Last guy in the world to buy

[NewValker]

Heated gear. I ordered a new Avon last week from dealership in western Mass. Asked if they could price match inter web price? They did, so I bought it.
While there the parts guy noticed I had no heated gear on, and said they were having a sale on it. Ok, you got my attention, what’s the sale? He says 50 bucks for each item of clothing. Of course this sounded too good to be true, so it must be, right? I thanked him and rode on.
That “good deal” kept me awake all week...so when I picked my tire up tonight, I asked exactly what was the deal, and why?
He explained when Gerbing makes changes to items, they buy the line and eventually end up with extras & odd sizes & pieces from the different generations.
Anyhow, I got jacket liner, socks, and gloves for $150, all Gen3, dual controller and extra wires for $70 bucks more. ( They didn’t have fat kid size pants liners)
So, $220. for the heated gear, and $172 for the tire.
I can live with that.

Gotta win once in awhile...
Craig

P.S. For anyone in my area, dealership is Cycle Design in Phillipston, MA.. Parts & service has never done me wrong.
And owner has Valk trike 

[Oss]

That sounds great

I have thought about heated insoles........

but for about 10 bucks I have 5 long rides covered each year when its freezing out with the toe warmers

Let me know how they work out

[gordonv]

$50 for a jacket liner? I'm sure I paid closer to $200 for mine about 5 years ago or so.

Do you have a contact there we could call? I'll check with the son-in-law to see if he could pick it up, otherwise I need to ship it.

[Mr Whiskey]

Call the cops, you stole that s*** Bro
Paid $100 for my last jacket liner & it was a "second" off a fleabay.
Congratz on the great score!

[The emperor has no clothes]

Call the cops, you stole that s*** Bro
Paid $100 for my last jacket liner & it was a "second" off a fleabay.
Congratz on the great score!

No kidding ! I had no idea those Massachusetts boys were so larcenous.  (good score Craig)

[oldsmokey]

Gee thanks... now I'll probably go try to spend money I shouldn't .

[baldo]

Holy heaters Batman!

I bought all my gear from www.warmnsafe.com ....

I paid about $150 to $200 for EACH piece!

You'll be amazed at how much better your rides will be.....

GREAT SCORE!

[Jess from VA]

I didn't know they still made heated sox Craig.  (replaced with insoles)

The word on heated sox was, they felt like walking on a row of short pencils (off the bike).

Maybe that's been fixed with fine or micro wire.

I will not forget my first attempt using my gear (Gerbing).  I got the liner in my jacket (with just a long sleeve T as recommended), and the short converter wires for coax-to-SAE for my older gloves (hoping those little loops don't catch on anything), and the dual controller on my belt, all plugged in and the bike running in the drive.  I let the temp come up and adjusted the little knobs on the controller (though that is about impossible with the big gauntlets on).  The word is, you need a dual controller because the gloves need to be turned up more than the liner (maybe double).

So off I go, slow and easy out of the neighborhoods, out to the faster roads.  The temps were coming up with the higher speeds and revs, and I am getting nice and warm.  Man, this is great.

A few minutes later I'm running 55 in medium traffic, and the temp is still coming up in the liner and it's getting a bit hot.  I fumble for the controller, but no way I can find the tiny knobs at my waist with gauntlets and bunched up jacket, and I can't look down, I have to pay attention to traffic.  In the next few minutes, I feel my nipples starting a slow painful burn, and I've given up on the controller, and am now grabbing the front of my jacket with my left glove and just trying to hold it off my body.  Ow, ow, owie!!

So I see a break in traffic, yank down a side street, jump off the bike, and just yank all the wires out in desperation.  I turned around and went home, and put on more gear, and rode the rest of the day with no electrics.  

For the next couple showers, I had delightfully red (and tender) nipples.  

This is not a sex story, just a cautionary (but true) tale.

Awoke to an inch of snow and ice everywhere.  Marvelous.  

 

 

 

[..]

I used Velcro to attach the controller to my gas tank next to my tank bag.

[Oss]

good thing I dont drink coffee Jess that was some funny $hit

[scooperhsd]

No - I'll probably be the last to buy heated gear. Never have had any - just layers and nice warm boots and gloves / mittens.

