Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

I had some dri rider stuff, but hate it with a passion.

I decided to give a set of these a go, and so far so good.... a few -7 degree commutes here in Canberra and they have held up well! Quite toasty!

http://www.bikebiz.com.au/products/Alpi ... loves.html

ok, winter has been and gone here in QLD, so i guess i better let you guys know what has gone on.

I ended up buying a set of Dri-Rider Adventure 2 gloves as they a) fell in my price point ($80) and b) came in my size (4XL). The gloves themselves are a material construction rather than the normal leather and are a little thicker than my regular gloves. despite the extra thickness they are quite comfortable and I have no problems operating the controls etc.

The real test came about a week after I bought them (the Antarctic Vortex???). The mornings were cold (by SE Qld stds) at approx 0-2c. Riding in these temps I found that the ends of my fingers soon became numb from the cold and about 25mins into a 35min ride the fingers started hurting from the cold. Not really a good thing for a 'winter' riding glove. I gave them the benefit of the doubt that morning as my fingers were already cold before getting out on the bike.

The next morning, i made sure that i kept my fingers/hands warm, trouble is that my fingers ended up with the same cold numb/pain, making for an interesting sight at traffic lights were I started 'hugging' the engine to warm up a little. The following week the temps rose a little to be 4-7c in the morns. In these temps my hands/fingers stayed warm enough to fend off the numbness and pain.

Riding home in the arvo the temps are much warmer (low 20s). Here my hands didn't get hot, but they were definitely starting to sweat. This has left a lovely odour in the gloves now which means that I have to wash my hands when I take them off to get ride of the smell.

The left glove also suffered a blown seam on the back of the collar of the glove (around the wrist). This was quickly taken care of by the dealership were I purchased them by swapping it straight away (gloves were 4 weeks old).

Verdict: If you are riding in 5-15c (ish) temps then these gloves are ok (not horrible but not great either). Temps outside of these your hands will either sweat or freeze.

next year I may invest in a set of heated grips

you could always try the double-layer trick. During the seasons where its cold in the morning but getting warmer by the end of the day - pretty much every spring day in Canberra, I wear normal summer gloves but add a pair of Damart thermolactyl gloves for the morning run. These are really close-fitting inner gloves which wick sweat away from your skin, and turn a normal pair of summer gloves into good winter gloves.

The biggest benefit is that they fold up easily and fit under your seat or even in a jacket pocket. Great to have just in case the weather turns nasty.

Mitch wrote:ok, winter has been and gone here in QLD

Really? Been a bit chilly lately.....

My FIVE Winter Gloves are holding up pretty well. Some mornings i have been travelling in the 2 -5 degrees range & on the highway @ 100-110 my fingers are slightly cool but no discomfort or numbness. Well made/good fit but you would expect that from a top end range/$ glove.

Go the heated grips Mitch.

I used to commute from Kurrajong Heights to Parramatta leaving at 4.30 am and in winter I could hit -2 deg going through Richmond. I tried all manner of glove combinations, even thermal under the winter gloves (same as your gloves btw) and wet weather over gloves on top, still froze my finger tips. I bit the bullet and got a heated grips kit. I was cheap and just got a kit that fits heater elements under your exisiting grips, so you don't get the bulky oxford look. They only have a high, low and off setting, but never found them wanting. Frozen fingers were banished! also as the days got a bit warmer and the sweating issue on the way home was encountered I just swapped back to regular leather gloves and put the bar heaters on high in the morning and didn't use them on the way home. Even a 5 deg morning with summer gloves and the heaters was fine.

http://heatdemon.com/collections/motorcycle-grip-heaters/products/motorcycle-grip-heater-kit-high-low-rr

The only issue I had, but quickly fixed, was because my bars were solid, the clutch side never got warm enough as the bar was acting as a heat sink (throttle side was insulated by the throttle tube) so I whipped it off and insulated the bar with some heat shrink, was sweet from then on in. I just fitted the rocker switch to my infill, nice and tidy.

Oh yeah!!!! I think that you are on to something there. I think that those element inserts will be on my list when I replace my bars/grips soon.