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.