Heated Liner

[Drew]

I plan on going the electrical route to ride as much as I can year round, so I'm going to try and go with a heated liner and gloves. I have an Olympia Airglide II jacket and a Cortech GX Sport Series 2 Jacket and thinking about maybe a Motoport Kevlar mesh at some point. Would any heated liner work under either of these jackets? My guess is that the liners are cut fairly tight to keep the warmth up against the rider, so a liner shouldn't be jacket mfg specific. Correct?

Any input on a good liner?

Thanks.

 

[3dogs]

Try the Powerlet jacket liner. I've used one for 3 years and it works great. You'll have to get the thermostate controller because if the jacket is just plugged into 12 volts (with no heat control) it gets waaaaay to hot. Here is the link Powerlet Jacket Liner I've also used their gloves and glove liners (they go with the jacket and plug into the sleves). You will need a separate controller for the gloves/glove liner. For the glove liners to fit your gloves they will have to have a somewhat loose fit to have enough room for the liners. Both the gloves and liners work great.

 

[BwanaDik]

Take a look at this

Clicky

It's what I replaced my Aerostitch vest with. Get the thermostat too, you'll want it. The microwire tech is really good althugh the place where all the power leads plug in is kinda bulky. Kept me comfy down to 19F last year in NM in December

 

[Spud]

I got the Tourmaster Synergy heated jacket liner. It's a good value (179.99 most places), and comes with the controller. Hooking it up to the bike was easy, and it works well. It gets a lot hotter than you need--I rode almost 500 miles this April on an interstate with temps ranging from 39 to 42 degrees, and at 80-90mph stayed warm for hours on the low setting.

With any heated liner--you want to have a snug fit, a little tighter than you'd normally want.

 

[Bill]

I plan on going the electrical route to ride as much as I can year round, so I'm going to try and go with a heated liner and gloves. I have an Olympia Airglide II jacket and a Cortech GX Sport Series 2 Jacket and thinking about maybe a Motoport Kevlar mesh at some point. Would any heated liner work under either of these jackets? My guess is that the liners are cut fairly tight to keep the warmth up against the rider, so a liner shouldn't be jacket mfg specific. Correct?

Any input on a good liner?

Thanks.

Over the past 20 years or so, I've had Widder vests, Gerbing's and Warm n Safe Jacket Liners. I've had a variety of gloves and all sorts of temperature controls.

Nowadays, I wear a Warm n Safe Generation 4 Heated Liner, Warm n Safe Ultimate Heated Gloves and use their Dual Remote Control Heat Troller. I like the fact that the Heated Liner fits very snug to my body and has stretch panels. I like the fact that the gloves have armor and Kevlar in them and the Remote Control gets all sorts of wires out of the way while individually controlling the Heated Liner and gloves.

Warm n Safe

 

[TomInPA]

Warm N Safe designed and made the Gerbings and First Gear jacket liners. Gerbings went and copied and outsourced components for fabrication in China. I don't know the details, but thought it was bad form.. If you go to the Warm N Safe site, you ca register as an ADVforum member and get a significant discount. The discount shows up on the prices as soon as you register. It is the best equipment out there. I strongly recommend the Generation 4 jacket liner (90 watt) and remote troller.

I have Olympia Airglide mesh and use the liner with no problem. For very cold weather, it is actually best to wear the heated liner over a long-sleeve T-shirt or other tight clothing, with your Olympia wind/insulation layer over the top of the liner, then finish with the mesh jacket. That will stand up to pretty much anything.

EDIT: I was contacted by another forum member that my information on Gerbings was dated. I researched it briefly, and I believe that I need to reconsider my comment. Gerbings is bringing manufacturing back to the U.S.based on this article.

This is what Mike Coen said on his Warm n Safe site:

Over the years while we tried to make the Heat-troller™ better, we also helped Gerbing make their product better. We turned them on to our designed SAE connector and cables and when we spent 3 years and lots of money developing the coax connector, we let them use it. Then they copied it. The little pocket in the sleeve for the glove plug, we showed them how to do it. Even the resistance wire they use we helped them by designing a better wire so it would not break as often at the solder points and we advised them to go to a higher temperature fire point on the wire. We advised them to cover the auto style fuse in their battery harness after we blew a fuse using their battery harness. We made ours with a cover so it would not happen. So after all the years of helping them make a better product, we were surprised to see them sell a copy of one of our old designs that they are buying from China. We are also marketing products not just for the motorcycle area but for people in wheelchairs, heavy equipment operators and office workers. We are open to ideas. You need heated gear for your particular situation, let us know and we will try to help you.
Well, this was suppose to be a company history but I am not sure what that really means and why you need to care. The important issues are these. We will continue to make improvements in our products and hope that the Chinese don't copy them. We hope you will help us deal with the Chinese copiers by not buying their products whether it is a copy of ours or anyone else's. We will stand behind our product by making sure that if it is a manufacturing defect you will get a replacement and if it is a use or abuse or just age that kills it, you will get a discount on a new one to show you that we care that you bought from us in the first place. And if we don't stop the Chinese from copying US made products, none of us will have a future!

 

[Fred W]

Very timely topic as I plan to in-vest (sorry) in a heated liner for my thermally challenged spousal unit.

Being a well insulated American male I can ride with just electrified heating help in the hands (gloves & grips) down below freezing, but TMJ gets chilled to the point of discomfort below about 40 degrees F.

I've been looking hard at the Warm'nSafe liner for her, and I think now that is what I'll get her. If I had more watts to spare I'd get some for myself, but alas, it's a first gen with stock electrics that I ride.

 

[Spud]

For the pillion you might want to look at a battery operated heated vest like Ansai Mobile Warming. Supposedly good for 10 hours on a fully charged battery, nothing to connect. I just ordered the jacket for my wife--I'll review after I get it.

https://www.mobilewarminggear.com/2010MW/enff/ie/index.html

As battery technology continues to improve, I think that the hard-wired gear will become a thing of the past. Columbia is coming out with some new battery-operated heated ski gear this year that is supposed to be amazing, but really pricy.

 

[johnny80s]

Warm N Safe designed and made the Gerbings and First Gear jacket liners. Gerbings went and copied the design and out-sourced to China, so you might want to re-think that one. If you go to the Warm N Safe site, you ca register as an ADVforum member and get a significant discount. The discount shows up on the prices as soon as you register. It is the best equipment out there. I strongly recommend the Generation 4 jacket liner (90 watt) and remote troller.

I have Olympia Airglide mesh and use the liner with no problem. For very cold weather, it is actually best to wear the heated liner over a long-sleeve T-shirt or other tight clothing, with your Olympia wind/insulation layer over the top of the liner, then finish with the mesh jacket. That will stand up to pretty much anything.

What he said. Except you can just register as belonging to a club. I wear motoport kevlar mesh gear and have been to down to 27 degrees with heated liner and gloves from warm and safe.

 

[mcatrophy]

I'm using the EXO2 Stormrider (linky). Keeps my not very well naturally insulated body toasty at the lowest temps I've ridden in. Don't know how available it is State-side.

Its heating element is the material it's made of, no heating wires to break. Very even heating.

It also works well as a thermal vest when it's a bit chilly.

FWIW I wrote about my controller for it here

 

[stevet]

I don't have any heated clothing, but a friend of mine has had several years of good results with this Aerostich vest, electric heat and air inflatable to insure full contact against your body, and the air chamber itself does provide an insulating layer.

https://www.aerostich.com/aerostich-kanetsu-tltec-wind-blocker-electric-vest.html (both vest w/sleeve option, and complete liner shown at this page)

Other vests of theirs-

https://www.aerostich.com/aerostich-kanetsu-tltec-wind-blocker-electric-vest.html (another option shown at the bottom of this page)

 

[redtail]

i have the Tourmaster heated vest, and twice now the controller has failed while on a long trip. This is a well documented flaw that I was un-aware of until after I bought one! :angry2:

The first time I was staying at my mom's for a week, before riding home, so I tried to get them to overnight me a replacement. I thought that would have been pretty good customer service, as it was a brand new vest. Not. :angry:

After I got home they sent me two controllers, presumably a newer version. :yahoo: I've ridden a few short trips and it seemed to work OK!