Won't matter because I'm not too fond of riding below 50F anyway....

[MarkT]

I used Velcro to attach the controller to my gas tank next to my tank bag.

So did I.  Put it too close to the seat however.  Should have put it further fwd on the tank.

[NewValker]

Gordonv, the guys initials on the slip are JFB, think his name is Jason.  Phone is 978-249-2244.
Hope you find some items.
Where does your son in law live?
Craig

[NewValker]

Not bad for a yankee huh Whiskey?   
Thanks for the tips on mounting on tank, I was thinking that would be better than on me.

Guess it’s time to do some re-wiring, clean up the mess at the battery. I visited Bons’ site and it only shows the digi-sync, and I can’t remember the name of the electrical block to wire everything into.
Does he still have them?

Jess, sounds like my usual luck!

Oh well, off to fight the snow, I mean make ridin $$$

Craig

[The emperor has no clothes]

Not bad for a yankee huh Whiskey?   
Thanks for the tips on mounting on tank, I was thinking that would be better than on me.

Guess it’s time to do some re-wiring, clean up the mess at the battery. I visited Bons’ site and it only shows the digi-sync, and I can’t remember the name of the electrical block to wire everything into.
Does he still have them?

Jess, sounds like my usual luck!

Oh well, off to fight the snow, I mean make ridin $$$

Craig

Craig, what Bon was selling was the Smartswitch. It was for the headlights. What you want is a fuseblock. I think Eastern Beaver has the best ones.

[Jess from VA]

I'm sure I'd be better off with a fuse block for a number of reasons (few accessories), but I have an SAE plug pigtail for a Battery Tender Jr on both bikes (zip tied to the frame behind a side cover), and my controller just plugs into that pigtail, and works fine. 

Those pigtails are fused, but I can't remember if any of my heated gear is fused. 

[Mr Whiskey]

You really wanna run all your heated gear direct from battery, not off an auxiliary fuse block. At least that's what all the manufactures recommend, Gerbing included. I figure it's because the draw from multiple pieces adds up & fuse blocks can get hot.
Sugar & I have 2 Gerbing pigtails wired to the battery, one for her & one for me, with dual controllers for each of us. (This has the added advantage that when solo I can run both controllers & modulate each piece of my gear, jacket, gloves, pants, & socks independently.)
Couple other things to be aware of, Gerbing made some bad battery pigtails there for a while, the + & - were reversed & if installed "correctly" your gear would run wide open all the time, regardless of the controller settings. Also, if plugging into an SAE outlet on the bike (say for a battery tender for instance) with a coax to SAE conversion cable alot of the time the SAE connection at the battery is backwards, has same result as the bad pigtail, runs wide open, & if there's a fuse in the SAE pigtail most likely it isn't rated high enough to run all your gear. I run 20 amp fuses in our Gerbing battery pigtails, they recommend 15 amp unless you're gonna be running 3 pieces of gear or more then they say 20 is the max. I've never had a problem running the 20's. Last (but not least) Gerbing controllers are notoriously unreliable! I've had 3 fail so far, so I kept watching for used ones on the boards. I jus' recently got tired of them goin' out & spent the $$ to get a coupla Warm & Safe's. These work perfect with our Gerbing gear, matter of fact the Gerbing controllers never worked as good as these W&S. Our gear is definitely working at it's full potential now, it's the first time we've ever had to turn or G3 gloves down!
Enjoy the new "comfort" Brother        

[gordonv]

Where does your son in law live?
Craig

A new Long Haul truck driver. Figure pay for the items, and the next time he heads over to Boston, have him pick it up. It's not like I need it this year. Looks like the place is close to the Hwy too.

Thanks for the contact, will try to call him tomorrow.

[..]

I'm sure I'd be better off with a fuse block for a number of reasons (few accessories), but I have an SAE plug pigtail for a Battery Tender Jr on both bikes (zip tied to the frame behind a side cover), and my controller just plugs into that pigtail, and works fine. 

Those pigtails are fused, but I can't remember if any of my heated gear is fused. 

