[JenkinsRT]

My wife and I are planning a long trip where space is at a premium and are thinking of buying some heated clothing to save on layers. Anyone had experience with the Gerbings gear? Can you have two sets (jacket and pant liners, plus gloves and insoles) running at the same time - I have a 2011 RT?
Anyone tried them with Comfortshell jacket and pants?
Any advice appreciated.
Greg

 

[pauleknight]

I cannot comment on two up or two sets.

BUT. on my LT I have the gerbings jacket and boot liners (plus a rain fly for legs and jacket) and have sustained 10+ hours in the 20's or below and have been comfy.

One thing to note is that I only have the mesh kevlar from moto port and the wind blow right thru it, do if you had more wind resistant gear you would not need the rain fly and might be more comfy.

Just my .03 cents...

 

[dshealey]

I rode many miles with Gerbings Pants, Jacket Liner, Gloves, and Socks. I had two controllers mounted, one on each side of the Sting Ray, used one for Jacket/gloves, the other for Pants/socks. One up only though, but the alternator on the LT should handle both riders with most stock items on the bike on with no problem.

OOPS! just noticed you have an RT. I have no idea what size alternator it has.

 

[David13]

I don't do it, but many others do. With no problem. Ask Gerbings. They will give you all the technical details.
dc

 

[steveaikens]

I've been riding Gerbings heated clothing since the Mid 70's, when they first started in business. I currently have the latest and greatest and still carry an older jacket as a backup. I have the full catastrophe of their liner line - jacket liner, pant liner, insoles, gloves.

Generally speaking, it has to reach pretty extreme temps for me to use the pant liner, insoles or gloves but I put the jacket liner on under my 'Stitch when temps get down to about 60 or so. With the new 'filled' jacket liner, I don't need heat until it gets below 50 or so. Regardless of the outside temps - my bike goes nowhere without at least the jacket liner. I currently run the permanent dual controller mounted on my RT and carry an old Heattroller as a backup. I've never had a controller fail.

Oldwhatshername and I have ridden a lot of miles two-up with us both plugged in and on, with no problems on any RT since 1993.

In years gone by, I've had one jacket liner that had some heating issues after about 5 years of use. Gerbings simply handed me a replacement.

I can't speak highly enough about Gerbings heated gear, the people I've dealt with over the years, or the company and its support of their product from day one.

I wore Gerbings heated gear every single night and several days during the 11-day, 11,000 mile Iron Butt Rally in 2011. I stayed nice and toasty warm and comfortable the entire ride.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

 

[hopz]

You cannot do any better than Gerbings.

Would be interested in hearing your ride plans, in general terms... Living here in the mountains of Utah we have a lot of experience in colder weather riding. We both have heated vests and they have done the job for us... but then we do not go if the roads are going to be icy. Layers are good, but having the "right" layers is more important than just "more".

We follow the ABC rule... Anything But Cotton.

We do ride snow mobiles... in 9 degree F conditions, with no heated gear... not a problem.

 

[aixgeek]

I have a Gerbing liner and gloves. I run them through the dual controller and have been comfortable down into the 20s. I find the liner works best if I have something snug over it, to hold the material next to me. I have a 2011 1200RT and it is more than capable of handing the electrical load. I switched the Powerlet on the left fairing to bypass the Canbus; the Gerbing liner and gloves together draw more current than the Canbus will allow. I think the Gerbing quality is excellent.

 

[JenkinsRT]

We plan to ship the bike across to Queensland (we live in Perth Australia) and ride back visiting friends and family along the way. It is about 3,000 kms one way, 2,000 miles, and we are looking for a leisurely trip rather than a mad dash during our holidays, hence the one way. We have driven it by car several times when the kids were young but now that they are grown up it is about us. The RT is a new acquisition, with most of my riding up until recently on dirt bikes.
It doesn't get as cold here as in the US and 40 degree F will be the coldest during the ride. It will be our first longish trip together, with a tent, sleeping and cooking gear, which doesn't leave a lot of space for clothes. So the heated clothing seems to make sense.
I suspect from what you guys have said that the heated pants and insoles will be overkill for us. We need some warmer gloves anyway so the T5 for me and the glove liners for my wife seem like it makes sense.
Can you use the BMW accessory plug for the Gerbing' with the appropriate lead change? Or will I need to wire to the battery?
Greg

 

[Anchorbend]

I have the new jacket and gloves with a dual controller. The jacket can roast a pig if you set it up on high. When I bought mine, I was advised to plug in directly to the battery with an adapter (supplied free by the dealer) as the the canbus system can't handle the load very well. Don't know how well the RT will handle two complete sets.

