Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Koplin Mitts for the Ural

Instead of moving the Arctic Cat handlebar mitts back to the Ural, I picked up a set of Koplin Geartector Mitts from the local Sportsman's Warehouse. About $3 more than Amazon but there are some advantages to picking them up locally. They are a cheap version of Hippo Hands which I hear are no longer produced. A small hole needed to be cut for the mirror stalks and that probably needs to be reworked a bit. If you push your hand in quickly, the Gerbing connector hits the mitts and causes them to push the high/low beam switch or the BRS (Big Red Switch) when you least expect it. I now put my right hand in slowly and check the high beam light often. They are a lot warmer than the Arctic Cat versions that I've used in the past and I don't even need the heated gloves at -30°F. Grip heaters get turned down as well.

Finally, our cold spell may be over. This morning, it was -33°F but I rode in anyway since I forgot to plug in the truck. By mid-morning, I needed to run some errands and it was up to -22°F. By the time 4:00 came around, it was only -7°F. Quite a bit warmer. Two more PBC videos were recorded today. One on the mid-morning ride and the other on the way home. I think I'll hit fifty videos by the ending date of 02/15/2015. Quite a few more than I had intended to record.

PBC #44 is the commute in. Sort of. After all, the most direct route between two points when riding is a loop, right? I really like the color of the sky on these clear, cold mornings.



PBC #45 is a mid-day ride. It really is nice to be able to enjoy these clear weather days. A sidecar rig really is practical for daily transportation. One of the benefits of these PBC rides is insuring that the engine gets warmed up thoroughly.


PBC #46 is the mid-day ride from Tuesday. I had to pick something up and it was clear and a whole lot warmer than it was when I rode in. A good reason for another ride.



6 comments:

  1. Love the moon in the navy blue sky. Loved seeing your shadow along the road, too.

    In the last video I could not help but feel your contentment. Maybe it's just me wishing I'd be settled and feel at home again.

    Good choice of music in the last video. Very happy, very road trippy!

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    1. Seeing a shadow suggests that the sun is out. Contentment? Maybe acceptance for what is.

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  2. I too am a fan of the Kolpin "hippo hands". If I was handy with a sewing machine would make some mod to make them easier to put on and take off without having to remove the mirror stalks but for now, they'll do.

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    1. I thought about some sort of velcro flap for the mirror stalk. I may try and fab something up this weekend. That could get the material away from the switches a bit. Yesterday, I noticed that the fog lights were off from pressure from the mitts.

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    2. interesting, I've not had any issues with switches and the Kolpin covers I use.....

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    3. When it gets really cold, the material gets pretty stiff. Especially the plastic material that they use on the corners.

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