smokinjoe73

At the moment I am thinking about snowmobile gloves. The search goes on. Getting some good advice from the nesr forum where cold riding is more common (if only marginally).

Lots of guys snowmobile and ice ride so that helps.

Bustin

Tough to recommend cold weather stuff for somebody riding in a different climate, but I can tell you what works for me.

I ride a lot during the winters up here in Seattle , and a set of First Gear Explorer gloves has served me well . $69.00 list price. I'm on my second pair, the first ones lasted for about five years, and the second pair is still going strong after three years. 100% waterproof design, believe me I test that all the time.

The trick for me with cold weather riding gloves is getting enough insulation to stay warm without becoming bulky. I hate bulky riding gloves ! These First Gears aren't too bad in that department . Also , there isn't a bug in their design that pisses me off everytime I use them.....the gauntlet works well , the inner liner stays put, etc. etc. I am rough on gloves, and will find any weakness quickly...these seem to hold up .

My typical riding conditions are either rain, mist, or thick fog ,any of which require a 100% waterproof glove. Temps typically around 40F, +/- 10 degrees, "city" type wind chill conditions (so not all that much) and the Explorer works great for me under those conditions. They are on the medium-light side for insulation/warmth , but like I said ,the bulk factor is minimal. You can certainly find warmer riding gloves....but can you still feel the grips and work the controls ok ??? That is the question....

First Gear also makes the Kilimanjaro glove, which is slightly warmer and still not too bulky (by my standards) , but the gauntlet is poorly designed for rain riding, IMO.

Most shops stock First Gear, so you might want to go try some on.



Anyway, good luck in your search....

smokinjoe73

Flash, I don't see the Stockholm gloves in the link you posted.

Bustin, I do like firstgear stuff, looked at the kilimanjaros but have yet to see how many gram thinsulate they have.

My fieldsheer eskimos have 200g.

I am quite a ways past the worry about bulkiness. I need all out warmth. Today for example the high temp is in the teens and 35mph wind. Comfort takes a back seat to being able to feel your hands and the controls.

Thanks for the input, will do more research on firstgear.

And flash, which gloves exactly do you have and what temps have you ridden them in?

Jack Flash

Joe, you need to go in the 'mid season' section, they should be the first pair of gloves you see with the 'new' symbole.

As for riding, I have ridden them in 5-6°(40-42°) temps so far. I have bad circulation in my hands, and often find myself with cold hands. Not in these gloves so far. They have done the job very well for me.

smokinjoe73

Oh, yeah, I have a crate of mid season gloves. This search is only for super hard core sub freezing temps. Like -15C/ 5F ish.

Jack Flash

Well then, check out their winter line.

You may want to look into snowboard gloves. They rise up pretty far on the forearm, and, are not that thick, but very warm. If I had to ride in such temps, my snowboard gloves would do the trick.

skokievtr

In addition to Hippo Hands, one can adapt ADV hand guards or cut up some Gatorade bottle. Besides heated grips I wear heated gloves and run either a heated vest or jacket liner, which keep your core warmer so the body can divert heated blood to the extremities.

smokinjoe73

Yes, handguards indeed, just like these artic cats. They are really the only chance your hands have in the 20s of degrees.

As for the heated gloves, using them then letting your bike sit for 9hrs in freezing temps doesn't equal a happily starting bike.

The quest goes on.

finepooch

i have the cortech hydro gt gloves. i got them cheap, $75 or so. they are good for wet and cold but they are bulky

skokievtr

I don't know about that. With a mosfet vrr and a GPS or cell running off the bike too, I run my 65W heated W&S jacket liner AND their heated gloves (controlled by a W&S dual Heattroller) and when I park it the battery is up well over 13.3 volts. Now I have a Motobatt 14 ah battery which has twin + & - terminals versus the OEM 12 ah size but I don't think that's much help.

PM me for details

I have the Cortech Hydro GT gloves and while a very nice glove with great protection for a waterproof glove, they are not insulated and for me only go down to maybe 45 degrees unless the heated grips are on.

BTW, you never replied back to my question to you in the recently revived carb heater thread regarding whether you still have the carb coolant hoses bypassed and if you've ever had any known issues as a result.

PS, whose hard panniers are those and how do they mount?

smokinjoe73

Oh, wow cross thread jack. I didn't see that question.

I had the carb heaters bypassed for 4 to 5 yrs of daily year round use and never had an issue. I ride in super cold weather and it didn't change cold start or heat up at all.

I am however a bad example since I also had my thermostat out intermittently to try to keep temps down and saw little difference there except slower warm up on 30F or less days, but it ran fine.

I am interested in that battery. I have been running a ytx-14bs. Similar in ah to what yours is but I want in on that double terminal setup.

The panniers are (awesome) givis. Its a wing rack which takes any 3 bags. Meaning I can use those e21 liters or pop on my 45 liter cases for more storage than a Goldwing. The top case is a maxia 53 liter. So with all 3 big cases I can carry 6 full face helmets.

