Cooling vests

[Ms Noles]

I was curious if anyone could recommend a great cooling vest for riding? Male and Female.. It's getting warm down south.

[ISPYD]

I was curious if anyone could recommend a great cooling vest for riding? Male and Female.. It's getting warm down south.

We we use the ones from Cycle Gear. They are gray and blue. We took a 3800 mile trip for 17 days from 111 degree heat in AZ to the NWest and I will never, ever go anywhere warm without them. Plain and simple. They work. Under $50 on sale. When they dry out I would use the water faucets and gas stations or water from the cooler.

[ricford]

If you want to go first class, try www.veskimo.com. Pricey but it is like air conditioning.. If you're solo it's OK but two up, not a viable option so the other water evaporation vest would be the way to go. I've used one for years in the summer. You do have to add ice to the chest about every gas stop. And you'll need to wear a heavy coat to insulate yourself from the outside heat. If you can figure that.. It is the same system astronauts use to keep them cool while on the ground waiting.

[SPYD3R]

https://www.cyclegear.com/gear/bilt-...aterproof-vest

Dan P
SPYD3R

[Ms Noles]

We we use the ones from Cycle Gear. They are gray and blue. We took a 3800 mile trip for 17 days from 111 degree heat in AZ to the NWest and I will never, ever go anywhere warm without them. Plain and simple. They work. Under $50 on sale. When they dry out I would use the water faucets and gas stations or water from the cooler.

Do you know if the brand was BILT? oops I hadn't scanned all the way down..

[Ms Noles]

If you want to go first class, try www.veskimo.com. Pricey but it is like air conditioning.. If you're solo it's OK but two up, not a viable option so the other water evaporation vest would be the way to go. I've used one for years in the summer. You do have to add ice to the chest about every gas stop. And you'll need to wear a heavy coat to insulate yourself from the outside heat. If you can figure that.. It is the same system astronauts use to keep them cool while on the ground waiting.

I checked out their video.. Yes, pricey, but I'm sure one of the best..

[Ms Noles]

https://www.cyclegear.com/gear/bilt-...aterproof-vest

Dan P
SPYD3R

Do you know if it is true to size?

[Ms Noles]

Thank you all for your suggestions.. We have a Cycle World local here too!

[fjray]

I use the miracool vest. they are not fashionable but they hold water for days.

[SpyderAnn01]

I was curious if anyone could recommend a great cooling vest for riding? Male and Female.. It's getting warm down south.

In my experience cooling vests do not work in humid climates. I will remove mine east of NM and not pull it out again until I'm back in the desert. In a dry climate they work great.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

In my experience cooling vests do not work in humid climates. I will remove mine east of NM and not pull it out again until I'm back in the desert. In a dry climate they work great.

I don't have experience with one east of the Mississippi but I was thinking that might be the case.

Ms Noles, if you're not familiar with how cooling vests work, it is by evaporation. You soak the vest in water and then as you move through the air the water evaporates. Evaporation sucks up heat which it pulls from your body, making you cooler. In humid climates evaporation does not work as efficiently as it does in dry climates, but it does work. The only way for you to find out if one will work for you is to buy one and try it out. You will need a mesh jacket over it so the air can flow easily against the vest.

On second thought, get a cotton shirt, soak it in cool water, put it on and go for a ride. If it cools you down any you will know it. This should give you a good idea if you want to try an actual cooling vest. The cotton shirt will dry out in just a few minutes but you'll get an idea of how well it might work. A cooling vest holds a lot of water and keeps you cooled anywhere from a half hour to maybe an hour and a half.

Here in the dry west my cooling vest lasts around 45 to 60 minutes and cools me something like 10° below ambient. I don't wear mine unless the temp is around 95° +.

[GOZFST]

In my experience cooling vests do not work in humid climates. I will remove mine east of NM and not pull it out again until I'm back in the desert. In a dry climate they work great.

+1

[Bfromla]

I don't have experience with one east of the Mississippi but I was thinking that might be the case.

Ms Noles, if you're not familiar with how cooling vests work, it is by evaporation. You soak the vest in water and then as you move through the air the water evaporates.

On second thought, get a cotton shirt, soak it in cool water, put it on and go for a ride. If it cools you down any you will know it. This should give you a good idea if you want to try an actual cooling vest. The cotton shirt will dry out in just a few minutes but you'll get an idea of how well it might work.

Did you really just ask Ms Noles to ride in a WET Tee shirt?¿

[ISPYD]

Do you know if the brand was BILT? oops I hadn't scanned all the way down..

Yes it is.

[Easy Rider]

Looks like the initial question has been answered so I'll ask a related question:

Without enough air flow ON the rider evaporative vests won't work very good; might be even hotter after a short while.

I too am in Florida where it is HOT and humid most of the summer.......starting now.

I have noticed that BRP did an excellent job with making a comfortable air bubble around the rider......TOO good when it's really HOT.

I have already removed the lower set of little wings and that didn't help much. I noticed that a couple of my riding buddies have windshields with the 2 cutouts near the bottom that match the holes that already are in the mounting bracket.

Will those 2 holes help that much ? (Maybe I should ask them for a test ride.)

