ROUTE 66 IN NOVEMBER: HOW HEATED GEAR SAVED MY RIDE

I’ve been riding motorcycles for a long time. I’ve done plenty of 75-and-sunny pleasure cruises, I’ve done thousands of miles in the rain, I’ve dodged salt trucks. There was even that one time I did two hours home in the middle of the night in a surprise snow storm.

But this isn’t a story about me or my many, many riding achievements (although it could be, because I am obviously very cool and everyone should know it). It’s a story about heated riding gear.

Really, it’s a story of redemption — about a salty old biker who let his ego take a nap and decided that winter riding shouldn’t be about achieving the “I Suffered For It” merit badge as much as it should be about enjoying every ride, whenever, wherever, and however it happens.

I’ve always been anti-heated riding gear. Like most people in the anti-heated riding gear camp, I considered it “cheating.” If you can’t suffer through the cold weather in the winter, then maybe you should park it and wait until Spring.

It’s a silly take, up there in silliness with, “If you don’t like your steak rare, maybe you should try a nice wedge salad” and “three-in-one body wash is all a man really needs.”

But then, a few weeks back, I decided late November would be a perfect time to ride a motorcycle across all of historic Route 66. And my opinion changed.

Look... Is a run down Rt. 66 at the end of November something I would have chosen for myself if I was the guy in charge of making the plans?

Honestly? Probably not. The Internet says the best time to do Rt. 66 is either late spring or early fall. It’s warm (but not brutal) through the Midwest and Southwest, and the headlock that is the desert heat isn’t enough to make you tap out. The winds coming south out of Chicago are tamer, and the temperatures are, too.

Luckily, somebody smarter than me did. My H-D colleague, Scott Toepfer, has spent more time on this iconic stretch of road and in this unbelievably beautiful part of the country in his life than I could ever hope to. He grew up and cut his teeth out here.

I was just a tourist. And while I was waving off our potential weather woes, Scott was busy insisting that we take some precautions.

One that he wouldn’t budge on? Heated gear.

I resisted. I remember a meeting where I said, “Scott, chill out, man. The weather looks good this time of year. We’ll be fine.”

But Scott wouldn’t let down.

So, myself and the two other guys in the group gave him our sizing and he politely asked the folks on H-D's Parts & Accessories team to bless us with some heated gear. At the time, I didn’t even intend on using it. I was going to keep it wrapped in the plastic inside the saddle bag and give it back to them once we returned. Using it wasn’t even on my radar.

When I really think about it, I have one complaint. Just one.

To run this gear, you need a 12-volt heated gear battery harness that hooks up to the battery terminals and comes with a female connector to plug into the male connector in the jacket liner (or the bottoms, if you’re not running the jacket liner).

(Quick aside, for clarity: You can’t run the boot liners without the bottoms or the glove liners without the jacket. The jacket liner and bottoms can plug directly into the harness, but the glove liners need to be connected to the jacket, and the boot liners to the bottoms.)

The newer bikes technically come with this harness from the factory. It’s located under the seat, near the battery box. However, be warned: that harness cable is way too short, and makes it dang-near impossible to plug in the jacket (or the pants) effectively.

Luckily, Harley not only sells these extended battery harnesses separately, but they also include an extra one with the jacket (and the bottoms, I believe). The harness swap is quick and easy, and only takes 15 minutes to “install,” even for folks who don’t typically spin their own wrenches.

Once I swapped the harness, I had ample room to move around freely and never had a single problem.

All in, we were on Rt. 66 for eight days, including a weather day we had to take to let a snow storm pass in Flagstaff. I ran the heated gear to one extent or another the entire way.

Whether it was a brisk morning where I just had the heated glove and sock liners on, or a 29-degree morning ice skating out of Flagstaff and running the whole kit and caboodle on full blast, there wasn’t a single day I didn’t use it.

All of this is to say that I was a complete non-believer in heated gear before we took off down Rt. 66. But now? I’m sold. The gear is well worth the investment, whether you’re trying to tackle America’s Mother Road, or simply trying to get around town comfortably when the temps drop.

I may not understand why anyone would want to eat a steak that isn’t cooked rare (yet), but I absolutely understand why everyone should try heated gear. Buy the ticket and take the ride. You won’t regret it.