Fragile Heated Gloves

The wires in one of the Gerbing gloves broke again. This time, an inch from the last failure at the end of the heat shrink tubing supporting the previous repair. The next time, battery-powered gloves. I was all set to solder the wires back together and use heat shrink to support the wires when I remembered that all of my heat shrink tubing and the heat gun is in the RV. At least I did remember to bring the soldering iron and solder back with me but that's only because I needed them to install the OLED display onto the DMR hotspot.

Since I only needed the repair to work for a couple of weeks of occasional riding, I just insulated the repair with vinyl electrical tape. Tonight, I will be at the church for a couple of hours. This will be a good test of the battery. I will throw in one of the old (heavy) jumper boxes into the sidecar as the nice, compact LiFePO4 jumper pack is in the RV.

I took the rig out for a ride today and without the studded tires, it was more squirrelly when riding through deeper snow and 2WD was needed to get back up our subdivision road from the main road. Once on the main road, the rig ran fine. My temporary repair of the heated gloves seems to be working as are both heated grips. With both of them on, I had very warm hands in spite of the +1°F temperature.

Ural Mods

How about this, a post with some actual motorcycle content. A few weeks back when I went to Delta with fellow Uralista, BruceW, I asked Mickey about a solo seat aka tractor seat. He mentioned that they were very reasonably priced from Ural so I had him order one. It was delivered to Fairbanks by Muriel as she had some errands to run. Mickey had also ordered a cloth seat cover as it seems to be a popular option for the solo seat.

The reason for the solo seat is that I want to install a top box. On last summer's road trip, KevinH was trading in his old Jesse top box for one of the new shorter "pizza box" style. He sold me the old one for the trade in value. I have been wanting more lockable storage for lightweight things like my helmet or camera and this looks like it'll work well. I just need to fabricate a mount. Ural does make a rack that bolts onto the rear fender that is sturdy enough to carry a passenger but at $120 I think that I'll just fabricate one out of aluminum angle. I suspect that it'll be sturdy enough for a top box. I'll probably wait until the garage warms up a bit. It was -29°F outside this morning.

Road Grimed Astronaut

Look what showed up in the mail today from Aerostitch. Earlier in the week I got an email from Andy Goldfine (or more likely from a staff member) asking me how the Roadcrafter Light was working out. This was prompted by a couple of photos that Dom posted on his blog from the Garden of the Gods Park a few weeks back. I gave them some feedback and mentioned that it has been used almost daily over the last 2 1/2 years in temperatures ranging from -47°F to +107°F (-44°C to +42°C). There was a signed thank you note in the envelope along with the two patches and sticker.

One comment that I made was that when this riding suit eventually gets replaced, it will be with a Roadcrafter Classic instead of the Light. But that wouldn't be for quite a while. I am in the process of repairing the little pockets that hold the magnets in the collar. The material is actually worn through in a couple of areas like this.

Helmet Bag

I had a "loyalty" certificate from Compeau's, the local Ski-Doo dealer, that was going to expire next week. So I stopped by to see if there was anything there I could use. I spotted a helmet bag on the discount table for only $10. I have no idea what the regular price was but it was definitely worth $10. And, it just so happens that I needed a helmet bag this evening. It's nicely padded and has a soft lining so the helmet and visor don't get scratched. Right now, I'm sitting at the airport waiting for the red eye to Seattle then on to Portland and I needed to bring a helmet on this trip as part of my carry on. The Roadcrafter and other riding gear are in my checked baggage. Hopefully my luggage arrives without issue.

The actual purpose of this trip is a meeting at Polar Field Services on Barrow science support. The riding gear is not needed for the meeting. I'll explain more as this trip progresses...

Heated Grips v2

In my last post, I was hoping that splicing the wire was sufficient to fix the throttle side heated grip. Unfortunately, it still didn't work and I haven't dug into it anymore. It may be that when I tightened a set screw on the throttle lock it dug into the heating element sufficiently to cause it to fail.

