freezing

[ps2/bikevision]

my uncle called me the other day and wanted to know if i was going to pick my bike up now that i was back in town. i thought about it and i have rode in freezing weather before so i said why not it has been in his garage all winter and he hasent done a thing to it. in fact i took it to him last summer and he never got around to checking the shims, so he said, till this winter. which he said werent bad so i lost most of my riding season last year for nothing i could have let it sit in the garage all summer and looked at it or at least finish doing the mods i want to do to it.

any ways  i dressed really warm, i got my snowmobile gear out, and headed over to my uncles house. it took two hours the dig the v out and another three to quick charge the battery that he left in it all winter. not a heated garage either. after we got it charged she fired up with full choke and on rap on the throttle. i found that is the only way to start it when it is cold, if you dont want to kill the battery. i let it warm up a bit and headed out.

it was a great ride till my fingers went numb (i got frost bite in the army so that didnt help much. i have thought about adding had warmers like on a snowmoble but fear of the charging system getting overloaded keeps me from doing it) then half way to my house it died on me. someone had it on reserve already and i didnt notice till it was too late. lucky i had some one following me with my truck. i left it on the side of the road and went and got gas. another good thing i keep a gas can in the back for off roading. it gave me a chance to warm my hands up.

it was smooth riding after that. it was snowing a little bit but the roads were clear. man it felt good to ride the old girl again. i will defently get more riding in this year no matter what. good thing the vision likes the cold. my buddies bike wont even start if it isent at least 50 out and if it does it runs like crap.

well i just thought id let you southern boys know that some of us in the noth dont let snow stop us from going for a ride.  ;D

[MotorPlow]

ps2,
I put a set of heated grips on my bike with no ill effects http://motorplow.blogspot.com/2005/01/i-did-it.html

The coldest I have ridden in this winter was 19^o

My hands were toasty warm, however I could no longer feel my knees.

Enjoy,
Chris F.

[ps2/bikevision]

hey motorplow thanks for the info. i think now that i know that someone else has aready done this and it worked ill have to attempt it myself. if its not to much trouble where did you wire them up. and how did you do the throttle. i have thought about it and figured it would work to just leave enough slack in the wires so the throttle could twist freely.any help you could give me would help alot.

with having frost bite even in the middle of summer with the vibration my hands still go numb on long trips. i dont know if heated grips would help in the summer but it would greatly increase the number of day i can ride each year. ive got heated grips on my snowmoble and dont have any problems ridding for hours on end in sub freezing weather as long as i keep going. they only heat up when i am on the throttle.

[MotorPlow]

ps2,
I documented the installation on my Blog page.  If you start here http://motorplow.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_motorplow_archive.html and look along the Right side, you will see the links to the process.

Yes, you do leave a little slack in the line for the throttle.  The heated inserts and progrip grips are all posted in the blog.  I wired the inserts to the Hi/Lo Switch and then the switch went to a switched circuit in the fuse box and grounded at the left side coil post.  The biggest thing I needed to do was sand the ridges off on the throttle sleeve so the insert would stick.  It was rather easy.

Any questions, shoot me an email.

Chris F.

[ps2/bikevision]

hey chris i checked out your sight. very informative thanks. im defently going to do this mod now. i hope i can sill find hand warmers around here still. i tried to buy a set of new winter gloves and no one was still carring them they all said they were stocking up for spring. this was in january. what a crock. any ways if i cant get them locally i know i can get them online some place. i havent looked yet.

i got to get my charging system up to par first. then heated grips is the next MUST DO project.

[Walt_M.]

Check the aerostich website, they have about anything you would need, gloves, grip heaters, heated vests. Lots of good stuff and they don't seem to worry about the season.