My Gerbing G3 Electric Gloves — all nice and warm again after replacing the lead wire from the battery. Simple repair. Disconnect the two leads from the battery, clip the cable ties holding the cable that runs back to the engine compartment and up under the seat where I connect the gloves. Pull the bad cable, thread the new one into place, connect the leads to the battery and I was ready to venture into the cold night for a test ride.
I love test rides.
The temperature was 31F when I left the house. Adequate for evaluating the performance of the gloves and making sure I didn’t introduce any new electrical problems. Gerbing says these gloves will heat to 135F when the outside ambient temperature is 32F. I know this because my Aleta got a pair of G3 gloves today for riding her Yamaha Vino and I read the specs.
That sounds impressive until you factor in the wind hitting them while riding. At 45mph 31F feels like 13 degrees. It follows that the glove’s heating temperature would decline as well.
Regardless, riding through town and looping around the valley my hands were plenty warm.
I do love riding at night. Found myself thinking ahead to a moonlit night over a snow covered landscape. It’s so bright that you hardly need a headlight. But I’m getting ahead of things. Snow isn’t suppose to arrive until tomorrow.
So one more thing to cross off my to do list. I can ride without too much concern about keeping warm now, at least not until the temperature hits single digits. Then my feel become an issue.
It’s always something.
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I have the same gloves and they do work really well. No cold fingers yet even at well below 0F. And I have yet to turn them up all the way.
RichardM: I have mine connected directly so they are always at full power. When the temp gets near zero they begin to get chilly. Do you have hand guards or a fairing on you bike that keeps your hands out of the wind?
On the Vespa my hands are completely exposed.
Mine are partially covered but definitely out of the wind. Some of the hand covers are too hard to use but mine are easy to put my hands in and out. I can also glance down and even see the controls if needed. I have the Gerbing dual controller, one for the liner and the other for the gloves. Even way below zero, my hands and fingers are toasty warm. Wearing the Aerostich rain gloves works almost as well as the keep the wind off.
Thanks for that post Steve. I think I’ll install a plug in the left kneepad, and add a heattroller.
On my LX I had a tall windscreen that extended to cover the handgrips to keep wind off my hands. That and heated grips did the trick.
I have found that my hands fared better riding on the expressway rather than surface streets. The reasons are i) less time riding, and ii) the brake levers are really cold. The more I use the brakes, the colder my fingers get. Even covering the brakes makes my fingers cold.
Maybe someone should make heated brake levers.
Steve:
Your Gerbings look like new. I’ll have to check them out at our next motorcycle show. I can use my battery tender 2 pin SAE plug for power
glad it was such an easy fix
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
David Masse: Heated brake levers — now there’s a thought. I often wish I could send the hot air from the radiator on the GTS up into my riding suit like a heater in a car.
Good luck with the installation of the heatroller. I’m sure it will be great. You have some nice installs on your scooter.
Bob Skoot: The gloves are only one season old. The originals failed and Gerbing replaced them at no charge. The wire however was the original.
It’s snowing right now. We’ll see what riding opportunities exist in the morning.
RichardM: I’ve heard enough people report really toasty hands on these gloves that I’m beginning to wonder if the Vespa doesn’t have the power output to get the maximum performance from the gloves. It certainly doesn’t have enough zip for a vest and a pair of gloves.
At zero my hands are cold but not frozen but again they are fully exposed in the wind. My friend Paul Ruby lent me his Aerostich rain covers for gloves with the same experience as you — they really make a difference cutting out the wind. I’ll give them a try.
I evaluated heated gloves before, they’re very nice but I found the wires and having to unplug for pictures and re-connecting a chore….hence the heated grips instead. Heated gloves do work better though….
When taking pics, I remove gloves and leave them warming on the boxer engine’s jugs….so nice and warm when putting them back onto my then freezing hands.
As a compromise, I sometimes wonder about battery heated gloves
Steve:
I’m thinking that a Heat Troller may give you more heat as it Pulses the current in, rather than being fully connected on a limited capacity charging system.
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
Charlie6: Having to disconnect often is an issue but I have slowly been working it into my riding ritual just as I do with gearing up. Removing the gloves though, especially on really cold days, has tripped me up. My hands can get so cold that even the electric gloves won’t bring them back. I’ve been trying to get into the habit of removing the right glove and putting on another that will allow me to manipulate the camera controls. Because I should on manual and make a lot of adjustments that can be a challenge. But it does keep my hands from freezing especially when its windy.
I wish the Vespa had some easily accessible really hot surfaces like the URAL and BMW does!
bob skoot: You really think a controller would allow the gloves to get hotter?? I would invest in a second if that’s true. I’ll give Gerbing a call tomorrow and see what they say.
Good-looking scooter. Little yet can give one fantastic ride. Anyway, night rides are my favorite too. It clears my head when I have lots of things in my mind. I’ll be riding again soon. 🙂
– TheWarmingStore.com