Electric Vests, Liners

Any body have any actual riding experience to guide me. Wish to buy an Electric Vest or Jacket Liner & Trouser Liner. What wattage? (to be used on an R1200GS what generator linit ? What type wired or conductive fabric? Controller or no controller? Digital or Analogue? Where is Europe can these be sourced? Additional costs to get from States are significant! Chilli ? Gerbing ? Aerostich ? Widder ? BMW ? ? ?

If you don't want to shell out loads of money, make your own a lightley quilted jacket and a kit from these people, Heat4Jackets.

get 2, one for your upper half and one for your lower, these are a brilliant bit of kit i used a swet top and have a second kit to sew into a pair of tracksuit bottoms. its worth getting a temprature control (maplins)

I have the BMW vest, which I went through last winter with. It works very well until the plug on the end of the feed cable and the cable part company. New design (which I now have under warranty) has the cable outer glued to the plug, so we will see how that goes. The jacket is superb and I wish I had bought one years ago. It must fit closely and be fairly close to the skin to work well, (best worn over a sweatshirt, which is all you will need). If it bags away from the body you will get a cool spot. The coiled cable to the control box is quite heavy and the control box is not waterproof so must be kept under your jacket in the rain, also the cable from the control box to the jacket connection is very short, limiting your options of positioning.
I have just ordered an EXO2 Stormrider (with handlebar mounted control box) after much geeking and deliberation. It should arrive this week so I will update the thread after trying it.
I found this a very useful read: http://www.webbikeworld.com/r3/heated-vest/exo-storm-rider/
I find the vest useful even in autumn as I can start the ride with just a lightweight sweatshirt and the heated vest, then switch it on in the evening for the return journey.
Call me a wuss.... but I don't care!

I've been using Gerbing liners, gloves and socks.

And ther two channel controller so that I can keep top and bottom at different temperatures.

The liner has heated arms - and you do have your arms exposed on a GS - and as important it has a heated collar. Don't underestimate how jolly nice it is to have a warm neck when there's ice about.

The gloves are 100% waterproof and the elements run right down to the fingertips, but only on the back of the hand. Heated grips are OK until it gets very cold as few of us have ahnds that are so small that they wrap right round the grip, so most of us end up with cold fingertips and thumbs.

Their kit is well-made and carries a decent warranty. I had a problem with a glove that was caused by me. I e-mailed to see if I could have it repaired and within 20 mins I got a reply telling me to send both gloves back and that they'd replace them FOC. Result!

Noel said:

If you don't want to shell out loads of money, make your own a lightley quilted jacket and a kit from these people, Heat4Jackets.

Click to expand...

I bought one of these, cheap as chips and very effective. Can't go wrong!

Update on my previous.
New EXO2 jacket arrived yesterday. Ten minutes to fit feed cable to battery. Went for a spin last night to try it. Fantastic! Much better than the BMW jacket. Much neater/easier feed cable. The fabric of the vest looks like it will last and is well made. Still waiting for the controller, but seems to self regulate quite well without one.

Got my EXO2 stormrider a month ago and its excellent. build quality, heat output and fit all outstanding. It would have been nice for the cable to be on the left side of the jacket so i could swap plugs and use the aux socket.... cant have everything.
Would like to hear your thoughts on the controller. might get one if its nice and neat..... and works well

Question- re fitting heated jacket kit

Noel said:

If you don't want to shell out loads of money, make your own a lightley quilted jacket and a kit from these people, Heat4Jackets.

Click to expand...

Hi,

Bit of a daft question ......I bought the heated jacket kit and I am going to insall it into my M56 combat jacket liner to use under my bike jacket. The hand drawn diagram shows the heating element stitched through the material a couple of inches in / out/ in etc . Does the in stitch come right through the material and show in the inside ( it says not to allow next to the skin ? ) or is it within the linings of the material ?? if so would it be warm enough.

I want to get started on mine but wanna make sure I don't arse it up.

Any photo's available ??

Cheers in advance ,

H6

Noel said:

If you don't want to shell out loads of money, make your own a lightley quilted jacket and a kit from these people, Heat4Jackets.

Click to expand...

So you could simply stitch the wire kit into an existing thermal liner of any jacket? That's brillant, down the arms too, even the legs could be done..... hmmm... PS my widder has just giving up on me... I'm yet to test it but I think it's the cable. Interesting, thanks...