500 km with iXS Tour LT Heat ST: ready for winter
11.11.2020
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: Stephanie Tresch
Is motorcycling a summer pastime? No, but it's cold all the same. The question is whether heated gloves will be able to counter the Zug autumn on an electric motorbike.
It's November. It's cold and foggy, at least in the town of Zug. It's definitely not a time for motorcycling. But if you dare, you can experience the idyll of autumn. You don't have to go far to do it. Saddle up and get some altitude. Climb Zugerberg, for example. Above the sea of fog, 20 minutes from the lake, I drink a little coffee.
Yes, it's cold, of course. It's no coincidence that you see a lot more bikers in summer. In fact, it would be better to stay at home, snug under a blanket and in front of the television or the fireplace with a good book in your hands.
To ride safely in autumn, you need to adapt your equipment. Here, the motto "all Kevlar" is no longer enough. You're faced with a new enemy: the cold. Not only do you have the draught that cools you down in summer, but if the ambient air is below 10 degrees Celsius, the cold adds to the draught. Motorbike equipment manufacturer iXS has launched the iXS LT Heat ST, a glove designed to keep you warm even in the dead of winter. Not only is it thick and insulated, it's also heated.
However, the name wasn't chosen at random for marketing reasons, but rather to provide information:
- iXS: manufacturer's name, pronounced either "iks" as in the letter x, "ixes" or as in English "Excess". Comments? Need help?
- LT: leather textile (Leather Textile). In other words, the outer material of the glove.
- Heat: the glove is heated.
- ST: Solto Tex. A breathable and waterproof membrane.
So, just by reading the label, you know what you're in for: a battery-powered glove that warms your hands during your outings. But questions remain. If the gloves aren't on special offer, they're very expensive. Too expensive for a blind purchase.
Pre-shaped, with grip
The Heat ST - let's keep it simple - is a tool. iXS has got there and designed a glove that's made for just one thing: riding in winter. And it does it very well. I'm not generally a fan of thick gloves and prefer to have a bike with heated grips. And after the photo shoot on the Zugerberg, I'm looking for heated socks. Harley-Davidson offers everything with heating; other manufacturers probably do too. I'm just remembering the very expensive heated socks that suddenly don't seem so expensive after my motorbike climb. Because now my hands are nice and warm, but everything else is freezing. Heated clothing, particularly trousers, would really be much appreciated.
But Heat ST; they do a good job. The problem with thick gloves is the loss of feeling in the hands. Between the fingers, the brake, the clutch and especially the indicators are several layers of fabric that rub against each other, and attenuate the sensations normally present with thinner gloves. The LiveWire also comes with cruise control, which is already strange to handle with geniuses like the Five Stunt Evo.
Thankfully, this problem doesn't exist with the Heat STs. The glove fits well, there are no superfluous layers of fabric and no great loss of feel around the handlebars. With that alone, the gloves already score points.
What do I miss at first glance? The carbon parts. In other words, the carbon protection for the phalanges offered extra safety in the event of a fall. The Heat STs have leather pads on the knuckles. On the palm, where some manufacturers attach padding or a carbon slider, there is nothing on the Heat ST.
The hand position remains classic: you can't extend your fingers without the material rebelling. The Heat ST is a motorbike glove and a motorbike glove only. You won't be able to use it for everyday use or curling. Because of this, the grip on the handlebars is quite comfortable.
The biggest negative in the design is the velcro on the wrist. There are two velcro closures built into the Heat ST. The large one on the back of the sleeve is great. It's big and can easily be grabbed even with a glove, unlike the small one at the front of the wrist. You're above Zug, you want to take a photo, you pull out your mobile phone and forget that the Heat ST are smartphone compatible. At some point, you get the idea of putting the helmet down and opening the little Velcro fastener with your teeth. If you don't, you already think you won't be able to put your gloves down. Well, that's no tragedy, they're soft and warm.
