Cold weather RIDING gear - awesome ICE FISHING clothing found! | GTAMotorcycle.com

Cold weather RIDING gear - awesome ICE FISHING clothing found!

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DarylinAjax

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Hi all,

WARNING: Shameless plug... but something I had to share...

As long as the roads remain ice- and snow-free I will keep commuting on my XR650L, with no wind protection staying warm is a challenge. While I can keep my upper body warm I've never been happy with what I've found for my legs (especially thighs); everything was too bulky and I didn't like looking like the Stay-Puft monster from Ghostbusters.

Rapala (the fishing lure company) has a line of clothing for ice fishing. They sell a jacket and pants called "Interface Fleece"; it's not really "fleece", it's made of a a thin, single-layer insulated, windproof, breathable fabric that I found perfect for riding. The clothing is meant to be worn underneath your outerwear but there is nothing stopping you to wear it over top. I first bought the pants to wear over my street clothes and was so impressed I bought the jacket too. I wear the jacket underneath my regular riding jacket and the pants over top of my street clothes. So far I've ridden in -6ºC with no problems, I could probably wear them down to about -10ºC before having to add another layer. It's not bulky and the styling doesn't scream giant marshmallow. Comes in any color you want as long as it's black.

Rapala just started putting these on the market so you may have to special order from your local sporting goods store. The sizing is a bit on the small size so order one size up from what you normally do (if you normally wear an XL order a XXL). The tags from my purchase are RFJ-XXL for the jacket and RFP-XXXL for the pants (I went 2 sizes up to make sure I could wear regular clothes underneath - legs are a bit long for walking but perfect for riding).

Funny how a fishing company can come up with something so awesome for cold-weather riding; I wish these were available years ago...
 
What's the pricing like?
 
xfactor, Thanks for the link. That's them!

unL33T, Sorry for not including the price, I paid just under $120 total for jacket & pants. I may have got them cheaper if I'd ordered both at the same time. Well worth it.
 
DarylinAjax said:
xfactor, Thanks for the link. That's them!

unL33T, Sorry for not including the price, I paid just under $120 total for jacket & pants. I may have got them cheaper if I'd ordered both at the same time. Well worth it.
Click to expand...

Not bad. Thanks.
 
Great find for a good price. This year I'm using a heated jacket (thank goodness!) and my regular rain pants which are great at keeping the wind from freezing my nuts off.

However for me the biggest issues are:

1. Keeping my fingers warm (waiting for heated gloves from Velocity)
2. Keeping the feet warm (riding boots that I have are NOT water/wind proof)

My helmet also fogs up when at a stop (Bell Vortex) but then I just crack it open and it clears up my glasses fairly quick.
 
mimico_polak said:
Great find for a good price. This year I'm using a heated jacket (thank goodness!) and my regular rain pants which are great at keeping the wind from freezing my nuts off.

However for me the biggest issues are:

1. Keeping my fingers warm (waiting for heated gloves from Velocity)
2. Keeping the feet warm (riding boots that I have are NOT water/wind proof)

My helmet also fogs up when at a stop (Bell Vortex) but then I just crack it open and it clears up my glasses fairly quick.
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Heated clothing is not really an option for me, I have an electric vest but the charging system on my XR can't keep up with the electrical draw unless I am running at high rpm. I use winter gloves and have bark-busters so at least my hands are out of the wind.

I did the rain-pants thing until I discovered the Rapala pants. There's a lot more insulation with the ice fishing pants than what I was getting with the rain pants, the difference in warmth is huge. I did ride a bit in the rain with the Rapala pants and while they are not billed as waterproof the water was beading and running off them. They might keep you dry in a light rain but probably not in a downpour.
 
There are battery powered options that claim to last several hours between charges...
 
Great info!

How have you been using these with protection?
 
Sledding gear works good too.

That said I have a heated vest and that's all I need under my bike stuff.

Mimico Ploak forget the heated gloves and go old school! I used my mom's old snowmobile muffs for over the handle bars and they work great. No extra draw on the juice when you already have the heated vest or jacket. That said I did have to rig up a simple lever guard in front of the front brake - the muff would catch just enough wind to push slightly on the brake lever.

Keep in mind folks that at a certain point you can be warm enough but not your tires. I can easily stay warm at 0C but cornering at those temps gets scary. Cold tires on cold pavement equals poor grip.
 
dirtbag said:
Sledding gear works good too.

