I rode from Chicago to LA a few weeks ago, it was 18º with heavy snow when I left, and didn't get above freezing for 2 days moving south. My biggest problem was how to deal with the ice filled roads.
I wore a BMW balaclava, Rukka Armas suit (rode the TAT offroad in 115º temps in same suit) , Gerbings microwire jacket liner, Gerbings G3 gloves, and Rukka Outlast long underwear.
My feet were the only dangerously cold parts of my body... I couldn't find my heated socks so I just suffered. Numerous stops at trucks stop showers kept me from getting frostbite.
The G3 gloves with the heated drips kept my hands warm the whole way.
On another note, I am severely disappointed with the new Gerbings microwire jacket.
As a matter of fact I hate it.
I have an older version jacket, but like the 2 I had before it, one of the arms stopped working. Not wanting to wait the LONG turnaround time for Gerbings to fix it I got a new one.
Sucked into the Micro wire Hype.
Seems to me that Gerbings has gone the way of too many american companies and have cheaped out with their "new" China made jackets.
The old ones had nearly 100% coverage, with heating wires all over the jacket, and while it wasn't the most reliable it DID IT's JOB of keeping you warm.
The new one only has heating elements on the tops of the arms, and rectangular patches on the chest, plus a square on the back. I would say it's only about 60% coverage!
While I did survive my cold ride, I've never been so cold and warm at the same time. The tops of my arms were warm, the bottoms freezing. My back was warm, my kidney area was freezing.
The jacket is so thin, missing the Thinsulate insulation that the old style had. Now, without any insulation the jacket is worthless to wear around the campsite to stay warm, on top of not keeping you warm on the bike.
Beware, if you want to ride in temps below freezing, I would look elsewhere that the micro wire or for the old style Gerbings. I will more than likely be looking for something else or going back to the old one.
BTW, they no longer offer socks, just insoles.
It looks very obvious to me that Gerbings has totally sold out to profits. I can see how it must greatly reduce manufacturing costs to just have a small number of pre made panels to add in, instead of having a insulated liner inside the jacket with wires woven in all over the place.
The insoles must surly be cheaper to mass make then hand woven wires in the socks.
Sellouts!
They used to put so much effort into fitting you correctly with a vast amount of sizes and options because it's important for it to fit correctly, now, they just have basic sizes with the long arm option. I tried on 3 jackets, but none of them seem to be perfect.
Another example of why I think they just sold out to China and profits.
I'm all about companies making money, but to sell a product that does a poor job in comparison, while trying to market it as being better is shady.
end of rant.
My cross country story:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=645690
