REVIEW
IXON IT YUGA HEAT GLOVES
WORDS & PHOTOS: Ben Wilkins
MORE INFO
Cold be gone with intelligent heated gloves from Ixon, tested in the deep south.
It had been a very long time since my last dalliance with heated gloves. There was a reason for that. I remember, not very fondly, wires coming from the bike, up the front of my jacket, down my sleeves and into connectors in the back of the gloves. With only one setting- just above tepid- they were better than nothing in the middle of winter, but only just. They didn’ t do a lot and were not at all rider friendly. Heated grips worked far better. But time moves on. Battery technology has developed in leaps and bounds. Lithium-Ion batteries now power everything. It’ s not just smart phones or Teslas, they’ ve been pressed into service to spin dirt bike starter motors. These little energy-dense powerpacks have now made their way into gloves. And with an winter lap of the South Island on the cards, staying warm had crossed my mind. Heated grips were going to be far too much of a hassle to fit, especially on a bike which would have to go back in the near future. A chance conversation about the ride with Ixon importer Forbes & Davies had a pair of their Ixon IT Yuga heated touring gloves on their way to me to test in the South’ s winter, which could be anything from sunshine to blizzards.
INTELLIGENT THEORY The interesting thing about the Ixon offering is its clim8‘ intelligent thermal technology’. The gloves have an app that goes with them. I’ m normally a technology luddite when it comes to riding, but these seemed promising. You set the temperature that you want the glove to stay at, as you would do with a thermostat for a heat pump, and each glove heats on and off individually to keep your hands at that temperature. If it’ s warm they don’ t come on, if it’ s cold they do. So, you could
KIWI RIDER 73