Veskimo Personal Cooling System
Veskimo Personal Cooling System
CW EVALUATION
Wouldn’t you like an icy-cold back on a sweltering day?
WINTER RIDING IS ONE THING: YOU can bundle up, power up and just toughen up to make cold weather manageable. But in the peak heat of summer, there’s not as much you can do. Ventilated gear is effective, sure, but there are days when you’d give almost anything for personal air conditioning.
And that’s what the Veskimo promises, indirectly. Working on the theory that keeping your core the right temperature—warm when it’s cold out, cool when it’s blazing—the Veskimo system starts with a lightweight vest strung with thin flexible tubing intended to carry icy-cold water. When pumped into the vest, this cold water circulates around your torso to exchange heat with your body. It’s a closed-loop system so that water heated by your body returns to an external reservoir. The ice/water solution becomes your external heat sink.
Veskimo offers several options for an external pack. One is the Hydration Backpack, rated at 4.4-quart capacity. It’s a slim, relatively light (2 pounds) pack containing a poly water bladder. The inside of the pack is insulated and holds a small circulation pump; outside is a battery-pack pouch. Standard power comes from a brick of AA batteries, but a lithium-ion rechargeable pack ($64) is optional, as is hard-wiring to your bike’s electrical system. Two other ice-pack options are a 4.4-qt. mini cooler and a 9-qt. hand-carry cooler; you’re on your own securing either of these to your bike.
DETAILS
Veskimo Personal Cooling Systems 31982 Paseo de Tania San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675 877/698-3754 www.veskimo.com Price...$398 (backpack model); $318 (9-qt. external)
Ups
The next best thing to personal air conditioning
Several system options
Surprisingly comfortable vest
Downs
Limited endurance when using convenience-store ice
Routing of hoses through your riding gear takes some trial-and-error
After the ice melts, that backpack seems oh so heavy
We ran several tests under varying conditions with the Hydration Pack and the 9-qt. cooler. The vest, available in four sizes, fits comfortably under riding gear—the critical sizing issue is not girth but length. Because of the location of the supply hoses, it’s important that the vest is not too long or too short for your torso. Detailed fitting instructions are on the company’s website. According to Veskimo, the vest is most effective when worn against the skin, but we chose to use it against a thin wicking undergarment.
We started with what we figured was worst-case: the Veskimo vest running on the backpack under a one-piece Aerostich Roadcrafter suit. With ambient temperatures in the low 90s, the system provided cool comfort for 75 minutes before the ice melted and the cooling effect diminished. That was with loose, cubed ice in the reservoir. Using ice blocks—basically, water bottles deep-frozen, labels removed to prevent blocking the pump— endurance improved to nearly 2 hours.
We were able to significantly extend cooling duration by exchanging the Aerostich for an Alpinestars T-GP Plus Air jacket. Tests with the 9-qt. cooler revealed cooling capability beyond 2 hours with the vented jacket. In every case, the supplied battery packs—both alkaline AAs and the optional lithiumion—ran the pumps to the end of each test period. They’re good for 6-8 hours, according to the manufacturer.
While the Veskimo system is effective, it carries some minor annoyances. First is finding good ice on the road. According to the company, the ice you get from a soda machine is already partly melted, dramatically reducing its effectiveness in whichever cooler you’re using. If you’re traveling in a group, it might make sense to split a small bag of ice. Next is convenience. The backpack fits well but becomes little more than dead weight (on the order of 11 lb.) once the ice melts; plus, of course, you can’t carry a normal backpack. Finally, lashing the 9-qt. cooler to your bike—a sportbike, especially—can present a challenge. Veskimo’s representative says that riders of touring bikes are the key buyers of the remote cooler option. We believe him.
Whether the Veskimo makes sense for you depends on your personal tolerance for heat and, to some extent, your typical ride. For commuting, where it’s possible to stage frozen water bottles at both ends of the trip, the Veskimo could be what makes you reach for the motorcycle keys instead of wimping out and taking the car.
www.cycleworld.com