My next attempt at reliable heated grips are these that I picked up at the local Harley/BMW/Honda/Victory/Polaris shop. They are sold for use on Polaris snowmachines aka snowmobiles. I'f they last at least as long as the grips I figure that I am ahead as they are a fraction of the price. Even being purchased locally. After going to all of the shops, none had any generic 7/8" motorcycle grips. What they had on the shelves were for snowmachines and ATVs both of which don't have throttle tubes. So I ordered some generic gel grips from Amazon made for, as they put it, BMW Ducati Harley Honda Kawasaki KTM Suzuki Yamaha. Even with Amazon Prime it'll still take a week for them to get here. Fortunately, the weather the next couple of weeks is supposed to be really pleasant unlike some other parts of the country.

When I had Aerostitch repair my Roadcrafter last fall (under warranty), I mentioned that the zipper pulls had come off of both of the main zippers. Their solution was to completely replace both zippers. After I got it back, both zippers were hard to slide since they were new and I didn't receive the little one-time-use package of zipper lubricant like I did originally. When I initially applied their lubricant to the zipper, I immediately recognized the smell as what I used to use for chain lube on my bicycle back in the day. I finally got around to picking up some of the bicycle chain lube and applied it to the zippers. Now they slide very easily just like the old zippers used to do. The Tri-Flow goes on wet but dries very quickly leaving bits of teflon on the zipper.

I'm still liking the Apple Watch. I discovered a new weather app that includes random comments as part of the report and predictions. This is a screen capture on the watch.

Here are the next six PBC videos. Nothing very spectacular or even interesting in any of them.
#36

#37

#38

#39

#40

#41

GoPro Power

I had picked up another method of powering the GoPro since the solution I used during my road trip stopped working. The former solution powered the camera through the 30 pin connector on the back that was meant for some of the optional backs such as an extra battery. I think it stopped working after I updated the firmware on the camera. I still had the waterproof case that I had modified to allow me to plug in a mini-USB cable and that has been working but the case is, obviously, no longer waterproof. I found another option that has a circuit in the form factor of the GoPro battery and door. It snaps in place of the battery and has a 6' USB cable. Since I still had the back with the waterproof gland from the 30-pin adapter, I cut the 6' USB cable, ran it through the waterproof gland and re-soldered the cable back together and covered the splice with shrink tubing.

I took it out for a test ride this morning (see PBC #30) and it sort of works. Whenever there was a lot of vibration from ice on the road, the camera shut off. The remote would lose connectivity but will continue to happily report the last status that it had. I was also trying a new camera location with the monopod fixed vertically to the rear rack. I'm not sure I care for the new location and it could be contributing to the vibration problem as it's less stable.

Here is PBC #30. Another below 0°F ride. After about 20 miles, I was thinking that the heated gear wasn't working again. But since it was both the liner and the gloves, I finally figured out that I had forgotten to plug them in when I put on the riding gear. After stopping to plug them in, no problem and toasty warm again. I ended up riding about 65 miles before stopping at College Coffeehouse.

Yet Again

On Thursday's ride, I noticed that my thumb and fingertips of my right hand were cold so I turned up my gloves. After all, it was -22°F so cold would have been expected. And since I had turned up the power to the gloves, I could feel the individual heating wires in the left glove get so hot on the back of my hand. Obviously, I was looking at yet another broken wire. You can easily access the wiring through the zipper in the lining and, as expected, there was another broken wire. I soldered the connection, insulated it with heat shrink and reinforced both wires with some narrow strips of rescue tape.

And like any other time you mess with anything on a motorcycle, you have to take a test ride. After all, you want to make sure that the wheels don't fall off or something. This is at the Dog Mushers Hall around 10am. It's still 48 minutes before sunrise but there is some nice color on the horizon. The Dog Mushers Hall is one of my regular stops for recording the temperature and odometer for the PBC videos. Since the rig is garaged, there needs to be some time for the thermometer to register outdoor temperature. At this point, it was about -7°F.

It was definitely feeling colder in town so I stopped at Creamer's Field to end one PBC ride and start another one. Here it was -18°F. This is only about 15 minutes after the last picture but I am facing north rather than southeast so the color of the sky is really different. The Creamer's Dairy barn is in the background and our house is on the hills on the left way in the background. The heated glove repair was working fine with heated grips at setting 2/5 and gloves at about 60%. From this point, I rode another 27km before stopping at College Coffeehouse. I guess I could've started yet another video but the rubber band that I was using to hold the mini USB cable into the GoPro had disappeared. Rubber bands don't do well in the cold.

