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Freezing hands!

9K views 26 replies 15 participants last post by  PAULRIDES 
#1 ·
Hi,
I know there is plenty of of discussion about this already, but I would like any definitive answers to my hand problems. I have recently bought a new CB500X, with Honda heated grips. I have severe Hand Arm Vibration syndrome, so grips alone don't quite do it; on my last bike I used Tucano Urban muffs, and found I could ridd no matter how cold with only summer gloves. Unfortunately the Honda has non-fixed bar ends, which means that the muffs are forced down at speed and interfere with brake and clutch levers - obviously no good.
My only two possible solutions are a) Gerbing heated gloves, which might work but may be too much of a power drain with the grips as well or b) Givi handlebar guards, which look quite big and wraparound. I am thinking that they might keep enough of the wind chill off to provide the ideal solution. One of these fixes is £150, and one is £80, but warm hands is the goal.
I would really appreciate the thoughts of anyone with experience of these solutions, I wish I could tough it out but the state of my hands just won,t let me!
 
#2 ·
I think the Givi guards look well integrated and they'd be my first choice, with the grips you already have. After that, maybe the gloves, but I'm sure there are better performing ones without going electric.

Nothing worse than cold hands. You have my sympathy.
 
#3 · (Edited)
I have the givi hand guards on my cb500f, cost me £80 and I don't think they are worth it. Look good but non functional for me although I don't do motorway commutes.
I got the gerbing heated 12v xr12gloves but sent them back. Very thick. And very long, hard to connect to bike and wires to each glove when you have them on.... Also a pain trying to sort padlocks out etc with them on....


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#4 ·
I then bought some keis heated inners to wear with my normal winter gloves and I'm happy. Only wear them when it's below 4oC and can put them on, connect gloves up to wire inside jacket all indoors, unlock bike and then connect up to bike. Can then put helmet on and winter gloves with toasty hands as bike is warming up. These plus winter are quite bulky and I lose a lot of dexterity but probably the same as the xr12s.
You can get them for about £60 and would probably be warm enough with them and a non vented summer glove.... Unless you are somewhere like canada (I'm UK and suffer really badly with cold)
Just my 5 cents ?

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#5 ·
Maybe it's my Canadian blood, or maybe it just works, but my setup is Barkbuster Storm shields for the wind, and then Oxford heated grips. I am usually OK for 30-40 minute commutes with summer leather gloves down to about freezing temperatures. Anything colder or longer and I would want to use my insulated/waterproof gloves. If I was doing long cruises at sub-zero temperatures, then I would look at adding some pogies like your Urban Muffs.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for all the replies. Being a cheapskate will probably go for some guards to start with as I am very non techy anyway! Will post a picture when fitted. Don't like the idea of lengthy faffing with wires. It's my first time at posting a question so it's great to have lots of suggestions! Thanks!
 
#9 ·
Make sure the gloves are not too tight. Air space is the best insulator. You don't want your finger tips hitting the ends of the gloves. You have to test for this when your hands are on the bars. I also made some "guards" out of 4 litre cider jugs which fit over my OEM Honda guards. Hands are right out of the wind.
 
#10 ·
Also.....you don't want gloves that make your hands sweat during the beginning of the ride. I've got some very heavy duty gloves, the issue with the gloves, they make my hands sweat at the beginning of the ride and then my hands get cold. So you need gloves that breath. Sometimes the insulation material can cause more harm then good.

I've got another pair of gloves that are deer skin, and then the inside of the liner is a thin wool. My hands don't get cold with those gloves unless I get down into the 40's.

That thing about the tight gloves also something to consider.

I think some good deer skin gloves with wind protection the way to go.
 
#12 ·
Love the ingenuity....Before all this specialized gear came along, we'd fit several newspaper sections inside our jacket for more insulation....BTW...I, too, am having the same issue with cold hands....the older I get, the more it bothers me....I installed heated grips yesterday and will find out on this morning's commute how they work...Riders with their hands behind windshields seem to do well with them....not so good on other bikes,,,,That's why your post with the milk jugs caught my eye...
 
#15 ·
I'm using a couple thin silk gloves inside my regular alpinestar gp pro gloves and It's not working well! Plus my fingers have some pain if I do long rides -two hours or more- this way probably because too much compression. I'll try handguards and Omni cruise throttle lock when open roads/highways for keeping both hands outside the cold wind. I make pauses every half hour more or less with my hands touching the exhaust for a while, cheaper than heated gear/grips haha! I've looked at muffles as other solutions on the web, but I haven't decide yet.
Have a look at the new Puig handguards for the 2016 year model, can't tell you the price at this moment as I think It's a new product.
 
#17 ·
check out handlebar mitts. they're big and ugly, but a guy I knew who spent 4 years riding his motorcycle around the world said it was the best thing to keep the hands warm. they're also cheap. I saw some for $20 on ebay.
 
#18 ·
MITTENS are the big equalizer.

Snow Ski MITTENS to do me for upper 40sF and low 50sF.

Add Liner gloves for upper 30s and lower 40s.

Add those chemical hand warmers between the liners and mittens for lower 30sF.

I seldom ride below 30F, but sometimes upper 20sF (same thing Mittens, Liners, and Chemical Hand Warmers).

Amount of gear I use also depends on how far and how long I am riding.

PS: I am not into Electric Gloves or Electric Clothing, some folks are. Different Strokes for Different folks.
 