If not, does anybody make an add-on air deflector that mounts relatively easy and doesn't look "cheap" to get me some more AIR behind that shield ??

[Sccar]

+1 for the cycle gear vest. I also use it for yard work......they are great

[MRH]

I have noticed that BRP did an excellent job with making a comfortable air bubble around the rider......TOO good when it's really HOT.

I have already removed the lower set of little wings and that didn't help much. I noticed that a couple of my riding buddies have windshields with the 2 cutouts near the bottom that match the holes that already are in the mounting bracket.

Will those 2 holes help that much ? (Maybe I should ask them for a test ride.)

If not, does anybody make an add-on air deflector that mounts relatively easy and doesn't look "cheap" to get me some more AIR behind that shield ??

I purchased the Low Windshield of my RT
https://can-am.brp.com/spyder/shop/a...hield-kit.html

and put an X-creen on it.
http://www.twistedthrottle.com/mra-x...ield-extension

Together, these can really work to throw air on me (or limit it - although I use my regular BRP Vented Windshield in the colder months).

I've ridden with these for the past year and love them, although one of my pivot arms just broke (and should still be under warranty - I only submitted a claim Friday afternoon and it's just Sunday now).

Honestly, even if I had to buy a new X-creen every year, it would easily be worth it.

I also use a cooling vest, but use it far less than I did before I got the new windshield assembly.

[SpyderAnn01]

Looks like the initial question has been answered so I'll ask a related question:

Without enough air flow ON the rider evaporative vests won't work very good; might be even hotter after a short while.

I too am in Florida where it is HOT and humid most of the summer.......starting now.

I have noticed that BRP did an excellent job with making a comfortable air bubble around the rider......TOO good when it's really HOT.

I have already removed the lower set of little wings and that didn't help much. I noticed that a couple of my riding buddies have windshields with the 2 cutouts near the bottom that match the holes that already are in the mounting bracket.

Will those 2 holes help that much ? (Maybe I should ask them for a test ride.)

If not, does anybody make an add-on air deflector that mounts relatively easy and doesn't look "cheap" to get me some more AIR behind that shield ??

In 13 or 14 BRP added the cutouts to the RT windshield and it made a huge difference. I had one if their vented windshields on my 10 and 13 and it was not worth the extra money but the new ones with the cutouts are great. You might also try adding Baker Air Wings for additional air flow also the BRP Adjustable Air Vents are great.

[Bob Denman]

http://entrosys.com/

https://youtu.be/1tWzELz66wM

[spyderyderjim]

I was curious if anyone could recommend a great cooling vest for riding? Male and Female.. It's getting warm down south.

CoolVest works well in hot weather!!
I have used it for many years in Summer hot weather riding.
About 2 1/2 hours cooling; then put in another set of CoolVest cold packets (carried in soft insulated cooler).
Military use them in summer deployment overseas.
http://store.coolvest.com/
Jim

CoolVest IMG_3989.jpg

[Papahoosh]

If you want to go first class, try www.veskimo.com. Pricey but it is like air conditioning.. If you're solo it's OK but two up, not a viable option so the other water evaporation vest would be the way to go. I've used one for years in the summer. You do have to add ice to the chest about every gas stop. And you'll need to wear a heavy coat to insulate yourself from the outside heat. If you can figure that.. It is the same system astronauts use to keep them cool while on the ground waiting.

I use Veskimo vest, I upgraded the cooler to a bigger size and I pretty much use the whole bag of ice and it lasts about 3 hours.

[wd8ajj]

Down here in Southern New Mexico, a bottle of water over the head works. But, I got a vest from Cycle Gear 32.00 on sale, works good but with it being 95 outside and 5% humidity it does not last long! I have found just pouring water on my shoulders in my vent jacket works about as well without the extra load, But that here in the dessert.

[Fat Baxter]

In my experience cooling vests do not work in humid climates. I will remove mine east of NM and not pull it out again until I'm back in the desert. In a dry climate they work great.

Another up-vote on this. I live in south central Alabama. I won a soak-able cooling vest at a BMW rally years back. Doesn't work very well down here. There's an initial bit of cooling effect for about 30 minutes, after which it warms up to ambient temperature and you're feeling like you're wearing, well, a warm wet vest. It might work a tad better on an unfaired bike, but not on a fully-faired bike.

Ditto with those soak-able neck wraps. After a very short while, it feels like you're wearing a warm wet fish around your throat.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Here's a chart for evaporative cooling efficiency that will help to understand why cool vests do and don't work. This chart is for house coolers, known in the west as 'swamp coolers', but the principle is the same. The same that is except for the fact that in a swamp cooler you have very good contact between the water and air. A cool vest not so good.

Look at the result for air temperature of 100F and relative humidity of 15%. The resulting temp is 76F, a 24° drop. You could easily experience this in the dry west and southwest. Now look at 90F air temp and RH of 75%, conditions you could easily experience in the Southeast. The temp drop is only 4°, hardly much help. So in the end we can bank on the fact that in the west cool vests work great. In the SE they will cool, a little bit if conditions are right, but probably not enough to entice most riders to get one.

[Bob Denman]

It's kind of like a Wind-Chill Chart...

...Only completely different!

Thanks!