Heated Women's Motorcycle Gear, Updated

UPDATED: OCTOBER 2019

A few years ago I wrote this post about heated motorcycle gear options for women.

New Women’s FirstGear Heated Jacket Liner for 2019/2020

When I wrote that post, there was only 1 option for 12V gear for us; WarmnSafe.

But now we have a 3 Options for 12 Volt Riding Gear. Quick Refresher:

12V(olt) heat offers the most heating to anyone who rides a 50-75mph on a motorcycle.

7V(olt) heat is great to go to a football game, or slower city speeds (10-20mph)

You can find a ton of 7V products on the market because there are far more women doing everyday activities like going to games, bicycling, walking to work, etc.

This post is all about 12V Gear because you can find plenty of 7V options on the market. 12V products are far less common and will be the focus of this post.

When you want something that will provide the most heat possible and keep you warm all day riding at highway speeds, you need 12V gear.

Keep in mind that this means you need a rock solid outer jacket to wear over all of these options.

Something along the lines of this Rev’it Horizon tarted there, then we need to talk offline.

One thing to note when it comes to ANY heated gear choices that have integrated controllers. Even though alll connections are the same with all these brands, you don’t want to mix and match integrated controller options with NON integrated controller options because you can’t control the heat of those options through the garments that don’t have integrated controllers.

Basically, you’ll never mix Gerbing and old FirstGear/WarmnSafe with new FirstGear or Olympia.

So here are all the options currently available for 12V Plug In Gear:

1/ FirstGear Heated Jacket, Pants and Gloves

Our newest option on the market is FirstGear. For Fall 2019/Winter 2020 (yikes, is it already the future), they’ve released 3 new items:

• Heated Jacket Liner

• Heated Pant Liner

• Heated Gloves

You can still purchase their previous generation liners and gloves (for both genders). But this release will probably replace the old product lines eventually.

Both liners and the gloves offer all new integrated controllers. This means that you won’t need to purchase any separate controllers. The jackets, pants and gloves all have these controller buttons, so that also means you won’t want to mix and match brands that require them.

What I especially love is the added protection that FirstGear is offering on the new gloves. Double palm sliders! This is difficult to find on regular gloves, let alone heated. I can’t wait to upgrade my heated jacket liner now.

They are also using new micro alloy heated elements in the garments, so that means less wires! The heat also covers all zones: neck, sleeves, chest, back, front of thighs to knees.

(Photo of Jacket LIner is not a women’s specific liner)

The fitment seems to be just like the first generation liners, so check out my review of my older WarmnSafe Liner (which were sold as FirstGear Liners previously). I think they’re right in between Olympia (only slightly slimmer than FirstGear) and Gerbing (boxy).

Also, bonus features: the jacket liner folds into itself (like some rain jackets). And the pants include a small pouch that you can stuff them into for traveling.

FirstGear Kits v. Non Kits

So when you are shopping for FirstGear Liners, you’re going to see these awesome kits just for the Jackets. They will be priced ~$75 more than the options without a kit. These include a fancy portable battery! Yep, that means exactly what you think it means. You will be able to plug in your jacket to a small portable battery. Keep in mind however, that it will only be useful for short rides, I’d say less than an hour at most. I’d recommend this option if you have a very short commute and don’t have enough available power for your bike.

I also know what you’re thinking. ‘That’s Great! I can just order a battery if I need to”. Unfortunately not, you can’t buy their battery separately. You’ll have to invest in the Antigravity option or similar below for Gerbing.

2/ North Bay Heated Jacket and Pants by Olympia.

When it comes to Women’s 12V Heated Gear, Olympia is the first company to offer an option with an integrated controller.

The reason I love my Warmnsafe Jacket is because it fit me so well. It’s stretchy and fitted, and was always comfortable under my gear. I always loved the fact that it also heated my collar, sleeves AND neck.

One of the issues with Olympia is the lack of heat in the sleeves, in my opinion. As a coldblooded rider, I need heat everywhere, not just my core. I know that keeping my core warm helps with extremities but I simply prefer as much heat as possible. Unless you’re a small person, you just don’t get how cold we are, even when we are layered with the best base/midlayers in the world!

Even with the best baselayers, and the warmest winter jackets to block as much as wind as well.

Just like FirstGear, the controllers are a single button on both garments! NO external controllers!

The button is raised so you can feel it through your main jacket. And it seems like an easy reach whether you’re right or left handed.

And I know what half (yes, that many of you) of you are thinking. Pink? Yep, even I can get past it because it’s such a great jacket.

I got my hands on one of the men’s ones today and if the woman’s jacket is the same material and stretch comfort, you are going to love it. Even with the hot pink, I do like the overall style of this jacket because you could easily wear it by itself with a battery like the Antigravity one below.

The fitment of this jacket is not as boxy as Olympia and not as forgiving as FirstGear.

I would recommend this option for the longest/slimmest fit of all 3 choices. It’s not a full European cut, but between all three I find that it’s narrower than the other two brands.

The other issue I have with Olympia is the lack of gloves. But it means that you will have to use the FirstGear Gloves above so that when you plug them into the sleeves, it will draw heat from the jacket to the gloves.

3/ GERBING

Even though Gerbing doesn’t offer a 12V women’s product line, they’re worth mentioning because of the fitment.

They’re a great option for the curviest of women out there, I would say ~45”-55” chests and/or waists, especially if you’re shorter waisted with very broad shoulders.