Here are the next two PBC videos. They were recorded last week sometime. The first one was 50km @ -20°F and the second was 10km @ -15°F. Just burning gas...

Running Around Town

On Saturday morning, I headed into town with the customary stop at College Coffeehouse. BruceW from Ketchikan had sent me one of the few Alaska Airhead belt buckles still around. I needed a new belt so I planned to go to about the only leather shop that I know of in town.

I still have the chains on the pusher due to the heavy, wet snow on top of ice. But as you can see in the video, it is really bumpy going with all of the ice under the snow. Very bumpy especially when going over bridges.

I had gone into town to take advantage of the "Local Saturday" sales at the leather shop off of 2nd St. One of the few times when I actually went into town. Most of the video was taken while leaving the downtown area and circling back towards the university then home.

The next couple of pictures are for a post on SovietSteeds, the Ural forum, about my replacement straps for the chains.

This is the 1" x 12" heavy duty nylon cable tie with Velcro. The last 2" or so is the hook portion of the Velcro and the rest has the loop Velcro sewn on. The straps are too short to reach both of the chain bails so I sewed some nylon extensions between one of the bails and a stainless buckle I attached to the cable tie. The other end of the cable tie has a rectangular steel ring sewn onto the end.

I have my 1" long extension on the driveshaft side of the wheel since it is thinner than the cable tie strap when doubled over, Thin is needed to clear the driveshaft.

This is the other side of the chain. The rectangular ring is threaded through the wire bail on the chain and the free end of the cable tie with the hook Velcro is threaded through the rectangular ring and doubled back fastening the Velcro.

Winter's Here!

After a very moderate October, we are finally starting to get the "dry cold" that many prefer. I heard many comments like "It's about time we got some decent weather" this morning at the coffee place. It's not that everyone likes the cold but many people, me included, don't care for the wet snow that we have been getting the last couple of storms.

There was a temperature inversion this morning as it was only about 0°F at our home but much colder as you headed toward town and lower elevations. Today was one of those days when I should have worn a fleece liner over the heated liner as I was feeling the cold on my chest by the time I got home. A lot of air gets by the Ural windshield. I had other errands to run this morning that needed the truck so I dropped the plow in front of the garage and headed to get groceries... lots of groceries. Tomorrow evening and Saturday morning I will be preparing snacks and breakfast for around 150 people. Hopefully I guessed right on the quantities.

About an hour after my last post where I mentioned that I had just received an email from Aerostitch with a tracking number, FedEx dropped a box off at our door. Pretty speedy shipping, eh? The reality is that they had mentioned last week that it should be shipped by the end of the week. For all of the good things about Aerostitch, communication doesn't seem to be one of their strengths.

Gerbing Fail (Again!)

It didn't take very long this year for this roof drain to develop a nice icicle. I'm hoping that the warm weather (+20°F and above) doesn't continue for too much longer. It makes for slick roads. On today's ride I was tempted to go back for the GoPro as even the main roads had 4" to a 12" of snow on them. And not a single DOT plow to be seen. I guess it means good business for the tow trucks and body shops in town.

While riding, I noticed that the heated gear wasn't heating. Upon stopping, the red led on the Gerbing dual controller was flashing indicating a short in that circuit somewhere. I disconnected the gloves and the jacket heated up nicely. When I got home I checked the gloves and the liner cables. Just like before, the cable on the jacket liner that feeds the gloves has developed a short. On top of that, the left glove is an open circuit indicating a broken wire somewhere. In both cases, the failure is a broken wire at the connector. I need to find better connectors.

Took the to connectors apart and re-terminated them. And used multiple layers of shrink tubing to reinforce the wire at the connector. The connector on the jacket liner has a cracked plastic housing. That probably led to the broken wire. Am I the only one that has this problem with heated gear? I checked the most recent Gerbing stuff and it still uses the same style connectors. They just don't design the gear for everyday use.

