Well I finally bought myself some Gerbings. I bought the heated gloves and jacket liner. After that Arizona camping trip, I realized how tough it is to keep warm.Last month I wrote "Why Fat Bikers Are Better", explaining how I lost 90 pounds of fat, and along with it my ability to protect myself from cold weather.
I've always figured that riding a motorcycle means feeling the wind, and therefore being cold. But then again back in those days, I was never truly cold.
It was the morning of Day 4 on the camping trip, we broke camp early in the morning. Temperature when we left was about 40 degrees. But we climbed elevation to Hannagan Meadow, the air temperature gauge on my Honda ST read 32 degrees. I figure with a 60mph wind chill, my hands were experiencing 15 degree temps.
My hands were so cold they felt like they were on fire. I was actually wearing two pairs of gloves, a pair of summer gloves underneath, and a pair of winter gloves over those. And yet they were still so painful, I worried I was doing irreparable damage to them. I pulled over to stop.
A guy behind me pulled over with me, and he happened to have a second pair of winter gloves. I tried those on. They seemed to be a little better, but after several miles, the pain continued.
The Gerbing gear is pretty easy to set up. You just wire it to your battery, and you plug it in. They explain it on their website if you're interested. Just make sure you buy the temperature controller, or else you're getting heat full blast.
But expect to pay a lot of money. I threw down almost $500.00 for the gloves, the jacket liner, the temperature controller, and the case that holds the temperature controller to your belt, plus the sales tax.
I had actually planned to buy heated grips for my ST. But a friend of mine made the point that with heated gear instead, you can unwire it from the battery and reinstall it on another bike should I ever plan to get another bike. Whereas with heated grips, they're permanently attached to that bike.
Of course, now that we're well into Spring, I doubt I'll be using this stuff until next Winter. But Hell, I'll need it eventually.
A vagabond who hauls a motorcycle around the country in a toy hauler, earning a living as a website developer. Can often be found where there's free Wi-Fi, craft beer, and/or public nudity. 
