EMBRACE WINTER RIDING FOR YEAR-ROUND FUN WITH HEATED RIDING GEAR

Words & Photos: Heather Ellis

I’ve never considered heated riding gear, even heated grips, for I had mostly perfected the art of keeping warm on a motorcycle whilst motorcycle couriering in London during the winter of 1994/1995. Layering with merino wool thermals and a dense-weave polar fleece and thermals under leather pants; a wet weather jacket over my Bel staff to cut down wind chill; wool socks and Gore Tex sock liners inside motocross boots and winter waterproof leather gauntlet gloves inside handlebar muffs kept me ‘relatively’ warm. But did I feel like the Michelin Man? You bet I did. And my fingertips always suffered on those really icy days so much so that I ended up with chilblains (the stage before frostbite), which left my fingertips, even to this day, extra sensitive to cold.