Afternoon Activities and iOS 9

At Troubadour's suggestion, I had contacted Aerostitch about the velcro on all of the pocket flaps on my Roadcrafter Light suit. All of the hook side of the velcro has partially disintegrated and has come loose. Also one of the four velcro pads that hold the back pad has became unstuck. They said that it should be covered by the two year warranty and to send the suit in. But it really needed to be cleaned first as it was pretty filthy after my road trip. One of the suggestions on the net for getting some of the stains out was to soak it in Oxiclean before washing. The Oxiclean directions said to soak heavily stained items for up to six hours then wash normally.

So that is what I'm doing this afternoon besides consuming Internet bandwidth by updating my iPhone to iOS 9. In case you hadn't noticed, I added ads to this blog since I was curious about the ad blocking behavior of Safari on the new version of iOS. This new feature from Apple has folks all over the Internet whining. So far, I installed one free extension called Crystal from the app store and it works really well. No ads and web sites finish loading much faster. And you use less of your mobile data. Sounds like a win for all iPhone and iPad users and a lose for all those who wish to track you on the Internet ignoring your selection of "Do Not Track".

It has been raining off and on for the last week and it is starting to feel pretty dreary. Since the Ural is dead from a failed hall sensor, I have been riding the Beemer sidecar rig. With the Beemer, I'm a lot more constrained as to how much stuff I can pick up. Nowhere near as much room and a very limited amount of locking storage. Especially since I still have the car battery installed in the sidecar.

More Salem Errands

After leaving Raceway Ural, we had lunch at a wonderful restaurant in Salem called Marco Polo Global Restaurant. They had a huge selection of dishes with full Chinese, Europeon and vegetarion menus. I had stir fried noodles w/vegetables and mushrooms in salted black bean sauce. Absolutely delicious.

After lunch, we went to a couple of motorcycle shops in search of new boots. One of my boots fell apart at a gas station in Troutdale, OR, just east of Portland. The sole almost completely fell off. I left on the trip knowing that I would probably need new boots but figured that there would be a better selection in the lower 48. I was looking for waterproof boots with a cleated sole, without laces or zippers. Trobairitz spotted this pair of FirstGear Kathmandu boots which checked all the boxes. The one on display was even the right size. Plus, they were on sale! These will be my first pair of actual motorcycle boots. The old pair were leather work boots and had lasted almost 8 years. Not too shabby. But they had laces which got tangled with parts on the bike more than once.

The boots were purchased from Cycle Country in Salem. They had a decent (though not huge) selection of boots but also a lot of new and used bikes. The buckles, leather and padding on the First Gear boots are lighter duty than those you would find on dual sport boots but I think they'll be adequate.

The next stop was REI. I was not very satisfied with the Sierra Designs Flash 3 tent I had picked up in the spring for this summers motorcycle trips. The amount of netting in the tent construction and the design of the rain fly meant is was well ventilated but also too cold for even Alaska summer camping. I did like the integrated rain fly design which made setup a breeze. REI took the tent and the footprint back with no questions asked.

As a replacement, I opted for the Big Agnes Rattlesnake SL3. It still has (less) netting for much of the tent body but the rainfly fits a lot closer in more like a traditional dome tent. Or you can stake it out to get more ventilation. There is also a small eyebrow vent at the top of the rainfly that can be opened if you want to vent out heat and moisture. The floor space is almost identical to the Flash 3 and has two doors and two vestibules. It has some LED lights sewn into the the ridge seam. Not sure how useful that feature will be especially in Alaska. I had purchased the Sierra Designs tent using a 20% off coupon and they gave me the same discount on this one as well. REI has great customer service and the net price difference was $10.50 as the footprint was a bit more expensive.

How many tents require 3 AAA batteries? If you have a USB cell phone charger battery it will also run on on one of those as the interface to the tent is USB. So a better question is how many tents have a USB plug?

 

On Sunday afternoon, Troubadour took me up to the top of Mary's Peak in their Fiat 500. They offered to let me ride on the TW200 but I really don't feel comfortable riding someone elses bike. I suspect that Troubadour would have preferred to ride up Mary's Peak but he humored me and took the Fiat. That is a great handling car and performance was fantastic especially when you consider that the engine is less than 2x the Ural and the weight is about 3x the Ural. The weather was not ideal and after the nice weather in the Willamette valley, it really felt cold and windy on top. BTW, Troubadour compared the dimensions of the Ural and the Fiat. I think the Fiat was a little longer but the width was about the same.

