EMBRACE WINTER RIDING FOR YEAR-ROUND FUN WITH HEATED RIDING GEAR WORDS & PHOTOS: HEATHER ELLIS

I’VE NEVER CONSIDERED HEATED RIDING gear, even heated grips, for i had mostly perfected the art of keeping warm on a motorcycle whilst motorcycle couriering in london during the winter of 1994/1995. Layering with merino wool thermals and a dense-weave polar fleece and thermals under leather pants; a wet weather jacket over my Belstaff to cut down wind chill; wool socks and GoreTex sock liners inside motocross boots and winter waterproof leather gauntlet gloves inside handlebar muffs kept me ‘relatively’ warm. But did I feel like the Michelin Man? you bet i did. And my fingertips always suffered on those really icy days so much so that i ended up with chilblains (the stage before frostbite), which left my fingertips, even to this day, extra sensitive to cold.

Fast forward to winter 2024 and when Melbourne-based motorcycle heated clothing distributor Zarkie offered me the Venture Heat jacket liner (from the US), and Komine EK-200 Protect Carbon heated gauntlet gloves (from Japan), I couldn’t believe my luck. The jacket liner and gloves arrived just in time for a string of cold mornings for my commute into Melbourne from the Yarra Valley when the temperate had dropped to a chilly 1°C on one of those early frosty and foggy mornings. For my day job in communications, I usually work from home, but there are times when the ‘powers-that-be’ say enough to Zoom meetings. Rain, hail, shine; winter and summer, I always ride into the city to save time, the fun of filtering and the convenience and cost-saving of footpath parking (the only Australian state where this is legal). So, the offer from Zarkie was perfect timing.

Setting up the battery harness to my Triumph Thruxton 900 to power the jacket liner and gloves was easy with clear instructions in the Venture Heat manual. After connecting to the bike’s battery, you just run the cable under the seat and using cable ties, secure it and take up any slack so it can sit snuggly to where it’s plugged into the power cord on the bottom of the liner under your motorcycle jacket. The Komine heated gloves came with two converter leads to connect to the cables on the sleeves of the Venture Heat jacket liner making the two different brands compatible. If your bike has a power accessory port, you can also plug both the liner and/or the gloves into that. The kit comes with a set of different fuses with the manual instructing which one to use for various combinations of heated gear. You could buy the lot: jacket liner, pant liner, gloves and sock liner and be totally wired and totally warm for those long commuters and touring riders. If you just want the gloves, these are also battery powered and come with two rechargeable battery packs that fit snuggly inside a pocket on each glove at the inside of the wrist so you don’t even feel the batteries are there or you can buy the extra cable to plug into our bike if you have that function. The batteries give you 3.5 hours of heat at the low setting (30°C). It would be more than enough for my one hour commute and I could even run on high or medium for a bit, easily turning down the heat by pressing the control button on the end of each glove, which are touch screen sensitive.

On those few chilly days riding into the city with the liner and gloves powered on, I had been a bit worried about the drain on the bike’s electrics, especially while moving slow as I filtered through traffic and the stop go at the various lights. I’d checked the Thruxton’s manual and its electrics had more than enough amps to support the liner and gloves. But just to be sure, I ran the liner and gloves on low most of the time and still felt warm. It was all I needed once I’d reached the city’s fringe.

My leather jacket is a Belstaff-lookalike with a belted waist and once I’d warmed up the bike and then plugged in the jacket liner with gloves plugged in on each sleeve, I immediately felt the warmth ooze into my torso and hands from the heat circulating around the gloves. The built in pre-heat function in the jacket liner means if you start off on high, after five minutes, the liner automatically goes to the medium setting. It also comes with Bluetooth App control so you can operate it from your phone attached to the bike’s handlebars. I skipped this step; it’s just not for me. With my leather jacket belted around my waist, I had a snug fit meaning the heat from the liner was close to my body, but I didn’t get this same warmth radiating down my arms and around the back of my neck. I chose the men’s size small. There are no women’s sizes. Same with the gloves, but with my long fingers, the men’s small fitted perfectly. While the liner fits like a jacket should, it is not snug. And after reading a few reviews on heated jacket liners, these do need to fit snug to work so that the heated carbon-fibre panels are close to your body. Sizing then is critical.

Left: To get the most from the heat, a snug fit is critical with heated jacket liners.

Below: The controller for the Venture Heat jacket liner sits just under your jacket. It goes from high to medium after the first five minutes, but low ‘green’ kept me warm enough on those chilly mornings.

To ensure the jacket liner was properly put to the test, I wore my leather jacket with the liner over a lightweight knit jumper for work. And textile pants with liner over jeans. My usual winter riding gear is a textile jacket with its thermal liner, a dense-weave micro-fleece and merino wool top. This combo had always kept me toasty on many a winter ride in the past. On my chilly morning rides into Melbourne that week, once at the office, the jacket liner and leather jacket came off as one. On the way home, it was still warm enough that I didn’t need to power up the heated liner and gloves. The liner is also wind resistant and without its powered heat was surprisingly warm. The gloves were just like wearing winter gloves but without the bulkiness. There’s no indication that these are heated gloves and it took me back to my motorcycle couriering days with my beloved Frank Thomas gauntlets, but the Komine gloves are just so much more silky smooth and soft. I didn’t get the chance to try the gear in rain, but both the jacket liner and gloves are water resistant and safe to wear in the wet.

