By Joe Tatulli
Over the years I have tried and failed to find a suitable electric solution for cold weather riding. I had the Gerbings jacket liner, and the Aerostich Kamatsu vest and sleeves, but they didn’t really warm the cockles of my heart, or my arms, or my neck, or anything else for that matter. There was some warmth here and there but nothing that made a significant difference in how I felt… cold! As a cold weather rider I ended up with the layers approach and was somewhat comfortable when riding in the high twenty degree range for short distances to breakfast and the like.
About a month ago, I think at breakfast at the Granite Farm in Scituate, I was talking briefly with Catfish (Rich Roy) who was touting his new heated gear from Safe & Warm. It was a “shirt” made of what looked like a stretch material, in a quarter zip pullover. He said it worked great. The expression on his face told me that he was happy with his new gear. It also looked like a possible solution so I ordered a unit for myself to give the heated-gear thing one last try.
A few days later the shirt showed up at my door and when I opened the packaging I was optimistic. The weight of the shirt was the first thing that had me thinking that this might be helpful. It wasn’t flimsy, but rather was heavy duty. The second thing was the directions for use. I read it all before I hooked things up on the bike. So in the box is the shirt, the direct to battery wiring harness, and in my case the single unit, battery powered remote control, that they call the “Heat-Troller”. The first thing they ask you to do is to try the shirt on. I used their size chart and got the Large. It’s a pull over and they say that it should fit snug to the body. I pulled mine over and on, and it was snug across the chest , arms and neck as advertised. So far so good.
There is a small zippered pocket on the bottom right side of the shirt for the remote control receiver and coaxial power cable. I hooked that up per the very specific instructions. Done.
The next step was to connect the power supply cable to the battery. The 2017 R1200RS has a nice simple set up for this with both the positive and negative pole connections facing out under a small cover on the right side with just one screw. I ended up sliding the live end through the frame so it protruded out on the left/drivers side of the frame. In the end I pulled it up from under the seat so it was dead center where the seat and tank meet, and easily seen and held when connecting and disconnecting the shirt to the coaxial power supply.
The next step was mounting the Heat-Troller remote control. The unit comes with two brand name AAA batteries that you place into the unit and then seal it with four small phillips head set screws. Done. The unit comes with a piece of off-brand hook and loop material. I opted for the heavy duty Velcro branded material; similar to what they give you for your EZ-PASS toll transponder. It gives you that nice “click” when you snap it together. I put it on the left side of my dashboard area. Again, the 2017 R1200RS has a nice shelf area just under the left grip.
So after all this set up I was ready for a test run. The weather was a little too warm (45° to 50°) for heated gear but my curiosity was at the breaking point so I put on my travel gear (Aerostich R3 Roadcrafter Light Two-piece Suit), jumped on Valentina, hooked up the power supply and started the engine. Next I turned the remote to half power and instantly felt the start of some warmth. I had put on a long sleeve t-shirt (I wear as a base layer) under the Safe & Warm shirt as a buffer for what I had hoped would be my big cold weather solution, and amazingly it worked as advertised.
Catfish was right, this shirt hit the mark. As I headed out for the East Bay and a little trip to Newport via Fall River and then back over the bridges to home I enjoyed the warmth. First was the torso (front, back and sides), and then the arms all the way to my wrists, and also right up to my neck. The jacket liners hadn’t ever delivered the heat like this shirt did. As I rolled along I turned it down a bit and then up again as I crossed over to Portsmouth where the temperature was hovering around 40°. The beautiful thing was when I turned up the dial on the Heat-Troller I instantly felt the heat from the shirt go up as well. I can remember times when I used my other gear and couldn’t tell if it was working or not. This unit made me feel… wait for it… warm all over. It was like love at first sight, or something like that.
Yes I would recommend this shirt. The shirt is $179-$199, and the remote controller is another $99, so the whole outfit is almost three-hundred bucks. Well worth it. I did wear it for one Saturday morning breakfast where the temperature never went over 40° and it performed excellently. I refuse to say anything like, “I can’t wait for next winter…”, but hopefully the Warm and Safe Heated Shirt will continue to perform and keep me warmer longer into the cooler weather that comes to these parts every year.
