Cold Weather Riding Gear / Heated Clothing / Extended Riding [ heat / thermal ]

Leather vest and light bike jacket today 61 degrees same thing down to 52 degrees

EjFord love it!!!too funny!!!

EjFord said:

I left the 'power' cord on a bike I sold....just order a power cord
that uses the cig lighter for power. can plug into the upper center
and easy to remove when not in use.

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Not possible with full gear. That center plug isn't made to handle jacket, pants, and gloves. You want to keep your fuse close to the amount of amperage that your gear combined uses. Any higher and you are risking a fire hazard. Also the wiring on that center plus is thin guage. I wouldn't risk more than a coat and gloves for any length of time.

BKL said:

My Wife grew up in the Rio Grande Valley in McAllen, Texas. Whenever the temps dropped below 70, everyone was wearing sweaters!
As far as heating the Slingshot, I've wondered about placing a 3-4" Bilge blower fan inside the dash to try sucking heated engine compartment air into the passenger area. If possible, some ducts to help direct the air down to the foot area would probably be helpful, too.

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I am looking at a modification of an old trick learned back in the Model A Ford era. They used a box over the exhaust manifold with an air scoop in front and a tube mounted in the back plumbed into the cab of the car. They used a butter fly valve on the firewall to control the amount of airflow into the car. This setup could almost drive you out of a Fourdor Sedan on the coldest day.

Funinthesun said:

I always thought that cold weather riding gear here in Florida meant you had to wear socks

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No that's here in So Cal

Tripod said:

Willy warmer (goes nicely with the assless chaps)...
View attachment 31367

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does the large only come in black?

gearhead said:

There's plenty of heat to be had -- you just have to let more of it out from the engine compartment and direct it towards the passenger(s). I took the "radio panel" and replaced it with some vents. On a warm day -- close the vents. On a cold day, open one or two. These vents swivel, so you can share the heat with a passenger.

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Excellent work. How about some more information about materials used, cost, etc. Thanks.

pcguru2000 said:

does the large only come in black?

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Lol!!! Yes! Pic shown is an ol' baby pic...

Just bought first gear liner and gloves. Instructions mention not using BMW power port on a Can bus system. Could some tell me what a BMW power port is and does the SS have the can bus system.

George James said:

Just bought first gear liner and gloves. Instructions mention not using BMW power port on a Can bus system. Could some tell me what a BMW power port is and does the SS have the can bus system.

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I know nothing except what I have just researched about this. It appears they are referring to some BMW motorcycles which do use a CAN bus.

The Slingshot also uses a CAN bus, so the warning probably does apply here too.

The problem apparently is that putting a large load on a CAN bus power line (like the switched outlet in the glovebox) can overload it.

CANbus-driven outlets automatically shut off when the current exceeds 5 amps; prohibiting the use of most heated clothing, which can draw up to 15 amps.

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So follow Ej Ford's advice and use the unswitched outlet between the seats. Or run a connection directly from the battery. But don't leave the heat on for too long with the engine turned off or you could run your battery down.

I did just that....direct to battery and all is well. Thanks to all.

George James said:

Just bought first gear liner and gloves. Instructions mention not using BMW power port on a Can bus system. Could some tell me what a BMW power port is and does the SS have the can bus system.

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I'm definitely NOT an expert on this, but CAN-BUS-equipped vehicles basically have an intelligent system to detect problems such as a light bulb burning out or an item in the circuit breaking or having a problem. This means that hooking into any circuit that has light bulbs, for example, could cause the system to react in unexpected ways. On my 2013 Ford Edge, when I went to add a trailer hitch and associated trailer wiring connector, I had to add an adapter to keep the system from detecting the difference in electrical load and reporting a problem.

Using a simple circuit such as a dedicated auxiliary power outlet or wiring an outlet straight off the battery should not trigger any problems.