Modern Vespa

I put heatshrink around my brake levers. Helps a lot in the cold!

Wimp. Today was a little colder but I put on my thermo-scud and preheated my gloves with the hair dryer. Didn't last long.

Elegant, inexpensive, easily undone. I love ideas like that. Thanks Jim.

It's amazing how it's always the simple solutions that you never think of yourself (well, at least I don't )!

Thanks guys - will be adding some insulation to the levers forthwith!

Recently bought the new Keis x800 gloves....the price was a little hard to swallow, but after a coulpe of weeks of use i can say they are really, really toasty and worth every penny....really waterproof too.


http://www.keisapparel.co.uk/gloves-and-insoles/

So I decided to go for some heated gloveliners. Cheaper than heated gloves and seem to be more logical as my motorcycle gloves on top increase insulation.

£150 (including spare pair of 7.4v batteries) should keep my hands warm for ~6 hours.

Also, seeing as muffs are a good idea as they keep the wind away, does anyone know where I can find mirror stem hand guards? Should look better than those stupid muffs.

Please report back once you've had a chance to try out the battery operated heated glove liners. Mine plug into the power of my scooter, but I'm curious how well the battery operated ones do.

My experience:
The wife and I wanted to use Gerbing heated Jacket liners, along with heated gloves, on our BV250. After discussing the issue of available power on this forum we decided that there just wasn't enough to run both a jacket and a pair of gloves, so we have kept it to just the gloves.
My wife took a couple of heavy long sleeved shirts, large enough to go over our regularly worn shirts, and sewed/Velcroed the wires down the sleeves of these new "jacket liners," With the power cord running down the side and out the bottom hem The wires are left attached to the shirts, which are than worn under our riding jackets. This effectively gives a fast and easy method of donning the wires prior to riding.
The power cord has a flat SAE-style connection that fits into a plug we have wired directly to the scooters battery, one used for the battery tender, which exits the rear of the seat area. Connecting the two cords is simple and quick. The heat generated from the scooter is sufficient for riding in the 20°Fs, and most probably in the teens.
The gloves are the Gerbing T-5s, which produce much more heat than the older style G-3 glove liners.
The wife also owns a pair of Gerbing Hybrid gloves. These can be used with either Li-On batteries or powered from the scooter. While they do work when used with the batteries, they do not get anywhere near as warm as when powered directly from the scooter.
Now, when one has real alternator power available, such as with a Harley, we just grab the actual factory Gerbing heated jacket liner, connect the gloves to the liner, the liner to the bike, and crank up the heat on everything until we start to overheat, then back off the setting a bit.
We also have some BMW motorcycles with factory installed heated grips. These are great for chilly weather and can make cold-ish weather bearable for a while, but they don't come anywhere as close to keeping our hands warm as does the wired set-up. They are, however, very convenient.

I'm surprised at your decision Lawdog. I did an experiment with my BV350 about a year ago where I wired some headlight bulbs to the bike's accessary socket and confirmed that, even at idle, the alternator woukd charge the battery if I drew up tp 15A from the socket. I posted these results on MV too. (can't find that post right now coz I can barely work my Android tablet for searching and cut'n'pasting)

[edit]: Here's a link to that post: BV350 Alternator specification (PC running today )

My Widder jacket draws 4amps and my Oxford gloves about 3A. These have kept me warm on many trips without discharging the bike's battery.

John W.

By all accounts the new BV350 engine has a lot more reserve current capacity than the older Quasar in the BV250. I'd not like to draw more than 8A from a Quasar engine, and even then I'd be checking battery condition on a regular basis.

Unavoidable in northern climates, IMO. We all forget winter means wildly divergent temperatures. You're gloves probably do fine in a London winter but with temperature in the -17 - 0 Celsius, believe me they get very attractive.

Nice liners. Who makes them? nevermind I like those very much, thanks for the review.

My decision was based on the combined amperage drawn from the liner and gloves, and what is available on the BV250. It was just too close to be sure the battery would always be strong enough to start the scooter again. The missus really, really doesn't want to be stranded, far from home, and in the cold.
I really, really want to avoid the issues that surely would follow such an event.

I think we'll see some changes in heated gear soon. More stylish, while still very functional and as far as battery operated gear for motorcycles/scooters goes the 7v stuff is being pushed for that segment. In the past it was just barely adequate........things improve.

Widder stopped business a few years ago.

I use to know a lot more about the industry when, after we retired we did The International Motorcycle Shows for Gerbings. Haven't done that for two years now. Like the feeling of being fully retired.

I also tested a lot of gear for Gerbings over the years (even while I was still working) and was lucky enough to try other brands of heated gear.
Picture below is me in the early 1980's in a full GHC heated suit.

My bad Lawdog - I read "BV" and mentally added "350". Sorry about that. It would seem that the BV350 magneto generates a lot more current than earlier model BVs

Regards, John W.