A second charger for long journeys
The technology in the iXS LT Heat ST is simple, but effective. Two batteries power a circuit, which causes the glove to heat up. The result: your fingers and the back of your hand are nice and warm. It works perfectly.
The finishes are interesting, especially the technology used for charging. Long story short, the technology requires a second charger for long journeys. One for the smartphone and the other for the gloves. When I asked the manufacturer why it didn't go for USB C, iXS said that USB C is planned, but that it currently still had to ensure that the gloves weren't charged with too powerful a charger.
This is precisely where very specific things come together, which allow no other composition.
- Bikers want to have to carry as little weight as possible.
- The cuffs must remain manageable and so no material that is too rigid can be used.
But USB C is a technology that the electricity supplier has to negotiate with. In the case of smartphones, the charging process is roughly as follows:
Phone: "Hi charger, I'm an Oppo Find X2 Pro and I'd like you to give me 65 watts."
Charger: "Hi, Oppo, I know you and I'll give you 65 watts."
If the charger provides 65 watts, but the phone only supports 40, then the phone says "I'd like 40 watts" and the charger says "I've got 65 watts, but I'm only giving you 40". But for that to happen, the device has to say what it wants. If it doesn't, the charger simply delivers its maximum power. In other words, a battery that only supports 40 watts receives 65. The whole thing can end up catching fire, and nobody wants to go through that, least of all on a motorbike.
In order for this negotiation between the charger and the battery to take place, additional hardware needs to be installed. The smartphone has the system-on-a-chip (SoC), which not only handles this negotiation, but also a whole range of other functions that belong in a mobile phone. In terms of physical size, a system-on-chip is somewhere between "half the length of your smartphone" and "the whole length of your smartphone."
Now place your phone on your wrist and try to move your hand freely. This is exactly why the LT Heat ST can't use a USB C. According to liXS, comfort is their second priority after safety.
You need to be able to move around without restriction. That's why the battery is where it's least in the way: at the top, behind the wrist. The system is well thought out, but requires you to store the second charger somewhere on the bike, in addition to the USB C or Lightning adapter for your smartphone.
Warm fingers
With constitution and design aside, at the end of the day you've got gloves that you should be able to ride in autumn and winter with without getting cold fingers. That's the main selling point of the glove and why it's interesting.
There's a button on the back of your hand. If you press this for a long time, the gloves will heat up to the highest level. Then the button lights up red and you'll have warm hands within minutes. If you press it again, the button will light up orange and your hands will be a little less hot. Then come the green and blue modes. But during the 500 km I've driven with these gloves, I've never used the different modes, only the maximum level. An on/off button would be enough for me.
I'm doing my autumn outing with a red light on the back of my hand. The gloves are nice and warm and comfortable and I have the grip I expect from a glove. Great job, iXS.
Between Zurich and Zug, I want to know if the Heat STs also keep my fingers warm, even without heating. Although it's not ideal for the LiveWire's battery - I've used about 30% of the battery so far - I'm taking the motorway. Once off the motorway at Altstetten, my fingers were cool, but not cold. The fault lay not with the gloves or the test, but with the very thick fog on the motorway. When I really couldn't see anything, I pulled up behind a lorry and followed it with a good safe distance. The weather was terrible.
And I have to say I was delighted that the gloves had a large cuff. Not a single draught crept through my gloves. This should be the case for all models. Especially at 120km/h on the motorway in autumn with an ambient temperature of around 10 degrees Celsius, I have absolutely no desire to suffer draughts.
So even though I'm still a fan of thin gloves, I really like the LT Heat ST from iXS. The warm fingers in winter appeal to me even more than the design, and the interior is very comfortable without having to make concessions on feel. Now, if you feel like it, all you have to do is get on your bike and make the most of autumn, whether you're above Zug or elsewhere. It's well worth the effort. After all, it's only in autumn that you get scenery like this.
There, I've finished. I'm going to spend a few minutes researching heated socks. As much as I like my boots, my toes are starting to get cold.
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
E-mobility
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