That said I have a heated vest and that's all I need under my bike stuff.

Mimico Ploak forget the heated gloves and go old school! I used my mom's old snowmobile muffs for over the handle bars and they work great. No extra draw on the juice when you already have the heated vest or jacket. That said I did have to rig up a simple lever guard in front of the front brake - the muff would catch just enough wind to push slightly on the brake lever.

Keep in mind folks that at a certain point you can be warm enough but not your tires. I can easily stay warm at 0C but cornering at those temps gets scary. Cold tires on cold pavement equals poor grip.
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The hell with old school....my fingers get cold way too fast and I like riding further into the fall season, and earlier in the spring! I draw the line at 0C nowadays simply because of tire grip.
 
dirtbag said:
Keep in mind folks that at a certain point you can be warm enough but not your tires. I can easily stay warm at 0C but cornering at those temps gets scary. Cold tires on cold pavement equals poor grip.
Click to expand...

At 0 degrees ambient temperature during the day the tires will be fine. The road and tires are a lot warmer than the air temp, below 0 I always get numb in the toes and fingers first but the bike still never has a problem. Then again I haven't had to perform a crazy emergency stop and take it easier in general; my bike being a 250 is pretty well behaved too because it doesn't have that power to cause a quick tire spin.
Going into my 5th season now I haven't really been as motivated to ride in the colder temps, I'm sure having my own car now has a lot to do with it but I don't have that desire to go for a quick boot around town either just to get the bike out...
 
DDean said:
Great info!

How have you been using these with protection?
Click to expand...

I assume you mean body armour? I have a Joe Rocket armoured jacket and the Rapala jacket fits nicely underneath, it's like wearing a sweater under the motorcycle jacket. As for the pants, I confess I ride mostly in dockers or jeans and don't use body armour (I know I should....but I can't afford an Aerostich yet...) so the Rapala pants fit over top of everything, that's why I bought XXXL size. I see no reason the pants couldn't be worn over top of armour or underneath a one-piece suit like an Aerostich. The Rapala gear is designed to be worn underneath outerwear so I've not had a problems with them bunching or being too thick. FYI the pants have a drawstring waist and the jacket has a nifty integral drawstring hidden in the pockets (a few inches above the bottom hem) so there is never an issue with getting everything snug. Those ice fishing guys got it good...

It was right around zero degrees when I rode in this morning and was very comfortable. No issues; I love these...
 
I love the thought of "windproof".

As for helmet fogging, search eBay for the respro 'foggy'. It's the best device I've found to prevent fogging up my full face helmet.
 
Rotten_Ronnie said:
I love the thought of "windproof".

As for helmet fogging, search eBay for the respro 'foggy'. It's the best device I've found to prevent fogging up my full face helmet.
Click to expand...

Oxford balaclava solves the fogging, and keeps your melon warm at the same time.
 
Jayv said:
Oxford balaclava solves the fogging, and keeps your melon warm at the same time.
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For you perhaps, but I've never had good results breathing through the balaclava.

Have you tried the Foggy? It velcros into your helmet, sits on your nose and forces all the breath down and out the bottom of the helmet. Balaclavas simply don't work that way for me, but I do use a snowmobile one for extreme cold temperatures in addition to my foggy.

I'd like to try pinlock at some point.
 
Rotten_Ronnie said:
For you perhaps, but I've never had good results breathing through the balaclava.

Have you tried the Foggy? It velcros into your helmet, sits on your nose and forces all the breath down and out the bottom of the helmet. Balaclavas simply don't work that way for me, but I do use a snowmobile one for extreme cold temperatures in addition to my foggy.

I'd like to try pinlock at some point.
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Many helmets have an insert that does this available. 2 of mine came with them but I didn't think of it until someone mentioned it on here. It's not 100% but definitely works better than without.
 
Rotten_Ronnie said:
For you perhaps, but I've never had good results breathing through the balaclava.

Have you tried the Foggy? It velcros into your helmet, sits on your nose and forces all the breath down and out the bottom of the helmet. Balaclavas simply don't work that way for me, but I do use a snowmobile one for extreme cold temperatures in addition to my foggy.

I'd like to try pinlock at some point.
Click to expand...

Yes had a Foggy a few years ago, sold it or gave it to Wobblycat. Oxford has a newer material for their balaclava's which works a lot better than previous ones.
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