But how many hours do you spend plugging yourself in in the morning before getting on the bike? I thought putting on and taking off waterproofs took long enough.
About an extra 1 second per connection. The jacket has built in connections for gloves and pants. The pants have a built in connection for socks/insoles. I don't have a splitter to run socks and insoles simultaneously and probably won't buy one.
So the routine is:
1. Put on pants
2. Put on shoes and connect shoes to the pant leg connectors.
3. Put on balaclava (not heated but wind proof...mostly to cover neck and keep air from getting up into helmet)
4. Put on jacket and connect jacket to pants.
5. Connect gloves to connectors on the arms of jacket but then don't put the gloves on...just leave them hanging by the cable.
6. Put on helmet.
7. Walk outside and plug heated gear into bike after disconnecting bike charger (I have two connectors for this so that I can control temps separately but it could be done with just one).
8. Put on gloves and ride away [emoji1]
I have the connectors on the bike feed out where the seat meets the tank right next to my crotch and right next to where the cables feed out from the waistline of the jacket.
In all I would say that it takes less than 10 seconds more than if I was putting on full rain gear (booties, jacket, pants gloves) or just full gear but without heat. So I trade some inconvenience in exchange for a boatload of money.
If you want to save some money ride electric motorcycle instead of driving ICE car whenever you can. But in that case you still have auto insurance and car payments and maintenance (oil changes, spark plugs, air filters, tires etc.). I could get a really old cheap car which would eliminate payments (or at least lower them) and reduce insurance costs but stuff breaks on old cheap cars and that costs money too. Plus I would still have all the scheduled maintenance.
The winters in STL are short and relatively mild. We do get snow but it rarely lasts for too long. If I ride 330 days a year (or more) and only drive 35 days a year then owning a car is an expensive convenience. Not to mention it would be parked on the street in front of my apartment and would need to be moved twice a month to avoid tickets when the street cleaners come around (which I would always forget to do before my lease ended). It costs me about $800-$1000 to rent a brand new car for 35 days which is about equal to one month's lease plus insurance (I had a fully loaded Nissan Murano SUV). A more basic vehicle it might be 2-4 months of payments plus insurance.
It took me a long time to situate myself to the point where I was ready to ditch the car altogether. I haven't owned a car since April of this year and haven't regretted it yet but the true test is just starting now that temps are diving.
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Topic: I'm taking the plunge! (Read 2587 times)