I've got a fairly decent pair of winter gloves, but my fingers are really suffering in the cold, especially early mornings. I don't fancy heated grips (too much hassle) or muffs (fugly). So I'm thinking heated gloves are the way to go, but most seem to plug into the bike's battery, which seems a bit of a faff. So I'd like some that can be powered by their own portable battery, but I've only found a few and they seem to be very expensive as you have to pay extra for the batteries and the charger - at least doubling the cost of the gloves. Most of my journeys are under 2 hours round trip! Anyone got any experience with this, seen any good suitable gear? Jason.
The reason why the plug into the bikes battery is that they draw a lot of power. So even with batteries you would be lucky if they lasted long. Riding a fly 125 I'd be going for muffs! It's a pretty ugly bike in the first place so it isn't going to make any difference. Seriously though in the winter looks go out the window as it's all about being safe by being warm. I've ridden and got my hands so frozen I didn't even realise I was barely holding on! Never again. Tucano Urbano Neoprene muffs aren't as ugly as others... http://www.harpersraceshop.co.uk/item4084.htm
Do muffs really make that much difference? I've also seen some people saying they move about too much, or don't allow enough control, or start to affect the breaks when going over 60mph. How easy is it to get your hands in and out of them? What about in a crash?
It's all about the wind chill when riding a bike and muffs block it! Making them on a motorway might be a little extreme but i'm sure people do. However a piaggio fly is only really going to be topping out at about 60 anyway so I can't see any problems. Control is better than with large gloves as you can get away with having thinner gloves. The only gripe I have with them is some models mean it's a bit fiddly to use the indicators etc but you get the hang of it pretty quickly. Your hands just slip out. The work to block the wind not to close up like a glove.
Never personally used bar muffs but , where i work , we had 3 boxes of 10 delivered beginning of december , last pair was sold/fitted on christmass eve. They do what they do and very well at that . Well worth the 40 odd quid or whatever . Or Goretec gloves is what i use, will never do another winter without , bit dear but well worth it, my hands suffer badly from the chill (a few cuts and scars) and i dont feel a thing in these, can get them from HeinGericke . Heated grips are piss easy , and oxford have a new set out wich are nice and thin not like the old ones. Wiring is litteraly 2 wires, negative and switch live. takes about 10 - 20 mins to fully fit .
mine are the best thing i have ever used :good: i work with BMW bikes and their heated grips are the buisness but you still get a chill to the back of your hands and all grips have a good amount of draw from your battery, the tucano urbano muffs are the best thing you can fit. other makes are ok with bikes but are restricted fitment to scoots because of the handlebar cowling as i found out. here's a link to mine. http://www.scootershack.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=20980#p226146
