All set for Winter

[Sit]

At the beginning of winter last year, I bought some hippo hands in an effort to keep my hands warm and dry and to help the heated grips work better. The hippo hands worked, but I did not like how they fit, they left a big gap around the controls, and they seemed a bit short to me. They did help though alot, to the point of letting me ride without the heat on the grips for the most part.

Not be 100% happy with them though, to the garage I went with tape measure and pen and paper. After making a couple of different patterns and messing around a bit, I settled on a design and got the material. With material in hand, I went to a friends house who knows how to sew. Several hours later, they were done and turned out great I think. They work great, offer great weather protection and dont get in the way of the controls at all.

Tryin to keep the cost reasonable, I used cordura nylon on the outside (waterproof fabric a bit pricey), fleece as an insulating liner and nylon as the final liner, so velcro on the jacket wont grab on to it. I am really happy with how they turned out and just wanted to share.

This picture has a hippo hand on the left and mine on the right


This is both of mine on


Bring on the cold, I'm ready

[toner87]

Nice work. I'm sure you get funny looks when you get off that thing and leave your forearms behind!
T.

[joejeweler]

Hehehe,

.......original "Hippo Hands" a bit short, heh?
You sure fixed that!

Next project is fit a cap over the oil cooler vent and direct it up underneath your coat!

Your new hands come out and could tie right in to the oil cooler outlet,......all you need is a "T".

Actually, i thought about doing that, with a quick disconnect
at the outlet side of the oil cooler vent that i could hook up to
or remove as the outside temps dictated or tuck into the
sidecases to prevent theft when parked.

Maybe someday,.......sure would beat even the heated
seat solution. I was amazed at how nice and warm the air
felt coming out of that vent once the engine got up to
operating temperature and you were moving at least 30 MPH.
At highway speeds it's even better!

Maybe i'll work on it over the winter.........

[wncbmw]

They look good and should keep your hands warm but my problem with my fake-Hippo Hands years ago was to the inablility to access the handlebars quickly after removing my hands to adjust the faceshield or scratch. Your extra length looks like it would make that problem worse. Do you think so? How did you combat the problem?

[Sit]

So far it has not been a problem. There is boning around the opening to hold it open and there are enough layers that when the arm is out it doesnt flop downwards. I used the stiffest cordura I could find. I think having it velcroes so far past the hand grip, that helps too. If it gets to that point, I will put some more boning on the top to hold it up.

[Sit]

Joe, to go along with your idea, the motor guys at work when they are on their Kawasaki bikes (most are gone now) they have heavy duty lap blankets that fasten to the front of the bike and tuck in around their upper legs. I have often thought about something like that to capture the heat from the coolers. When I dont have the mits on and it is cold, I quite often ride with a hand shoved in the cooler to warm up.

[joejeweler]

Yep,.....the few times i've forgotten to wear my insulated gloves, and it's gotten a bit nippy
once the sun went down,......i was amazed at how nice the air flow was form the oil cooler vent.

........should be an easy way to harness the warm air flow,.......and since we're talking
about colder days i doubt the engine would mind sharing the heat. I believe some
even put a restriction cover over the vent to allow the engine to get to normal
operating temps, which can be a problem at touring speeds and low temps.

Joe, to go along with your idea, the motor guys at work when they are on their Kawasaki bikes (most are gone now) they have heavy duty lap blankets that fasten to the front of the bike and tuck in around their upper legs. I have often thought about something like that to capture the heat from the coolers. When I dont have the mits on and it is cold, I quite often ride with a hand shoved in the cooler to warm up.

[GeoffJ]

Nice work. I'm sure you get funny looks when you get off that thing and leave your forearms behind!
T.

LOL!

[chris]

Great job! Mine are the traditional shorties but are fantastic at keeping the wind and rain off. No problems getting in and out as there are metal bands in the cuffs to hold the shape. Heat from the cylinders dries them nicely as well after a downpour. Thing I like best is being able to wear summer unlined gloves for a better feel.





They didn't fit around the mirrors at first but the textiles technician at work did a great job of putting a neat slot in there with a velcro closer for me. On and off time is about 30 seconds the pair.

[chris]

Next project is fit a cap over the oil cooler vent and direct it up underneath your coat!

Your new hands come out and could tie right in to the oil cooler outlet,......all you need is a "T".

I had a plan to heat the bars on my XR by welding up the bar ends and running some more oil lines to pipe hot oil through them.

[ken k]

cool (or should i say warm) hand grips covers.

don't forget your snow tires....

ken k

[Sit]

Well, finally got the R out for more than a trip around the block to check out how the new mits work. In a word, great! Was a 40 degree day and decided to go check out the location of the new dealership that will be opening in March if construction stays on schedule. Can you believe it, a new dealership! No more 2 plus hour ride for service, just 45 easy minutes. Anyway, got on the highway and the mits didnt push in or collapse at all. The material is just stiff enough to hold its shape, but soft enough to crease and fold as need to accomodate the angle of the arms etc. My old ones had sheets of plastic in them that made them hard to move out of the way if they pushed into the coltrols. My new ones did not do this and if I did have to move them away from a control, starter, it was easy to do. Once I got the chill of the grips, I turned the heat off and road comfortably with no heat on and with only summer gloves on. Taking my hands out, either moving or stopped, the mits did not fold flat, but stayed open and was quite easy to put arm back in. I am quite happy with them and the $35 it cost to make them.