Heated grips or warmer gloves?
 

Merry Christmas, everyone. I know I'm in season for asking about winter gear because it just started getting cold here in Phoenix whereas some of you are much colder temps than I'm in. My only gloves are summer gloves, and I use them for a 10-12 minute commute in the morning, and I'm pretty uncomfortable by the time I get there.

I'm deciding between adding heated grips or getting gloves made for colder weather. These days it gets to 40 F in the morning and not lower than 36.

My top choices:
Oxford Heaterz - $80 + labor because I don't know how to install them
Alpinestars WR-3 - $160
Held Warm N Dry - $180

Would you recommend gloves or heated grips in my situation?

I'd keep it simple, http://www.tourmaster.com/xcart/prod...ctid=352&cat=9 You can find them for around $50 with some looking.

before I spent much I'd buy heated gloves, my gerbings can take me down to the teens pretty easy but if it's in the 40's the coldtex work great.

If you'll never ride farther north than Phoenix, then warmer gloves will suffice. But if you might find yourself getting up into the mountains in spring and fall, going over high passes and down into warm valleys, you will probably find heated grips are the ideal choice.

Living where I sometimes find both heated grips and heated gloves to be necessary, there has been plenty of opportunity to try them both individually as well as together. That includes riding all over the U. S. as well as in Alaska and Canada. Your gloves have the least insulation in the palms, which are in the closest contact with the handgrips. In cold weather, the handlebars will suck heat away from your hands as they, the handlebars, are cooled in the airstream. Conversely, with the fairly tight grip you maintain on the handgrips, heat is efficiently transferred to your hands through that same "inadequate" insulation. While I carry well-insulated gloves on every ride, the heated grips that I have installed on every one of my bikes are the real live savers when it starts getting chilly.

Grips. I have both and the gloves work great but are a hassle to connect for quick trips while the grips never need to be set higher than 3 of 4 on their power setting and you can still use thinner more tactile gloves.

can always add some hippo hands or similar (not hard to make from scratch) to the bars.

Here in Albquerque it gets a bit colder. I have Gerbing T5 gloves and heated grips. Depending on how cold it gets I sometimes use both, but can barely feel the grips through the heavy gloves.

I wear TOURMASTER WINTER ELITE gloves,warm to the low 30's even warmer with a liner.

I have heated gloves and grips and hippo hands. But down to the lower 40's some plain old winter gloves work for a short ride. Keep the gloves in the house so they are warm when you start. A rain cover over the glove to keep the wind off will help a lot.

How cold does it get there?

Down into the 40s with heated grips and the nifty things you see on my bars below I could still wear by ventilated race gloves. My new honda doesnt have heated grips, so I have some winter gloves combined with those and I rode for about an hour today in about 25 degrees. Beyond that or just to stay more comfy, the aforementioned combo with heated glove liners added in.

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...07145977_n.jpg

My fingertips still get cold with my heated grips and I'm in Phoenix too. I used my W&S heated grips for the first time Monday and while they worked out great, they're too much of a hassle and bulky for just commuting. I tried some BMW Winter gloves last winter and they worked out ok, but I think those hippo hand things might work best with a set of heated grips added.

I want a solution that will take to me to 35 to 40 F for a 15 minute ride. And 50F for a 45 minute ride. If I need to go on a colder or longer ride, then I will get the hippo hands.

I've never used heated grips before, but I would rather be warm in race gloves (with heated grips) than warm in winter gloves because of the bulk. With that said, being warm comes first. Will I be warm enough with the heated grips?


How long can you ride before your fingertips get cold? What kind of gloves are you using?

My experience is that heated grips allow you to run thinner gloves than you normally would, but except for very moderate temps, they can't be considered a complete substitute for cold-weather gloves. Once the temps drop down below 45 or so, you can't heat the grips enough to not require some kind of insulation on the back of your hand. And whatever insulation you do need also insulates you from the heat of the grips. You run into rapidly diminishing returns where the grip just can't do the whole job.

My advice if you can afford only one solution is to get warmer gloves.

- Mark

For a short commute of 10-12 minutes it is probably not worth installing HGs. Here's some winter gloves with good reviews for $86:

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...WT.MC_ID=10010

I wear Revit Comet gloves pretty much year round. Theyre perforated in the fingers for warm weather riding, but my fingertips would get cold even when wearing BMW Winter gloves. My fingertips get cold probably after about 10 minutes of riding on the highway. It's not unbearable though. I rode 3 hours like that on Monday because I didn't like the bulkiness of the heated winter gloves I have. I don't know what kind of bike you have, but mine has handguards that also may help a bit with deflecting cold air over my hands.

Silk Liners, simply amazing under whatever glove you are now wearing. Get the pure silk ones though, not the wool combo things.

http://wintersilks.blair.com/thumbna.../c/229/233.uts

While you are at it pick up the silk balaclava.

http://wintersilks.blair.com/catalog...word=balaclava

Terry

This is an easy question. Heated Grips are the best choice and offer far more versatility. They are relatively cheap, easy to install, and offer adjustment to changing conditions with the flick of a switch.

Even though heated grips should come first, a good assortment of different gloves has its advantages. Gloves that have some insulation on the top side of the hand can dramatically help with comfort.

Heated grips and an extra pair of gloves will still be cheaper than buying heated gloves.