The PC 8 is one used by many.

http://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Wiring_Kits/Fuseboxes/PC-8/pc-8.html#pc8only

[shortleg]

  I have had heated gear for a while now and have to say best thing I have added in a time.
To cure the problem of getting to your controller get yourself
a remote controller and place it on your handlebars.
  It works for jacket and gloves has two knobs on unit.
   Another great addition.
 

[3fan4life]

Heated Gear is the best $$ that I ever spent.

One thing that I have noticed is that if I forget to turn the controller off before I start the bike then the fuse on the pigtail will blow.

I make a pretty conscious effort to make sure that the controller is off before I restart the bike after a stop.

But, just in case I carry several replacement fuses.

I may have to look into a remote controller, that sounds like it would be handy.

[Jess from VA]

I'm sure I'd be better off with a fuse block for a number of reasons (few accessories), but I have an SAE plug pigtail for a Battery Tender Jr on both bikes (zip tied to the frame behind a side cover), and my controller just plugs into that pigtail, and works fine.  

Those pigtails are fused, but I can't remember if any of my heated gear is fused.  

The PC 8 is one used by many.

http://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Wiring_Kits/Fuseboxes/PC-8/pc-8.html#pc8only

Paul, I'm as bad with auto electric as you claim to be.  No way I'd do that job myself.  One bike has 6-7 wires going to the battery for about 15 years.  Most of those lines are fused, and I've never had a single problem, and with my 24 X 7 Tenders, my batteries go around 6/7 years.  My theory has always been if it's not broke don't fix it.  

I might get it right, or I might burn down my shed with both bikes (with full tanks) in it.  

On the heated gear subject, Whiskey just reported that this gear should always go to the battery anyway (big draw, big heat).  

[Hook#3287]

That's a great deal Craig   Good for you.

Heated gear is awesome.  My first trip with it was way back in 02 or 03 and riding home from Popoli's Honda in Westfield in October, I took the long way home up to the Quabbin, cuase I was warm as toast.

I bought the Gerbing coat, gloves & pants.  I've only used the pants a couple of times.  Kinda pain in the butt and overkill.  If long johns, pants & leathers ain't enough, I'm staying home.

Mounted my controller on the tank with velcro like the others have mentioned.

Also hard wired to the battery.  If you make a wire tail long enough, it will tuck between the tank and seat, making it easy to hook up to.

[NewValker]

Thanks all for the info & tips, never too-old to learn stuff...
The sales dude told me the controllers from Gerbing was iffy, and recommended one by Gears (think that’s it) so I went with it.

Whiskey, thanks for that write up, didn’t know that, guess I can fuse block other accessories and main line the heated gear. Winter project for sure.

Mark, salesman explained that to me, now if I didn’t have CRS....hahaha

Thanks all,
Craig

[gordonv]

Had one L liner left, got the other controller too, and decided to pay for the shipping from Boston to Blaine, since no tax.

He was surprised to get a call from the West Coast of Canada.

[NewValker]

That’s great, maybe I’ll get commission 
Craig

[Jess Tolbirt]

https://comfyheatedsocks.com/products/comfy-heated-socks?fbclid=IwAR1U6rtbI4leGf6-8635y4WAX1OcnLHt5UPmNVXwnMskvq6BzBrDlhUQsKQ

[gordonv]

I picked up my gear from the mail house on Friday. All arrived well, and was as expected. I see I bought myself my Christmas again, from the family.   

Then my wife chimed in and said I should have bought her one instead, since she lost over 50 # from when she stole my heated liner for herself, and it should be up close to the body to transfer the heat.

Now, do I call him up again and see if he has a medium, and pay shipping again??

[cookiedough]

 never felt the need for heated gear, especially cycle riding since when dips down to near freezing too dangerous to drive on 2 wheels.  Ice fishing outside no shack would be nice to have heeted gloves and socks though, but so far in over 40 years have lived without.  Only once ice fishing in a heated portable ice shack when -20 out and 30+ mph winds in Devils Lake ND did I feel like I would freeze to death but probably should not have been out there to begin with was very dangerous white out conditions with brutally cold conditions enough to freeze my eyelids shut NO JOKE.