I invested in Gerbing for this winter; here was my logical assault on my need for heated gear:
1. Installed Powerlet outlets on the my RS dash-- I didn't want to mess with pigtails under the seat, and I wanted the flexibility afforded by the dash mounts for future use (GPS, battery tender, etc.)
2. Went to a local Gerbing dealer (Bob's BMW in MD) and tried on the gear (they've got plenty). With Gerbing, I *highly recommend* this, as I was surprised by the variance in sizes. I'm a 54 chest, 48 waist, 30 inseam i.e. a big stocky guy. Surprisingly, despite the figures they give online, I got by with a 2XL jacket liner (as Scotty noted, you want these a little snug), but *none* of the stock pants liner sizes fit, even the largest (forget if it's 3XL or 4XL) was too tight for me. However, if you're a 46 or less, you should be just fine with their stock pants. (Gerbing does, however, offer custom sizes via their website). Anyway, I skipped the pants liner (I'll talk more about the consequences of that in a sec).
3. Gerbing has two main gloves, the standard leather G3 and the "armored" T5; I bought the T5 gloves. Don't expect anything super-strong here, there's no carbon fiber armor or anything. But, the gloves are bulky (not overly so) so I'm sure they afford a lot more protection than the G3 gloves do, and they're VERY comfortable, with a wide gauntlet that slips nicely over even the bulkiest jacket arms (I wear a Firstgear Kilimanjaro-- thanks BajaRon!-- and the T5 gloves fit like, well, a glove with that jacket).
I've never seen anything that definitively states the *palms* of these gloves are heated; the salesman at the BMW dealer said they were, but I find there's less heat going to the palms of the gloves. That said, even down into the low 40s at 80 mph I don't have any trouble with the gloves at all, no matter how long I ride, the palms stay plenty warm wrapped around the grips. Thus, unlike other gloves that are designed to complement heated grips, I think that with at least the T5 gloves, you won't need heated grips nor turn them on.
4. For hookup, I purchased the Gerbing dual-zone heat troller and a Powerlet adapter. You can set the gloves and the jacket liner independently. If you just want to use the gloves alone, no liner, you need to use the Y-harness that comes with gloves, but I've always used them together.
Another thing to note: my Kilimanjaro jacket comes with a fleece liner that is nice and warm, but is thicker than the Gerbing liner (both liners can be worn as "arrival jackets"). Which means that if you use your Gerbing liner under your jacket, the odds are you will want to plug it in and use it, by itself and not on it's quite thin.
5. Even with the dual zone controls, I find that I get a heat "gap" along my lower arms while wearing the gloves & jacket liner combo. Perhaps this is just because of the air hitting that particular spot while riding, but I find it helps to wear a long-sleeve undershirt versus a normal t-shirt. Ditto a bit of a heat gap on the back part of the jacket. I just find that if I get cold, I shift my body within the jacket to press my body more against the jacket, it warms up in a jiffy.
6. RE: electrical load, since BRP won't see fit to include a voltmeter standard, I'm not entirely sure of my draw with the gear on. Others here have run the numbers, but my rule of thumb is to run the gloves and jacket liner only above 4,000 rpm, and never in combo with the fog lights (stinks for night riding, oh well). Both heat up very fast; however, they get VERY warm the higher the RPM the Spyder runs. I find that going 80 mph at close to 6000 RPM in 5th the gear is quite toasty.
7. It really sucks not having heated pants liner. The only winter pants I've got is a Firstgear HT overpants, no liner, so when riding in the cold I wear those over a pair of Draggin' Jeans (warmer than regular jeans thanks to the Kevlar liner), and if necessary, a pair of thermal underwear. It's worked fine for me over 300 mile trips, but I won't lie, my quads freeze *in a hurry* on the Spyder. Part of that might be my seating position (risers, floorboards), but the cold air runs right over my legs. I can handle that far better than cold hands/torso, but it's something I'm going to have to remedy with better gear at some point.
8. Lastly, my brother (a HD rider) swears by his Gerbing vest versus a jacket liner, he says a vest alone to heat the trunk is enough to take care of things. Of course, he also lives in California, where it don't get as cold as it does out east, so I think he's full of :cus:.
Good luck with the heated gear hunt, and safe riding! :doorag:
hyea:
opcorn::agree::cheers:
