For those of us who ride in [not summer, not all beautiful days] conditions, heated gear is like wimminz- there ain't no goin' back.
I think what most people misunderstand about heated clothing is that it does not make riding when it is cool or cold tolerable, it makes it pleasant. When we get to someplace after about October, especially if it is at night, lots of people ask 1) if we're cold 2) how we can stand to ride at XX temp. 3) point out that it will be even colder later in the evening, etc. If someone mentions this before I get out of my gear, I always try to grab that persons' hand and stick it inside my jacket liner before he / she even realizes what is going on and the reaction is always the same- 'my what a body', followed by 'say, it is really warm in there.' Heated clothing is expensive, a pain to put on / take off for riding, requires wiring of the bike, requires some fiddling with a controller, requires plugging in an unplugging each time getting on and off the bike, and is the single greatest thing I have ever found to enhance and extend motorcycle riding. One other thought- a lot of 'tough guys' can power through 20 minutes of riding in fairly cold weather, and even quite cold provided they prepare and dress for it. But spending hours at highway speeds will take heat away from a body no matter what clothing is worn; traveling at better than about 50 MPH at temps. lower than, say, 45 F or so will sap everyone and begin the process of hypothermia. The entire ride becomes one of how far you can go between stops to warm up. Heated clothing simply removes that entire situation from the process; you can ride as far / long as you want without regard to the temperature (speaking within reason here, 25F or 30F is about the low limit for unlimited riding IMO).
I try not to spend other people's money and I do not suggest anyone run out and buy anything because it is not my business. But heated gear is about as close as I normally get to overstepping my bounds; if one is inclined and thinks he / she needs or even seriously could use heated gear, it will probably be one of the best expenditures ever for anyone who would like to either ride more (longer in the year, longer rides) or ride more comfortably. By the way, I live in southern New England where we have 'real' summers and I always bring my heated jacket liner with me on anything longer than a 10 minute trip. There is not a month in the year that I have not used that liner, with heat, usually at night coming home from a fairly long trip that I might have been perspiring the entire way out. Wearing a mesh jacket and having the temp. drop to 62F, it is fantastic putting on the liner and just cracking the controller about 10%. Again, it makes a very tolerable ride into a more pleasant ride.
And no, I do not work for Gerbing or any company that makes heated clothing.
The one downside to heated clothing is that once you are counting on it and it fails, you are really in a corner. I had a controller cord go bad (failed from being bent for years under my jacket) about 50 miles from home when it was in the 30's F. I simply could not have made it home, at least in one continuous ride, without the heated gear (jacket liner, gloves, pants and socks all fed from the same controller so all failed). I stopped in a local Radio Shack, bought a connector and tape, borrowed a knife from the clerk and stood at the counter and made a new harness to get me home.
Brian
Great points and info Brian, thanks!
This is my first time down this road of heated gear, so I appreciate all you guys guiding me down the right path!