter gloves underneath. Plus they are a lot easier to get on than the yellow dishwashing gloves, which I found hard to deal with.

And a suggestion for Skippii's ongoing research; Kevlar gloves appear to be warm, could be used under the yellow gloves as a liner, and would take away any worries about road rash - Draggin' Jeans have them and probably others. (And a simple set of knuckle dusters would solve any road-impact problem!...kidding) With luck this would mean fewer layers (2) and retained sensitivity without sacrificing protection. 

VTM, your own comment about keeping the body warm was interesting, too. I have one of the heated vests, and I find that over time, it seems to spread the warmth down the tops of my arms and legs, roughly halfway to the elbow/knee. – Toronto Rider (note from Mama: I love that picture they have on the home page of Rain-Off and am happy to hear that the heated vest has the same body heat spread property as the heated grips do. As my BMW is outfitted with an accessory plug-in port, I'll have to get a heated vest in the near future. Even down here in Alabama, nights get chilly and I hate not riding 'cause my complete gear collection isn't as versatile as I need it to be!)

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The guards protect from the wind.  I have to imagine using good winter hands coverage and minimizing the wind across the hand would all work in concert to keep the hands from getting frozen. Another bonus is that the guards come with a wrap around metal bar that offers some small crash protection if your hands are still on the bar and you hit the ground.  Super bonus they look HOT and have a lot of hot colors!  Zeta also offers a hand guard with lights in them.  Not clear from the website if the guard blinks with the signals or just stays lighted.  Either way, it's an increase in your conspicuity, which is always a good thing. Sincerely, – Anonymous (note from Mama: I did a Google search on motorcycle hand guards and see that some companies are offering generic fit styles, although that doesn't necessarily mean you'll like the look!)