Little did Zarkie know that I had been, for a few winters now, hunting high and low for my ideal gauntlet gloves to replace my Frank Thomas’s, which have lasted nearly 30 years up until recently. They’ve taken quite the beating and while there’s still some warmth there, the waterproofing membrane has long since disintegrated. Unfortunately, UK brand Frank Thomas sold out to the

Why he AT ed JA cke T l I ne R s AR e T he pe RF ec T pART ne R F o R le AT he R JA cke T s

It was one of those icy cold winter days riding the Yarra Ranges. Despite the cold, the sun shone down from a cloudless blue sky in all its glory devoid of heat of course. I remember it well. Rugged up in layers under my textile jacket with its thermal liner, I was cozy warm, although the tips of my fingers were chilled to the bone. I was in the zone laying into each tight bend but soon noticed my friend had dropped further and further behind. I pulled over and waited and when he did not appear, I back tracked. He’d pulled over and I found him standing next to his bike, his arms hugging his body. He was experiencing the first signs of hyperthermia and is it any wonder dressed in jeans, a hoodie and leather jacket that was somewhat loose around his waist.

Light weight summer gloves did not help either. He’d lost concentration and had wisely pulled over knowing a crash was imminent if he’d pushed on. We back tracked to the closest pub, which had an open log fire and over lunch, he thawed out. He’s now moved to Queensland, but I thought of him when I tested out the Venture Heat jacket liner and Komine heated gloves. I also thought of all the other riders I regularly see on the road in jeans and leather jackets riding in winter. Maybe they are made of tougher stock than me. Maybe I’m just getting old and soft. Riding in sunny bluesky days in the dead of winter in our southern states can be deceiving. And in these conditions, it’s the wind chill that is the killer.

Chinese and gauntlets are no longer part of their range. I’ve checked in many a motorcycle accessories shop for the perfect replacement. Enter the Komine EK-200 Carbon Protect heated gauntlet glove and I was absolutely beside myself. I have this theory that whatever you wish for in life as long as you wish long and hard for it (‘be absolutely committed to your wish’), it will materialise. It is just a matter of time. Even before I turned on the heat, when I slipped my hands into these oh so smooth and silky-feeling gloves, I knew I was onto a good thing. With knuckle protectors and palm sliders, a windproof outer layer and thin insulation inner layer plus a waterproof breathable liner, a secure velcro fastener around the wrist and another at the top of the glove as well as an inside tightener cord, I was one very happy motorcyclist. Once I powered them on, the heat radiated via a carbonfibre element around my hands, fingers and fingertips. And all was now right and perfect in my motorcycling life. Those few rides into the city were just over an hour commute with the afternoon ride being warm enough to ride without the powered heat. I needed a longer, much colder ride and so the real test came early one chilly Sunday morning long before Melbourne’s weekend riders had stirred. I headed up Lake Mountain in 5°C and a wind chill factor much lower and it felt well below freezing when I reached the top. The things we do in the name of research!

Before my Sunday morning gear test ride to Lake Mountain, a motorcycle mate pointed out it was best I not turn off the bike when up ‘in them thar hills’, just in case the heated gear had sucked the battery of its power and I was left alone between a rock and cold place. Halfway on that chilly ride, I turned both the liner and gloves from medium to low ‘green’, just in case. By now my body and hands were warm as toast and with warm blood pumping to my extremities, I felt no chill in my legs with my Kevlar jeans and thermals and feet in thick wool socks inside my boots. But I didn’t want to remove my helmet, which meant I couldn’t see the built-in controller on the jacket liner and used the bike’s mirror to make this adjustment. Maybe, I should have set up my phone for the Bluetooth App control? As I was riding, I easily changed the settings on the controller on each glove and tried it on high to low at various times. But once my hands were warm all the way to the fingertips, the low setting was more than enough.

The night before at ‘shed night’ over beers with my motorcycle mates it seemed everyone had an opinion on heated motorcycle gear. One couple who tour regularly including Tassie, had used the Venture Heat jacket liner for three winters and absolutely loved it and never ride without the liner on cold days. Most of my friends had heated hand grips on their bikes and advised that’s all you need as if your hands are warm, everything else feels warm. ‘But are your fingertips warm?’ I’d asked. The question was avoided as none had ever tried heated gloves and the conversation had turned into this ‘fors and againsts’ kinda discussion. It was later, that one friend whispered the answer: ‘No’. What a revelation the heated jacket liner and gloves has been for my winter motorcycling, especially with my hands, all the way to the fingertips, comfortably warm. While I’ve been warm in my usual winter riding gear, the Venture Heat jacket liner means I can cut down on the bulk. I can also now wear my beloved leather jacket in winter. I see so many riders in leather jackets and just a hoodie underneath. They must be bloody freezing. For some die-hards (and I was one of them back in the day), we just put up with the cold, but staying warm means a lot more concentration for a lot longer and that means more control and more fun. Winter can be long and cold down here in the southern States, and in recent years, a lot drier too. So far this autumn and winter, there’s been a good many days where we’ve been blessed with glorious sunshine and clear blue skies. The mountain roads are dry except for those bends in perpetual shadow (stay clear of the green stuff!), and with heated gear there’s now no need to say it’s: ‘too bloody cold for the bike’. venture heat Bluetooth 12V motorcycle jacket liner: $299 Komine EK-200 Carbon Protect battery heated gloves: $319

Both available from Zarkie. To order online visit: www.zarkie.com.au

TOUR DATES

SEP 26 - OCT 11, 2024

APR 27 - MAY 12, 2025

SEP 25 - OCT 10, 2025

COUNTRIES

Italy, France

EmbRaCE WINTER RIdINg fOR yEaR-ROUNd fUN WITh

WoRds & phoTos: heATheR ellIs