I just thought I'd share some practical information with anyone on the forum who, like myself, plans to keep riding through the winter and is looking for the best ways to stay warm and dry!

Firstly, I bought the Oxford Hot Grips which are amazing! Almost impossible to ride with them at the highest setting as they really get too hot! But at 40% or 75% capacity they are perfect. I paid far too much to a Honda dealer to install them with a relay via the ignition, but that's another story!

I decided to additionally install The Tucano Urbano hand muffs (thanks to a recommendation on this site - I forget who?), and they not only look so much better than many other models out there, but completely eliminate any chill factor due to the wind! In combination with the heated grips they create two wonderful pockets of hot air around both my hands. I had to make a couple of minor adjustments to the muffs as when installed it became tricky to operate the indicators, but this was quickly solved with a tiny slit in the material where the tip of my thumb rested, and on the throttle side which was ever so slightly sticking, I simply wrapped the offending rubber section of the hot grips with a strip of insulating tape, allowing for a friction free return of the throttle to the neutral position!

And finally, I have just ordered the cheap hand made leg deflectors from Nelson, as my "granny blanket" which is what I call my leg cover thing, keeps lifting up due to the wind flow on my Silverwing, which never happened on my Honda PS125i. I'm hoping that the deflectors will cure this problem, as my legs remain the only part of me that feels anything less than completely warm and comfortable in the recently plummeting temperatures here in Austria!

I hope this has been of some use to you all, and I am more than happy to answer any questions with regards to my much appreciated new add-ons

SteVe

An item of motorcycle clothing you will be able to buy in Austria, or Germany is the Thermokombi. It's like a roomy one-piece waterproof rain suit with a thick thermal lining. It might be just the thing to keep yourself warm with on your rides with just your normal clothes on underneath.

I had something similar on a bike i rode for 3 winters in Tulsa. They made going to the grocery store, and the laundry mat almost bearable with 16 inches of snow on the ground! Try that on a kZ1000! wooo hooooo, loads of fun! They did work wonders though. I think they were called hippo hands or something, and i will have another set.