I have done 2000 mile trips with the 3 big bag setup and its amazing. Doesn't hinder having a passenger either.

Bustin

On the subject of batteries, Joe : Don't let anybody talk you into one of the newish Lithium-Iron or Lithium Ion batteries.... they are pure awesome (lightweight,smaller, no self-discharge) until it dips down to about 25F , then they pretty much stop working entirely. Great choice for MOST riders, just not for people who ride in sub-freezing temps on the reg.

smokinjoe73

Yeah bustin, I keep a LiPo battery under my seat to jump start me when the regular battery lets me down. It has saved my bacon a number of times.

After a big v twin sits 9-10 hours in single digits, it REALLY doesn't want to start.

And push starting it is less fun that you can imagine under those conditions.

Bustin

That's interesting. I guess the polymer type Lithium batteries aren't susceptible to the low temperate crap-out that the Lithium-Ion and Lithium-Iron designs are well known for. Stands to reason, I suppose.....

smokinjoe73

What I have read says the battery may be dormant, but you need to warm it up by turning the lights on for a minute or 2. Then the electrons are moving and it will start the bike.

Keep in mind it is helping to jump the bike in my story, not doing it on its own. For that purpose I don't know why everyone doesn't have one under their seat.

skokievtr

Joe,

please explain what battery and where you store it under the saddle, as I don't have room for presumably another battery under there.

I carry an AntiGravity Batteries' XP-1 micro-start in my panniers or rear top case (depending on luggage configuration) and was thinking of getting their cell phone size Mini XP-5. I installed their "micro-start harness kit" (Micro-Start Harness Kit - Antigravity Batteries) direct to my MotoBatt 4-terminal battery (which for a MC requires replacing the 10 mm terminals with 6 mm ID terminals but it did come with an SAE power adapter) so it can extend out the right side (it helps to have removed and replaced the rear coil with a stick coil for a clearer path to the battery) and I can jump start without removing the saddle. Also helps to have good side rear conspicuouty when you finally do get it started!

smokinjoe73

Skokie, I completely agree with the rear conspicuity (I think we have agreed on this before)
I don't even remember what the stock undertray looks like but back in the day they sold a trunk kit for a cbrF3 that I had. When I sold it for the hawk I transplanted it. I can now carry a plug kit with compressor along with my jumper battery.

This is something that could fit under the seat pretty easily.20000mAh Thin Jump Starter Car Emergency Charger Battery Booster Power Bank 12V | eBay

I didn't think an sae connector could carry enough juice to do a full on jump. I use the bigger one 175A Battery Quick Connect Disconnect Wire Harness Plug Connector for 12V 36volt | eBay

If you hack out the rectangle of plastic under the seat you can make quite a big storage box out of sheet metal pretty easily and screw it right into the subframe.

Don't have any pics of the setup but its a good amount of room and strong enough to carry a 4 ft kryptonite chain and lock if you wanted to.

I have said it before but we are on parallel universes with the thought process that went into setting up our hawks. Mine is just a bit more battered from its rough life on the Brooklyn streets.

Did you do the front turn signals as always on running lights mod? If not that's next.

skokievtr

If that is a link to one similar to the battery you carry, it is just a lower output version to the AntiGravity Batteries (AGB) unit I mentioned in my prior reply, which has about 3/5 the output of the XP-1 I already have (which without the carrying case is actually easily packable).

If you look in your battery link, the blue two-pole connector that is part of the alligator clamp harness has become the universal standard and what AGB micro-start units use; i.e., is the plug that you see above on my bike with the SAE adapter on it for powering other devices.

The AGB harnesses have a inline fusible link diode to prevent vehicle power after starting from running back into the the micro-start battery. Again, if you look at my photos above you can see the harness coming from the VTR battery with the in line diode before and after I weather-sealed it, and then just a bit of the blue plug onto which the SAE adapter is inserted. Thus I just need to carry the micro-start battery and not the alligator clamp harness. Obviously I can power my cell phone and other 5 volt stuff but have a dual USB power port for that to plus cigarette lighter type power sockets that USB power adapters can plug into. I also have the same type of DC higher power connectors shown in your other link (albeit only 50 amp rated), and have considered them for a quick battery install harness but have not needed one...

With my luggage I don't need to hack into and create a storage box but will evaluate doing so. I most want to find or make hand guards that will work with my DanMoto 3D clip-ons.

smokinjoe73

Skokie, just found these on feebay, snap them up. These are the exact ones I have and are pretty fitable with minor mods. Color is even good. Havent seen them for sale for months. They come with the mounting hardware.

I actually keep a brand new spare set in my closet just in case I lose one but haven't yet.

281 200 Artic Cat Hand Guards ATV 0436 722 Red | eBay

skokievtr

Thanks Joe, I just bought a set. Hopefully I can get them to fit with my higher and wider DanMoto 3D bars but for $35 with shipping it's worth the risk.

60+ degrees here today. Too bad I have to work...

bird-rider

Just got hold of the same pair. Really helped a lot! Thanks Joe for the tip!