#19 ·
I also suffer with really badly with cold hands, tried the heated inserts but they were too bulky, gortexcovers/ overmittens (ex army) worked but also gave a great loss of dexterity.
I have the givi hand guards but find them very inefficient.
I have been pleasently surprised by a cheap pair Richa Artic gloves (sportsbikeshop) which now allow me to ride all year round happily and I've disconnected my Oxford heated grips.
I got frost nip in Canada once so my hands are pants, +3oC and I was having to warm them on the exhaust.
Just my 2 cents [emoji6]

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#21 ·
Well, it always depends on the circumstances, like you drive through a nice warm forest in Trinity Alps and suddenly end up at Pacific Coast in Fortuna/Mendocino and the humid cold winds bite your fingers.

I use winter gloves and liners inside but I miss the heated grips on BMWs that come default.
 
#22 ·
My hands easily get cold, probably because of arthritis, but…

The problem with step one is my bike is my only form of private transport. Well, apart from my legs. And my bicycle, though I have not ridden that in years ad I doubt my hands will feel that warm after a 160 mile ride to my dad's house.

And the problem with step two is that last year was the first time the average temperature in April reached 50 °F, so it would rule out half the year. And I like riding.

Nothing wrong with riding in colder weather so long as you have suitable clothing or equipment and, at least it is my rule, that it is not freezing so you do not have to contend with icy roads. With suitable layers it is easier to keep the body warm. It is only the extremities of feet and hands* that needs extra help.

So I would normally wear some summer bike socks (shorter ones) under winter socks (longer ones), and a pair of thermal socks over the top. Heated glove liners would be perfect for the hands if not for the problem stevengeorgeboot mentioned. They are workable, I can still feel the controls with the added thickness, but they are not ideal. Heated grips and winter gloves had been similarly workable for me, better feel but less protection on the outside of the hand. I have yet to try with the hand guards, but I think for me it should work. Although by the time I can go out again it will arleady be spring anyway.


* I was going to joke that that is 30.48 or 10.6 cm in metric countries, but I am not sure how any people would get it!
 
#26 ·
My USB grips finally arrived today. I ordered them from China thinking they were cheap enough to be useful as a backup option. Sadly not in a position to test them out — never mind the Covid restrictions, there is a yellow snow warning for tomorrow — but I have plugged them in at home and they do seem to heat up nicely. I was sceptical how much heat you can get out of a 5V at 2.1A but to my bare hands they feel no worse than the Honda grips at medium setting. It will be interesting to see how that holds up in a real world test with gloves.

The grips are plastic and neoprene pouches into which the heating elements are placed, so can be separated for cleaning. The velcro is used to fasten the grips around the bike feels shorter than I would like, but maybe I am just imagining the bike grips being fatter than they actually are. With enough overlap they feel tightly closed.

There is a lot of cable, which I guess gives useful flexibility if you have a battery pack in a tank bag or even a coat or trouser pocket, though with a USB on the front of the bike bike it will require some bunching to avoid loose cable causing a problem.

There is a button on the USB plug which toggles between the three modes, glowing a bright red, green, or blue for the one selected, which also turns it off. The box says that red is coolest (45 °C) and blue hottest (55 °C), but from just holding the grips while sat on the sofa the red felt the hotter setting to me.

Interesting the plug has been designed to be used either side up, so the button will always be accessible regardless of the position of the socket. I have never seen that before, but I guess it means needing to be extra careful because the usual thick piece of plastic inside the plug is rather thin. Which given the vibrations you get on a bike is a little worrying about longevity.

I once tried using an SJ4000 mounted on my bike's bars with USB power, and it did not take long to take the micro USB socket off the camera's circuit board. But I suppose anyone who wants to use heated grips on a regular basis will install proper ones anyway, so they are probably only designed for occasional use.

This is the item I bought:

There are cheaper ones, but I wanted one with a controller rather than just a single always-on heat. I would not want to be plugging and unplugging while riding to effect it. Weirdly the logo that is just placed over the photo of the grips is actually embroidered into them. No idea why they do not use a real photo like that, maybe to trick people into thinking they are plain? Whilst having no logo is better in my opinion, it has been done properly so does not look cheap.

They took just under two weeks to arrive, which is particularly good with Brexit and Covid. I originally ordered them in December but the order was cancelled for "technical reasons", which I only found out a few weeks ago when I went to check the status.

Alongside Brexit, tax changes mean that the customs exception on low value items is scrapped and sellers are supposed to charge VAT (which is an E.U. change, but they have delayed the implementation to summer due to Covid). So AliExpress now add VAT at checkout on U.K. orders, and I guess customs are backlogged enough or do not care to add a customs charge. That or the Chinese sellers still know how to get around those rules!

Even on warmer days in spring and autumn, it can be cold going out early but the sun gets high enough so I should be able to give them a proper test in a few months. I am due my second vaccine dose in early April, and presumably by then restrictions will be lessened once those of us who at most risk who we need to help / who are old or feeble and holding back everyone else (delete according to political persuasion) have been protected.
 
#27 ·
I find mittens (like ski, snowboarding) work for me and ride down to high 30sF and low 40sF. Sometimes put a thin liner glove inside the mittens and if lower than 40F. I have used the heat packs inside the mittens (between the liners and mittens as to keep the heat pack off of skin). Heated Gloves, etc. - guess OK (can't say never used them) -- see failures on heated stuff and there you are stuck in the cold with no heat and no clothing to avoid the cold. To each his own, but operating controls with mittens is not an issue.
 
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