Posted with Blogsy

Rockets and Misc Reviews

The Geophysical Institute and constructed this rocket from salvaged pieces and parts from their rocket program. The University of Alaska Fairbanks is, I believe, the only university that has a rocket launch facility. It is about thirty miles north of Fairbanks. It is used to launch sub-orbital experiments in support of auroral and possibly atmospheric research. The display was under construction last summer but I hadn't stopped by and taken a photo of it yet.

This is the tail bag that I had selected to review from Motorcycle House back in the middle of November. I did an initial review at that time and said that I would do a followup after using it for a while.  I've used it every day that I've ridden since then and that has been just about every day. I am still using the bungee cords attached to the bottom of the bag to attach it to the pillion hand holds below the seat and that seems to be working out alright. Still not as convenient as a top box or some other fixed luggage. I still plan on replacing the bungee cords with some nylon webbing and quick release buckles for quicker and more secure attachment.

So far, I've only forgotten to attach the bungee cords once. Fortunately, the bag didn't fall off on the road.  It isn't quite as convenient as a tank bag but it makes up for that in storage space. I haven't needed the extra storage provided by expanding the sides out just on my commutes. After all, if it doesn't fit, it just gets thrown in the sidecar. When I get to my office, I just unhook the bungee hooks and carry it into my office. The handle makes it much easier to carry than my tank bag.

It holds quite a bit and the one thing that I would add would be a ring or clip to carry keys. For now, a carabiner on a zipper pull works well enough but I suspect that long term, the zipper pull will fall off. It holds my laptop in a padded case, the GoPro camera and all of it's assorted pieces in the blue neoprene bag, lunch and Micro-Start XP-3 battery which I'll cover in a bit. In the small side pockets I carry things like tire pressure gauge, multitools and paperwork. In the upper pockets are the Skidoo face mask filters and rubber tubes, and some other bits and pieces that would easily get lost in the Ural trunk. And, if I need to run an errand the bag comes off easily enough to lock in the Ural trunk if I didn't feel like carrying it around.

This is the Micro-Start XP-3 battery that I had mentioned. It's one of those "almost too good to be true" items. I had heard about these but had a hard time believing the claims until I read a post by some skeptical folks that I knew on AdvRider. This bag holds a small (10.2 oz) Li-ion battery that has enough current output and capacity to jump start a car. The case holds the battery, wall and car chargers, jumper cables and a USB dongle so you can use it to charge your electronic gadgets.

After charging it up using the small wall wart rated at only 1 amp @ 12v, I took it out to the garage, disconnected the battery from the BMW which is now conveniently in the sidecar. And connected this tiny battery up using the supplied cables. It started the bike repeatedly as in start the bike then immediately shut it down, repeat. After 10 times, it would still spin the starter easily and start the bike. Good enough to convince me. The unit is rated at 200 amps with a peak of 400 amps. Not too bad from a package that barely weighs over a pound. After this test it took quite a while to recharge. This is the second smallest of five models and has found a home in my tool bag.

How about that, a post with no videos!

Viking Sport Tail Bag Review

Like many other moto-bloggers, I was contacted by a representative of Motorcycle House to review an item from their current catalog. The initial request was for a guest post and that I declined. I was skeptical of followup inquiries since they came from a Gmail account rather than a company email address. But that issue was resolved. The only lingering issue was that there seemed to be quite a few customer service issues in some forums but most of those rants weren't very recent.

I had originally asked about battery powered heated gloves but was told that they were not available for review at that time and was asked to look for something in the Viking bag line. The Viking Sport Tailbag (AXE-23) was one of the few items that would work on the Ural. When I wrote back, I was told that they were out of stock and could I pick something else. I mentioned that there really weren't many things on their site that would fit on a Ural as most of their inventory seems to be targeted at the cruiser market. Now that I received it, I believe that it is the same bag that Doug reviewed in September.

On the airhead, I used a tank bag to haul things back and forth to work every day but over the last seven years it has made a real mess of the tank (lots of scratches in the paint mostly on the sides where the magnets stick). Plus, it was too small to fit a laptop or even an iPad. This bag seemed like it would be large enough to haul what I need on a daily basis, fits the Ural and includes a shoulder strap and a waterproof cover (I won't need that for a while!).