For example, you’re 5’8” and your bust is 45” and your waist is 42”. this will have plenty of room around your waist and just enough room over your hips. Not quite a full woman’s fitment for hips but since the waist has a little give around the hem and the roomy fit, it’s a great option for many women out there.

Like I said, they run VERY boxy. Even for the men, the Gerbing lines run big and almost everyone sizes down.

Another bonus that I discovered recently is this AMAZINGGGG PORTABLE BATTERY with a Coaxial Input! (e.g. you can plug your heated jacket liner into it!)

Antigravity Micro-Start XP-1

Aside from this bonus feature, it also acts a fully portable jump starter for your motorcycle, car or truck! We have the smaller one just for our bikes, the Sport Power Supply. It totally works and fits easily under most reasonable seats.

4/ WARMNSAFE / OLD FIRSTGEAR

If you read my first post about heated gear, you’ll read all about WarmnSafe Options.

I know this is confusing. But basically the older FirstGear Heated Liners that you see online (with wires hanging from them) are all branded by WarmnSafe because that’s who technically manufactured these liners. I believe that’s no longer the case with the new FirstGear Lines.

If I upgrade my heated gear, I’ll definitely be upgrading to new First Gear. I like the protection of the gloves and the integrated controllers. I’m done with external controllers.

So for all the hardcore women riders out there that need heated gear for your next trip to Alaska, NovaScotia or Canada I hope this is works out for you. Please, report back!

Are these motorcycle pants going to fit?

How do you know if a pair of leather pants / gloves / boots or jacket is going to fit or stretch? 

This question gets asked often as well. How do I know how much more it's going to stretch? It's difficult to say, really. But I can tell you that for the most part, leather can and does stretch. Especially when it come to motorcycle gear.

I recently acquired an older Rev'it pant (Marryls, pictured above) because I found them on eBay and couldn't pass them up. They're the BEST leather women's motorcycle pants I've ever seen on women of varied shapes/sizes. It's sad that Rev'it discontinued them here, because they're absolutely incredible. Of course, you can still get the fabulous Gear 2's but if you want something all leather without venting, these were a great option.

As soon as I tried to get them on, they were definitely difficult to zip up. Like, couldn't.zip.up.at.all. Like many of us do, I gave up, took them off and hoped I could drop 10lbs by the time I bought a motorcycle.

The problem was that they fit everywhere else SO damn good. I mean Perfect. I admit, I like my gear SNUG. I don't want a saggy butt, or saggy waist, or saggy anything. And that's generally how you want your gear to fit, if you can. It's a lot like clothes, when you wear bigger sizes you simply look bigger. Of course, it's also directly tied to safety as the placement of your body armor needs to be close to the body and immoveable in case of an accident.

I eventually slid them on and as soon as I pulled them over my hips, the stretching process started. Slowly I was able to pull the zipper up all the way (after 2-3 minutes or so) and it started to immediately feel better. You can see in the pic above that I could barely button the top, because the flap is showing. This is why it's SO important for you to try leathers on for MORE than 30 seconds. Of course, don't forget those crucial baselayers to make the process even smoother.  Another 5 minutes later and the waist/hip started to feel more comfortable to where I could sit in a chair, lean forward and start typing. I was even able to button it on the tighter (inner) button at the waist.

I know they're not done, and I have more stretching to go. I'll probably get about ~half size of break in and then they'll be loose enough to hopefully wear my winter weight thermals. It's been almost an hour and they feel SO much better than when I first started.

So don't give up, just give it a few minutes.. maybe 30..

Breaking in new Motorcycle Boots

 

I recently acquired these cute TCX X-Street Waterproof Motorcycle Shoes so I could have something stylish in this horrible snowy, cold winter we've been having.

I don't plan to ride in them, they're definitely a casual shoe for me. But, I wanted to share my experience breaking these in! It wasn't easy and definitely a little painful along the way. I tried them on and they felt pretty good. A little pressure across the toebox (width wise) but not too bad. I only wore them in the store for a few minutes. But as soon as I put them on the next day to wear to work, I completely forgot about this whole break in thing. (It's been a couple years since I've had to go through this).

And my feet were SCREAMING at me the whole time. 'WHY DID YOU BUY THESE? YOU'RE KILLING US?!' I was worried, a little worried. Okay, *really* worried. But, I knew I had to stick it out. The pressure wasn't so bad that I got bunions or anything, but they were just uncomfortable after 2-3 hours of wearing them. I just assumed that I wouldn't be able to wear them all day and would have to use them as cute, going out shoes. A dinner... a movie.. maybe some shopping.

But after a few weeks (not wearing them every day to work, but at least every couple), they fully broke in and I realized one day that my feet weren't killing me like they used to. These particular shoes were also very very wide in the heel and ran a full size large. I'm normally a Euro 37, US 6.5 but I had to go down to a Euro 36. With such a loose ankle, I realized that I needed to lace them very snug around the ankles. Otherwise my feet would slide forward and smush my foot into the toe box.

As soon as I laced them up nice and tight, it made a Huge difference because my ankles were sitting right where they should be so my feet weren't moving back and forth inside the boots. Remember, you don't want any forward and backward movement of your foot when it's inside the boot. And it's totally normal for your toe to be close to the edge of the toebox as long as it's not pushing forward into the very end as you walk.

I know breaking in gear is a b*tch, but it's SO worth it in the end. Try not to size yourself in the store (when it comes to leather), but size yourself the way you want it to fit a month from now.