Using heated clothing (heated vest, heated jacket liner or jacket, heated pants) without paying attention to plugging cold air leaks would be similar to a friend complaining that his furnace is not producing enough heat in a house full of cold-air drafts. Would you agree that the first thing to do would not be to increase the furnace capacity, but to plug the leaks?

The same thing happens when we ride. If you are riding in the cold with a textile jacket, cold is probably leaking through. The goal is to seal out the cold and seal in the warmth.

2 Part System:

When riding in cold weather, I use a two-part system.

1. an external wind barrier
2. an internal wind barrier

I normally wear my rain jacket over my riding jacket. This provides a wind barrier and cuts down enormously on cold air leaking in. Remember your friend with the drafty house?

Under my riding jacket, I wear another wind-stopping and breathable shell. This protects the microclimate next to my skin. It serves a dual purpose. To prevent stray cold air leaking in from displacing heat, as well to keep body heat from migrating out towards the colder jacket.

Depending on how cold it is, I will wear a thinner or thicker layer of fleece under the inner wind barrier. My electric vest or heated jacket liner is worn under the fleece to be closer to the skin, normally over wicking t-neck. Cotton is probably the worst fabric to be wearing. It's comfortable when dry but will have you miserable if damp.

Using this system allows me to use lower settings on my heated clothing. On a CBR 929 that offers more limited weather protection, I rarely need to use settings higher than than 40-50% of max, even during the coldest, dampest rides.

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