The sides of this tail bag expand an additional couple of inches or so on each side when needed or they can be collapsed with a zipper. The bag easily holds my 11" MacBook Air, Chromebook or Lenovo Helix inside of a protective sleeve, the iPad, winter hat and gloves and still has room for lunch and snacks. I did try an older 15" Macbook Pro and it would only fit without the sleeve. Less than optimal. All seams are covered with bias tape so there are no raw edges showing. This should add to the life of the product. There are side pockets though I'm not sure what I would use them for as there is a stiffener on the outside to help the bag keep it's shape but it makes it difficult to fit anything in them. The zippered pockets on the inside of the top flap would be useful for receipts, pens and such. The only thing that I would add on the inside is some sort of D-ring or clip for keys. Unlike most tank bags, there is no pocket for holding a phone and there is no provision for a power feed. Something that would be easy to add.

The tail bag simply sits on the seat and the built-in bungee cords hold it in place. The passenger grab handles make for an obvious place for the bungee hooks though, for me, the bungee cord mounting is a weak point. Usually, when bungee cords get really cold, they tend to lose their elasticity. I will probably be replacing them with some sort of clip and strap setup in the near future. It only takes a few seconds to mount or dismount the bag from the seat. That could be good or bad depending on your perspective. I don't think I will use it for anything heavier such as camera gear until I can switch out the bungee cords for a more positive strap.

The tail bag isn't as convenient as the top box on the Beemer for throwing junk into but I like it better than the tank bag. It is big enough without being overly large and bulky and has the convenient carrying handle. The Ural does have lockable storage in the sidecar but this is much more convenient for the daily running around that I tend to do especially in the winter. For long trips, I'm thinking that the shape and size may be a good fit for the front of the sidecar. Maybe on top of a front rack that some Ural dealers sell as an accessory.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the construction and utility of the tail bag and I foresee it getting a lot of use. Especially for commuting.

A Little Green

It may not be much but around here it looks pretty good. The ground has been visible in some areas but it has been looking pretty dismal still. This is the first suggestion of "green". Not too much going on around here. The full size battery is now back in the sidecar and I'm thinking about making a platform on the inner sidecar frame to hold the battery box. The Mazda project is back on Craigslist as my son needs reliable transportation sooner rather than later.

Aerostitch asked me to send in the Roadcrafter Light sometime so they can permanently fix the velcro used to hold the back pad in place. Since I am heading out of town this weekend, it seemed like a good time to send it off. The last ironing job worked for a couple of weeks and it didn't start to come off until I removed the back pad and armor before shipping.

Our campus facilities department decided to tackle the ice in front of our building the hard way. No machines here just sledgehammer and a shovel. These two guys traded off tasks for a couple of hours trying to get most of the ice off of the walkways.

Wind Chill, New -vs- Old

Only 8:15 in the morning and already starting to get light. It feels like Spring is just around the corner. Like predicted, it did get a little cool today at -18°F according to the WeatherChannel app but our thermometer at home said only -6°F. So I rode in again. I was curious to see what my self-generated wind chill would be and was surprised to see two formulas one for the old wind chill generated by observations in Antarctica before WWII. In 2001, the NWS implemented a new formula based on some different assumptions and give more reasonable numbers. You can find more information and a calculator here and for convenience, here are the formulae. For my ride in today, -83°F vs -55°F.

Old Wind Chill T(wc)=.081 x (3.71 x sqrt(V) + 5.81 - 0.25 x V) x (T - 91.4) + 91.4 

New Wind Chill T(wc) = 35.74 + 0.6215T - 35.75(V^0.16) + 0.4275T(V^0.16)

where T(wc) is the Wind Chill in degrees F, V is the Wind Speed in MPH, and T is the temperature in degrees F.

