Heated pants liner or better over pants?

Does anybody have recommendations on going heated pants liner vs. better over pants?

I've been doing a lot of debating lately about how to stay warm this winter. I ride everyday to work, about 22 miles each way, in the VA/MD/DC area.

Currently I am using some Joe Rocket Atomic pants (Joe Rocket Atomic Pants - RevZilla) as over pants. The work great but they are definitely not warm enough for the below 50 days. For cold days I add some sports workout pants as a liner. I am thinking about:

1 - Adding heated pant liners (Tour Master Synergy 2.0 Heated Chap Liner - RevZilla and Firstgear Dual Portable Heat Troller - RevZilla)

or

2 - Getting better over pants. These match my jacket and have great reviews - Tour Master Flex Pants - RevZilla

Thoughts?

Last winter I used a FirstGear Thermo suit here in Seattle for my 45 minute commute and was comfortable down into the 20s. Most of the winter here is in the 40's and wet. It did really well all winter and was under $200. Better pants is what I would go with.

I would always recommend electric heated clothing.

I have Sliders pants with a thermal/waterproof liner and also some "Freeze Out" thermal knee wraps. Did 60 miles yesterday morning with temps between 22-25 F. No problem.
I do agree with OCR if you want to ride a long ways. The only piece of heated gear I have are gloves and they are WONDERFUL!

I have Tourmaster Flex pants. They are mesh with a zip-off outer textile layer, and thermal/rain liners. I have worn them with all 4 layers and my legs are plenty warm. I see no need for heated leg liners, and I ride down into the teens sometimes. Now heated insoles are something I wouldn't mind

draco_1967 said:

I have Tourmaster Flex pants. They are mesh with a zip-off outer textile layer, and thermal/rain liners. I have worn them with all 4 layers and my legs are plenty warm. I see no need for heated leg liners, and I ride down into the teens sometimes. Now heated insoles are something I wouldn't mind

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Do you find that they are too tight when wearing over your regular pants? I would need to wear the over pants over my slacks for work.

I have the Flex over pants and jacket. Both zippers on the legs and the crotch zipper broke by 2 years of use. Since the legs have double pulls I can get them to work with the upper pull and just not zip the crotch. Run the lower pull down to get it out of the way, then run the upper pull down and up to zip them. With both liners in they are warm though the crotch would get a bit cool after an hour when below freezing. Without the liners you can take them on/off with boots on. Boots have go on last with either of the liners as they do not have side zippers. Also with the rain liner make sure you get the crotch section pulled up good before you fasten the belt line snaps. The liner would tend to slide down a little and then I'd get a wet crotch.

I have had some zipper issues, but I'm going on 4 years with these pants. That is on and off twice daily. When the zippers give me trouble, I take a pair of needle nose pliers and pinch the back of the zipper thing back together so it seats the teeth properly.

They fit a little more snugly with both liners in, but not overly tight.

I have warmnsafe jacket, pants liners and socks mated with a pair of Gerbings heated gloves. The gloves are controlled by one circuit froma wireless duel controller and the socks and pantliner from the other. Absolute bliss - wish I had done it years ago.
Mike

Funny. When I was a kid (in Michigan) and didn't know about gear, I rode in Carharts when the weather turned from cool to cold. They were very warm as I recall.

I have heated pants that I only wear if riding below 40 F degrees ALL DAY LONG. If just for a few hours hours I wear extra rain pants that are more wind proof. I ride to work every day (not 22 miles) and even for 22 miles, I wouldn't buy heated pants unless you ride all day long.

Hi Greenex!

I am between DC and Baltimore and a couple of years ago I was doing some outside winter work so I went to Wally World and bought Walls brand "Blizzard Pruf" coveralls. They kept me warm while working outside, mostly sitting in the cold. I had to ride my bike to work the last 2 days, 11 miles each way and over my street clothes I wore the coveralls, my Can-Am rain jacket and then on top my Scorpion EXO motorcycle jacket with its thin liner. Along with some insulating hunting boots with wool socks and an insulated balaclava and my old ski gloves I stayed comfortable. Sometimes just slightly cool around the edges. Problem is all of this is bulky and I felt like the Michelin Dough-Boy and when it warmed up I got hot and I don't have my trunk yet to store some of the layers. I'm thinking about looking at heated over-clothes that might be only one layer and thinner so I can turn on the heat when it is cold and turn it off when the weather changes so I won't get so warm.

Charles

With a heated jacket liner and HotHands toe warmers I haven't needed the thermal liner in my First Gear Kathmandu over-pants riding a couple hours with temps in 30s. Most motorcycle over-pants are designed / sized to be worn over street pants. The toe warmers are key for me to be comfortable.

Thanks for the input guys. I know, for some, 22 miles is a short ride, but the more comfortable I am the more I will enjoy motorcycling, and so I will ride more

Personally, I lean towards a heated liner because I could then easily add other heated gear as time goes on. A few guys at work are trying to steer me towards the over pants idea. They also have large fairings on their bikes.

I think I'm going to try and eliminate my electric gear. I have a new Gerbing jacket liner with Warm and Safe gloves.
The other morning on the ride home, my left glove quit working. My fingers started to hurt by the time I got home. The bank thermometer read 5 degrees F.
If my commute would have been longer than 30 miles I would have been in trouble.
When I checked the resistance on my gear, I found nothing wrong.
I'm not going to count on the electric gear anymore. But it sure is nice when it works. Ymmv

DanH said:

Last winter I used a FirstGear Thermo suit here in Seattle for my 45 minute commute and was comfortable down into the 20s. Most of the winter here is in the 40's and wet. It did really well all winter and was under $200. Better pants is what I would go with.

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I applied for a job in Bothell, WA a week or two ago, have not heard back yet.
One of the more exciting ideas behind moving to the area is being able to ride year round (I might sell the car to avoid moving it.)

This morning had low temperatures around 3F, it's been a few days since the last snow (and it wasn't much snow) so the roads aren't horrible, but they probably won't be cleared up to the point where the NC can come out of the garage again until April.

anglachel said:

I applied for a job in Bothell, WA a week or two ago, have not heard back yet.
One of the more exciting ideas behind moving to the area is being able to ride year round (I might sell the car to avoid moving it.)

This morning had low temperatures around 3F, it's been a few days since the last snow (and it wasn't much snow) so the roads aren't horrible, but they probably won't be cleared up to the point where the NC can come out of the garage again until April.

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Good luck with that job offer. I live and now work both in Bothell. It's a great area if you have kids and family. Housing is reasonable by area standards, schools are great and there are plenty of services, grocery stores, restaurants and what have you. And its in easy reach of everything else the area has to offer.

But the number one thing about the Bothell area is the great roads to ride for motorcycles in that area.

Old Can Ride said:

But the number one thing about the Bothell area is the great roads to ride for motorcycles in that area.

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Sunday afternoon in the Snohomish river valley, Make a left onto Hwy9 and north to Mt Baker, a left to the coast and a lazy Sunday twisty fest up Chuckanut drive to Bellingham, grab a ferry across to the Olympic Pennisula or Bainbridge Island, 450 miles of Cascade loop starts right in Bothell, Mt St Helens is 3 hours South, Mt Ranier is two hours south, Highway 2 through Stevens Pass to Leavenworth, and in all of that we have only headed east to the dry side once and haven't talked about heading down the Oregon coast. Dang straight, well twisty I guess, the roads are built for motorcycles around here.