[Buckmaster]

Hi everyone, I know there are some heated grips and heated gloves that help keep hands warm. I just came in the house to thaw out my right thumb...it was **** near frozen. I need to do something about a frozen right hand and right thumb. For some reason my left hand stays much warmer. It is currently 8 degrees F. I do not like to hard wire anything due to inexperience, but this might just have to be an exception.

I'd like to ask everyone to reply with your method of keeping your thumb/hand(s) warm while plowing or riding in the very cold.

Thank you!

 

[Vincent]

Heat Demons (heated thumb and grips) are an absolute must for cold climate riding. Oh and a good windshield is also a huge help. I regularly ride in brutally cold -15 F ( -30 with the wind) weather all winter long.

 

[JimP]

Grip heaters work real nice for your hands. They are fairly straight forward to wire but the last ones that I got want you to hardwire them directly to the battery and not through a relay or the key switch. They depend on you turning them on and off to keep from killing the battery. I just wired a relay into the power supply for them that is only activated when the key is on.

As for that frozen thumb, you can also get a thumb heater that slips onto the throttle lever. I have never used one but know others that have them and they are pretty much standard equipment on snowmobiles so they must work.

Other than that finding someone else to do your plowing will also work.

 

[Nomad]

Heat Demons (heated thumb and grips) are an absolute must for cold climate riding. Oh and a good windshield is also a huge help. I regularly ride in brutally cold -15 F ( -30 with the wind) weather all winter long.

Same here and I have lined leather mitts with thumb and forefinger.

 

[TRW]

Anyone got a good source for the thumb and grip heaters?

 

[Nomad]

Anyone got a good source for the thumb and grip heaters?

Amazon was where I got mine. Look for heat demon dual zone.

 

[Primethious]

Heat demons for atv's are the way to go as they come with the thumb warmer, and they are pretty simple to install. Just read the instructions and don't rush yourself.
The grips have a bump on them where the wire comes out of them. Sit on your bike and rotate the grips to where the bump feels the most non intrusive and lock them down there.
I got mine from Ebay.


Getting some large hand guards helps reduce the wind on your hands also.

 

[TRW]

Thanks for the info, I am going to get some as I like being out when it is cold!

 

[Nomad]

I had a bad crush injury to my right thumb in 06 and I don't think I'd be able to ride in the cold without the thumb warmer.

 

[JimP]

I have a finger that is that way. I tried to slice it off just above the second joint and now when it gets cold I loose all feeling in it from the scar to the end of it.

The doctor told me that they could of done some micro surgery to repair the nerves but I was a macho type back then and said that I wasn't going to worry about it.

The things that we do when we are young.

 

[Firefighterjake]

Depending on how often you expect to have frozen hands . . . a cheap alternative for the once in awhile experience of cold hands can be made with chemical hand warming packs tossed inside a pair of gloves.

 

[Buckmaster]

Depending on how often you expect to have frozen hands . . . a cheap alternative for the once in awhile experience of cold hands can be made with chemical hand warming packs tossed inside a pair of gloves.

You are right on with that response! After my OP here we have several days of snow and my next time plowing was in 6 degree temps. I made it through half the driveway before my right thumb hurt more than I could take, so I went in and got two of the chemical handwarmers and after getting my thumb back to normal I stuffed one in each glove in the thumb hole and that kept me warm while I finished plowing. It can be a 2 hour plow job when we get a lot of snow here. I like to push all the piles back and even clean up the edges with the snowblower. I'll use these warmers until I install a permanent solution.

 

[Nomad]

The heat demon kit took me about 45 minutes to install. Easy install.

 

[Rexall]

Heated grips and thumb----would not have a machine without them. Even use in summer rainstorms in the mountains. Moose makes a version with four heat zones for grips and thumb. Rarely use the high setting and bounce back and forth to the other three.

 

[jjstokes]

I bought Harley Davidson heated jacket and gloves. It mounts to the battery and has a switch on it to turn it on. It’s like an electric blanket! Gloves plug in at the sleeves. This thing will keep you real warm.

 

[TRW]

So I ordered and installed the grips, but made the mistake of not getting the thumb warmer part. I will try to add it, but need to figure out where to get it now. Just a note for you all, I got the grips installed, and turned them on without the machine running and it took a long time to get warm. I was a bit concerned about the lack of heat, but thought well, it is what it is. The next day I took the machine to the woods and they were very warm and I loved them. I then realized that the battery voltage was about 12 volts and the running voltage was higher and that made a huge difference.

 

[Primethious]

I did some plowing today and finally noticed the settings I liked for that kind of work.
I ran the thumb warmer wide open, and the grips at 3 out of 5.

4 on the grips was too warm for slow moving with temps in the upper 20's.

 

[CanadianKodiak700]

i wish heat deamon made hand warmers that would work with custom grips. would love this setup, but i love my grippy spyder grips too much.

 

[Quadzilla]

Heat demons are great but I'm on my second set in less than a year. Lucky for me they honoured the warranty and Yamaha dealer gave me the second set right away. The last set just stopped working. Wiring was fine, module was fine but the grips and thumb just stopped heating up. Regardless, when they work they're awesome.

 

[TRW]

It will be interesting to see how the second set holds up. Any idea why they failed?