I ended up using the heated grips this morning since it the wiring to provide power to my heated gloves has broken within my Gerbings jacket. Right above the molded in strain relief it looks like the wire failed from bending a few too many times. This is the cable that drops out of the bottom of the jacket liner with connects to the connectors coming out of openings in the sleeve. I did check with an ohm meter and both gloves are good. It is just the ground wire that is broken. I guess they didn't design it for someone who uses it every day at these temperatures. I like the older design where there is a plastic panel kind of like a bulkhead where all of the cables terminate. This setup is probably cheaper to manufacture but seems more fragile.

I'm still trying to decide whether to simply cut off the connector and re-solder a new connector or see if it'll be covered by their 3-year warranty. Since I use the jacket every day, I'm inclined to simply fix the connector. I will also add some heat shrink tubing to reinforce this particular spot on all of the other cable ends.

Afternoon Update - I went ahead and ran rode down to the Harley/BMW/Honda dealer and picked up a "Y" cable that is designed so you can use the heated gloves with a jacket that isn't wired. I ran the cable through the Roadcrafter running it behind the armor to keep it in place. Nice to have warm hands again!

After that little bit of running around, this is the left carb bowl. I had originally just emptied out the bowl but the the bike was still running poorly. Another check showed ice frozen to the bottom of the bowls. I think I need those carb heaters that Conchscooter mentions. There was also ice on the bottom outside of the bowl. No snow today so I'm still baffled as to where the water is coming from.

Roadcrafter Light - Initial Thoughts

Another gorgeous day with few clouds and bright, fresh snow covering up all of the dirty snow. At this time of year, this is the sun position at solar noon, i.e. this is as high as the sun got today. But we are starting to get some thermal gain as you can feel a little warmth when looking towards the sun. This is in contrast to December and January, there is very little warmth from the sun.

When I arrived home, there was a box waiting for me with my Roadcrafter Light. Back in November, I had a hard time deciding between the grey with hi-viz or the hi-viz with grey. I ended up ordering the grey with hi-viz. Around two weeks ago, I got an email indicating that the grey was back ordered and it could be several months before the material gets in. The material for my other choice was in stock and they would be able to start making it immediately. Back in November I tried on the recommended size and it was too tight lengthwise so I'm glad that I actually went to the store to try it on. Just as the sales person indicated, it fits perfectly. I was a little skeptical as it is a long. I guess I have a long torso and short legs.

The TF3 armor seems pretty thick and rigid but according to the documents, that could be due to the cold. I had also ordered the back pad but it wasn't in the shipment and just sent off an email asking about it. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the "Light" is no longer made in Vietnam but is now made in the USA. At least according to the label. It also included a packet of zipper lube but not really sure if I need it yet.

There is a reinforced opening for the power cord for the heated gear to pass through but I haven't figured out a good location for the Gerbings dual controller. For now it is simply attached to the lower pocket using the clip on the controller. Looking forward to trying it out tomorrow! If nothing else, I should be easier to see…

Saturday Morning Update - It cooled off overnight and we are seeing more of the normal winter weather. Clear and cold. It was -22°F when I left the house this morning. A good test for the new suit. I went for a short ride to meet some others for breakfast and afterwards rode around some, stopped for coffee at College Coffeehouse before heading back home. With just the heated liner, I was able to feel the cold in some areas like the back of my upper arms where there are no heat wires. I don't think that the Gerbings liner has much, if any, insulation. With my fleece liner over the heated liner, I was toasty warm. At these temperatures, both the Gerbings gloves and liner were on full as well as the heated grips.

This is probably my lower limit for riding as the visor would ice up whenever I slowed down or stopped. The pinlock insert really helps prevent fogging but once ice forms, it doesn't melt quickly. Opening the visor causes the fogging to ice up at these temperatures. The visor is more of a problem than staying warm. I also would like to find a better location for the Gerbings controller as I can't simply glance down and see if the lights are blinking green and amber. The controller shuts down and blinks red if the voltage drops too low if, for example, the engine needed to be restarted. Usually, I don't think about it until I start feeling the cold.

I had a tiny concern about all the hi-viz as ChrisL from EverydayRiding mentioned that he wouldn't want to have to look at that bright color all the time. But just about all of it is outside of my normal vision while riding.

Aerostitch says ten seconds on or off for the Roadcrafters but I'm in the minute plus category. But it takes me longer than that to put on my boots.

Just thought I'd throw in the photo depicting a discussion over who gets the sunny spot…

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