 

[hrafn]

Gerbings are great and will do well for you ( I have ridden for hours at 0F), but your problem will be the powerlet sockets on your RT are limited to 10 amps total for both the outlets. If you have something connected to the BMW GPS connector, it is counted in the 10 amp total too. If you add up the power requirements of the gear you listed, it is way over 10 amps. (add the watts and divide by 12). On my RT I rewired the pillion socket to be powered by an Eastern Beaver power relay/fuse block so that I have 10 amps for the rider and 15 amps for the pillion.

 

[steveaikens]

Can you use the BMW accessory plug for the Gerbing' with the appropriate lead change? Or will I need to wire to the battery?
Greg

I've always wired directly to the battery and never had a problem. Canbus is limited in current draw.

 

[Hammam]

I have the Gerbings liner, and it works beautifully. In temperatures around freezing, I've rarely set it higher than 40-50% ot the total power.

One thing: if you go the Gerbings way, it is paramount that you buy the temp. controller/s. Otherwise it will be much too hot at full power.

 

[BecketMa]

On my LT I ran the supplied connector directly to the battery.

When I rode from Maine back to AZ last Dec I used just mt normal Aerostich suite, the jacket liner, pants liner that goes over my blue jeans, and heated soles. I bought the portable controller and velvroed it to my jacket pocket.

With pant liners going over my jeans I am able to take them off any time I wind up indoors.

I wound up riding in temps just above freezing, at night, going 85 mph on an interstate. My feet were just on the edge of getting cold. For gloves I was using water proof winter gloves which, combined with the heated grips, did OK untill temps dropped out of the 40s, at 85mph.

Part of the way back home I rode in constant rain with temps in the 40s--very cold even when I slowed down to rain adjusted speeds. I can't imagine having to ride in the rain at interstate speeds withtemps in the 50s with out heated pant liners.

Fortunately, I can zip my two piece roadcrafter suite together which helps keep the rain out in the back, and keep heat in my suite.

Each piece of Gerbings gear comes with a wiring harness. For the boot soles, two hrarnesses, one to connect to pants ans one to the controller in case you don'y have the pants liner.

If I had relied upon layers of clothing I would have had to stop many more times during the day to alter layers of clothing as the temps changed.

Best from tucson
Bob

 

[Firenailer]

When purchasing a vest or jacket liner, how do you size it? Do you wear it directly over your shirt and under a sweater or fleece, or as the last layer under your jacket?

 

[David13]

You want to get it as close to the body as possible. I use mine over a t shirt and a polo shirt. If it warms up enough where I can shed the liner, I then go to a thin shirt (thermal, tho') over the polo shirt, along with the liner in the jacket removing the electric liner.
Then if I stop, and take off the jacket, I have a sweat shirt to go over the other 3 shirts if it's cold enough.
If it's too cold for that, I just leave the jacket and liner on.
Oh, I also have the smart wool (very thin) undershirt. So I'm really talking about 4 shirts, or 3.
dc

 

[pauleknight]

When purchasing a vest or jacket liner, how do you size it? Do you wear it directly over your shirt and under a sweater or fleece, or as the last layer under your jacket?

My first and only layer is

When I got mine they were on sale at the target.

They are moisture wicking and came in red, yellow, black, etc..

The bright colors are great if I stop on the road side and take my jacket off, I stick out like a sore thumb...

When it gets VERY hot they act as a first layer under my moto port kevlar gear.

When it gets chilly 70 and below, I put on my gerbing, under 60 I plug in the gerbing, under 40, I put on the Motoport rain fly as a wing break over the gerbing.

I can ride till zero degrees and below and have...

 

[TheoM]

Gerbings liner and glove user here. Two suggestions:

1. Try on the jacket liner and buy the size that fits comfortably but a bit snug. This will help to keep your body in maximum contact with the heating elements;

2. Consider a wireless controller.

I bought the Powerlet Dual Wireless Controller and mounted it on top of the ('09) clutch reservoir. It's out of the way and VERY easy for the driver to adjust without fumbling around.

 

[Firenailer]

Good info, thanks guys! I think I'm leaning towards the vest but I'll try the whole liner and see how I like it.

Thanks again,

 

[steveaikens]

I suggest you reconsider the vest. Keeping the core warm is important but so is keeping the extremities warm in the really cold.

 

[05Train]

Without a doubt, hands-down, unquestionably the best things I've ever spent money on when it comes to riding a motorcycle. I started out with a jacket liner, added gloves, then overpants, then insoles, then the actual heated jacket. I've spent hours riding in the low teens in absolute comfort.

I ended up selling the jacket, as I wanted something more visible than black. The whole kit (gloves, insoles, overpants, jacket) draws a hair less than 13 amps maximum. I'm wired directly to the battery, so no CANBUS issues.

Gerbing's turned me into a 12-month rider. The only thing that keeps me off the roads now is ice (and I'm thinking about a Ural for that).