Same thing, long trip up the coast. Wet, foggy and cold the vest worked about half a day and took a crap. Later in the hotel room I tore it apart (literaly, memo to self to add micro tools to my kit). I tore off the rubber boot over the off button and out falls a piece of hard black plastic. Well it worked without that piece, so I duct taped it up to keep out the moisture.

Now I have to order a new controller. :angry: I believe Warm-and-safe makes an adapter so that their controller will operate the tourmaster clothes.

I thought the cheaper vest would be good enough as I don't ride that much in the cold. Once you have heat though, you'll never want to be all bundled up again!

 

[TomInPA]

Very timely topic as I plan to in-vest (sorry) in a heated liner for my thermally challenged spousal unit.

Being a well insulated American male I can ride with just electrified heating help in the hands (gloves & grips) down below freezing, but TMJ gets chilled to the point of discomfort below about 40 degrees F.

I've been looking hard at the Warm'nSafe liner for her, and I think now that is what I'll get her. If I had more watts to spare I'd get some for myself, but alas, it's a first gen with stock electrics that I ride.

Fred, the liners can impact the electrical output on the Gen I bikes, but based on my observation, it is possible to run two units. First, remember that the gear is on a controller. That significantly reduces the power consumption when operated anywhere but full-on. Based on observations of the volt meter, I can maintain 14-14.1 VDC when operating a WnS vest up to 50%. With proper insulation and wind protection, that will get you by down to freezing or better. Full-on, one vest takes the charge rate down to 13.8 VDC, Just extrapolating, but I suspect you would go critical at 13.4 VDC running two units at a high rate. You might have to choose between two sets of heated gear and power-hungary accessories like lights, but most of the time, you should be able to have it all at anything other than full power. Common sense says, to use a volt-meter, and I know you do.

Get the wireless remote troller. Worth it not to have to install in the dash and wire something else. Also just comes off and stores in a pocket for the off-season.

 

[FJReady]

I rode for years with the Widder electric vest and was happy. Then last season I bought the Tourmaster Synergy jacket. It has 3 temp settings, no controller needed. It is more comfortable than the Widder due to side stretch panels and I discovered that I used to ride around with cold arms. Heated sleeves are nice!

I also installed Dual Star heated grip elements to help with cold fingers.

Those two things get me thru many a chilly day (down to about 30*F) here in the northeast.

 

[BackintheSaddle]

I got the Tourmaster Synergy heated jacket liner. It's a good value (179.99 most places), and comes with the controller. Hooking it up to the bike was easy, and it works well. It gets a lot hotter than you need--I rode almost 500 miles this April on an interstate with temps ranging from 39 to 42 degrees, and at 80-90mph stayed warm for hours on the low setting.

With any heated liner--you want to have a snug fit, a little tighter than you'd normally want.

I'll second that - very happy with my Synergy jacket. Get it snug to avoid drafts!

 

[Niehart]

I have a Tourmaster Synergy heated jacket. I ride with some HD folks and they called the jacket a Toastmaster 2000. Of course they all have heated jackets now.

If at some point you are going to do heated gloves also, you want the jacket not the vest [vest draws less power and packs down smaller]. With the jacket, the wires for the gloves are built into the sleeves. That makes life much easier than trying to feed to loose wires from the vest to the gloves.

 

[Drew]

For the pillion you might want to look at a battery operated heated vest like Ansai Mobile Warming. Supposedly good for 10 hours on a fully charged battery, nothing to connect. I just ordered the jacket for my wife--I'll review after I get it.

Would that fit under a riding jacket? (Olympia Airglide).

 

[lnewlf]

For me,Gerbings is da mutt's nutz-I have toe to neck heat and riding in the 20 degree range is comfortable. I don't have heated gloves as the grips take care of that. Gerbings customer service is aces too.

 

[Spud]

For the pillion you might want to look at a battery operated heated vest like Ansai Mobile Warming. Supposedly good for 10 hours on a fully charged battery, nothing to connect. I just ordered the jacket for my wife--I'll review after I get it.

Would that fit under a riding jacket? (Olympia Airglide).

I'll check that out--I've got one ordered that will be here by end of this week (gift for my wife). Once I get it, I'll post a review.