Looking for opinions on Bickle warmers from China

ppawlows said:

John, will your warmers perform equally well on a basic generator versus an inverter generator?

Click to expand...

Yup. We have many warmers being run in the AMA and CSBK with Honda inverter 1000 style becasue they are easy to use on pit lane.
We've never had a problem with most generators.

Thank you all for your input, this has been a very informative thread. I have one more question: has anyone tried using an inverter hooked up to deep cycle baterries to run tire warmers?

ppawlows said:

Thank you all for your input, this has been a very informative thread. I have one more question: has anyone tried using an inverter hooked up to deep cycle baterries to run tire warmers?

Click to expand...

Typical deep cycle battery can be ~75AHx12V=900 watt-hours. Basically, a typical battery will be dead after less than an hour running a single set of warmers (probably much less as you are drawing something like 80 amps). Stick with the genny.

ppawlows said:

Thank you all for your input, this has been a very informative thread. I have one more question: has anyone tried using an inverter hooked up to deep cycle baterries to run tire warmers?

Click to expand...

I have US customers that us their tow vehicle as the generator and use a 3000 watt inverter off the tow vehicle. But you would have to be prepared to run your vehicle for an hour several times a day.

I wanted to purchase Bickle warmers, but this deal I could not refuse came up on kijiji and purchased a set of Woodcraft warmers. So, I measured power consumption to be 300W front and 350W rear for combined consumption of 650 Watts. This is much lower than expected and my 1000W generator has no problem running these.
John, is this power consumption too low? Is there a minimum power consumption required to effectively heat up the tires?

ppawlows said:

I wanted to purchase Bickle warmers, but this deal I could not refuse came up on kijiji and purchased a set of Woodcraft warmers. So, I measured power consumption to be 300W front and 350W rear for combined consumption of 650 Watts. This is much lower than expected and my 1000W generator has no problem running these.
John, is this power consumption too low? Is there a minimum power consumption required to effectively heat up the tires?

Click to expand...

Yup,, It's resistance wire! Less resistance , less heat. You'll probably see in around 60 maybe 70 Celcius hopefully,,correct me if I'm wrong.650 is the lowest I have seen. Our good stuff is just over 900Watts and the CHinese is 1300ish. Most warmers made in China which is nearly everything today is in that 1200 to 1500 window. Think C-H dropped their wattage recently. At that temp you have trouble building rim temperature and most tires today like hotter then cooler.

Thought I update this thread...so during the season, I was able to measure power consumption on 4 sets of Woodcraft warmers and found it to be between 650 and 700 Watts. Furthermore, I have contacted Woodcraft and they confirmed that this is the expected range for their warmers.
My 1200W Champion generator, purchased new from CT for $200, had no problems powering these warmers and run great all summer.

ppawlows said:

Thought I update this thread...so during the season, I was able to measure power consumption on 4 sets of Woodcraft warmers and found it to be between 650 and 700 Watts. Furthermore, I have contacted Woodcraft and they confirmed that this is the expected range for their warmers.
My 1200W Champion generator, purchased new from CT for $200, had no problems powering these warmers and run great all summer.

Click to expand...

Non of that really matters as much as the heat out put. In a 45 minute window at 20 C ambient,, what would your max temp be on the tire and rim temp?
That is the lowest I have ever seen next to Tyre Sox. Too little and it usually means not enough heat. Just curious. To qualify, is it enough heat to run competitively racing? I have seen "Warmers" not build enough heat and cause unusual tire wear.

I just noticed this thread. Here's something I posted on another thread in response to a similar inquiry.


After putting 7 years and 105 days of use on the older fully programmable Bickle warmers I bought a new set of the programmable warmers at the last RACE round in 2015 and am pretty happy with the product. The material is much easier to wrap around the tires and the elastic skirt seems to help the warmer wrap around the cross section of the tire much better than before. The new Velcro placement took a little getting used to but it also seems to be a bit more robust and easier to use. At first I wasn't too keen on the new controller box but the new set up allows you a bit more latitude to spin the wheel if need be, in case you neglected to position the valve stem correctly or if you want to partially unwrap the tire in order to drop the wheel for a quick spring change, etc.... The new warmers also came up to temp much faster than the old programmable model even on a chilly late September morning and can heat up the latest Dunlop slick to the proper temperatures, something the 80 degree models could not achieve.

The price point seems to place this particular model competitively among or below the adjustable models from CH, Woodcraft, and even some of the mid grade manufacturers and with the state of the current exchange rate this is likely much worse today. Be cautious when comparing multi temp models with fully adjustable models as some manufacturer's multi temp models max out at 80 degrees Celsius, making them less effective with some of the latest generation tires.

Also note that some models may say 80 but in fact are less. so ensure you check to see that the displayed temp is in fact the real temp.
And what was,,,,,isn't. So if you are talking to people that bought 2-3 years ago,,, keep in mind the desired temp then is not what is desired today.
So ensure with "ANY" warmer you are getting to your desired temp. Plus if it comes up too fast you can heat shock the tire and not actually heat soak the tire.
Never is simple is it?


Thanks doubleapex!

My 1200W Champion generator, purchased new from CT for $200, had no problems powering these warmers and run great all summer.[/QUOTE]

Same here the little Champion 1200w does the job very well and always start at the first pull.

Bickle Racing said:

Non of that really matters as much as the heat out put. In a 45 minute window at 20 C ambient,, what would your max temp be on the tire and rim temp?
That is the lowest I have ever seen next to Tyre Sox. Too little and it usually means not enough heat. Just curious. To qualify, is it enough heat to run competitively racing? I have seen "Warmers" not build enough heat and cause unusual tire wear.

Click to expand...

I did not measure tire temperature, but the rims felt warm to touch.

I do not trust anything anymore. I have seen generators running fine and warmers not working 100% I have seen Yamaha 1000's trying to run two sets of warmers and doing a very poor job of it.Owner wondering why they are cold tearing. I have seen XYZ warmers showing 85 Celcius and barely getting above 60C. So unless you have data and can say the rubber is 75-85 C across the tread and the rim is 35 C with an ambient temp of 25 C. If it's 15 C out 65 C feels really warm.
I have seen tire guys and riders busting their chops to figure out why a bike is ripping up tires. When in fact the 85 C the warmer is suppose to be at is 65 C.
I have seen guys with two hundred feet of extension cord and the warmers only at 60 C.
So the worst thing anybody can do in this sport is trust anything. Double check, triple check and check again, And while we're checking check your tire gauge against others,, not one but many,,, and check that you checked that as well and Hallelujah! Holy sX&t! Where's the Tylenol?

We were getting two different tire pressure readings at boogie this summer with two different gauges. So we tested them both against pro6 tester and one was reading 5 PSI less. Good idea to also check your pressure gauge

John lent me a set of his programmable warmers for most rounds this year, i found that going out with a tire temp (measured with a laser gun) at 95c was perfect for shannonville. having your tires at proper temp on the first lap is the difference between wining and not sometimes.
Thanks John!:notworthy: