Keis heated seat review | Heated, air-cushioned seat for (almost) ANY motorcycle

Date reviewed: February 2026 | Tested by: Steve Rose | Price: £100 | www.keisapparel.com

As someone who has ridden through every winter since 1984, I’m a big fan of heated grips, heated clothing and even heated seats on a bike – like the Keis heated seat cusion on review here. Being cold on a motorcycle is dangerous, and the latest heated clothing technology is not only relatively affordable, but reliable too.

As someone who also swaps between bikes a lot (three of my own and 20-30 test bikes each year) I prefer heated kit that doesn’t require hard wiring to the bike. My waistcoat and gloves have battery options, but heated seats have traditionally been bike-specific and non-transferable.

That’s changed in the last couple of years with a few companies offering aftermarket heated seat pads that work on any 12V bike and are easily swapped between machines. This Keis heated seat pad also has an air cushion, adding comfort and better distribution of heat.

I’ve been testing this Keis heated seat cushion since December 2025 on my 2002 Yamaha Fazer 1000, 2019 Honda CBR500R and SH300i, covering around 800 winter miles in that time.

Pros & Cons

Construction and fitting

The Keis heated seat cushion has a waterproof outer shell that contains the Micro-Carbon heating filament, wiring connectors and heat controller. It has an anti-slip lining on the base and two adjustable straps that go under the seat of your bike to hold the Keis heated seat cushion in place. The dual-bladder air cushion zips inside this outer shell and inflates via a small hand pump that connects to two air valves.

Fitting was very easy for all three bikes. The straps have enough adjustability to deal with the differences in seat design and once fitted it stays put. Once inflated the Keis heated seat cushion does add a little height depending on how much you pump it up. Getting your leg might be a little harder on some bikes but it seems to compress enough once you sit on it to not make a significant difference. If you’re already on tiptoes you can use less inflation.

Keis supplies a fused 1.2M cable to connect to your bike’s battery, and a selection of fuses from 2A-15A. There are instructions to help you select the right fuse (depending on how many other products you are connecting to your main power lead), but the heated seat cushion was too new to be included on this list when it arrived. Keis’ website shows that the cushion draws 1.5A, so I opted for the 5A fuse, especially as consumer editor John Milbank had tested it with a multimeter, which indicated a current draw of 2.13A on high, 1.29A on medium and 0.84A on low. This will be fine for pretty much any bike’s alternator, though it needs considering if you’re running other heated kit as well. If you do have a heated vest, gloves etc, you’ll need to buy the optional splitter lead for £12.

I also bought an accessory lead with a Optimate KET connector for £16, instead of the regular battery connectors. All my bikes have KET (like Tamiya) connectors for my Oxford Oximiser charger, which means I can plug the Keis seat heated cushion straight into all of them.

Temperature and control

It might be just me but there’s a difference between heated grips/gloves/vests and heated seats in as much as I’ve spent a lot of time on a bike being very aware of cold hands and a chilly torso, but don’t remember ever thinking ‘Blimey, my bum’s cold.’

Whether that matters or not, the blood about to make its way to your feet and back needs to be as warm as possible, making a heated seat a very smart idea for winter riders.

On full power at urban speeds (50mph and below) the Keis heated seat cushion warms up in three to five minutes and gets uncomfortably hot shortly after that. On the motorway at 70-80mph it’s still on the verge of being too hot in these temperatures. The coldest I rode in was around two degrees for two and a half hours and for the last hour my backside was still slightly too hot despite there being three layers of boxers, thermals and lined winter textiles between it and my backside.

On medium setting at motorway speeds the Keis doesn’t feel noticeably warm. That’s not unusual or a bad thing – I usually set my heated kit so that I don’t feel cold, as opposed to feeling actively warm. When you slow down to urban speeds on medium setting the Keis heated seat feels very warm (too warm for me).

This is a bigger difference than I notice on factory-fit heated seats, and I did wonder whether the pad, sitting proud of the bike’s actual seat is more vulnerable to heat loss from the wind flowing around it at higher speeds. Interestingly, there’s a label on the Keis that warns against riding for prolonged periods at high power or above 5°C.

The Keis’s heat controller is under your left thigh and while reasonably easy to locate, is hard to operate in a winter glove, making it tricky to know if you’ve pressed the button or not. In full winter textiles on a motorway, it’s all-but impossible to see what setting the Keis heated seat cushion is on without standing on the footpegs and taking your eyes from the road for a dangerously long time. On other roads you can stop and make the change in safety, but it is still much easier to get off the bike.

Comfort

The other thing well worth mentioning about the Keis heated seat cushion is that it does add a noticeable amount of comfort on a long journey. After two and a half hours on the motorway my bum and knees were aching less than usual thanks to the additional padding, and also a slightly increased gap between my backside and footpegs, leaving my knees less bent than usual. That was a bonus I wasn’t expecting.

Three alternatives to the Keis heated seat cushion

• Oxford Products Hot Seat, £79.99 | The Oxford is a simple heated pad without the cushioning of the Keis heated seat cushion. BikeSocial liked it when we reviewed it until it stopped working after five months (though it was replaced under warranty). Read the full review of the Oxford Hot Seat here.

• Wunderlich heated BMW seats, £499.90 | Arguably the best – but also the most expensive – option is to fit actual heated seats. Some bikes allow you to spec them from new, while others might have the facility to add OEM units later, but before picking one up second hand, make sure your bike allows that. John’s 2019 R1250GS can’t take BMW's heated seats, and even later models that had the loom might need the dealership to enable the control in the ECU (though this MIGHT become an option later via the superb Hex GS911). There are aftermarket options though, which add their own looms, including from Wunderlich heated BMW seats, which we reviewed here.

• Tucano Urbano Cool Warm, £68.99 | Tucano Urbano is best known (as the name suggests) for year-round urban riding accessories, often aimed at scooter riders. Its CoolWarm heated seat pad is an alternative to the Keis and Oxford offerings that doesn’t (despite the name) have a cooling setting. It doesn’t wire into the bike but runs via an at least 5000mAh power bank (not included) that claims to give two hours use on full power. BikeSocial hasn’t reviewed it yet but you can find details here  

These are just three of many alternatives – be sure to regularly check for the discounts available through Bikesocial membership.

Keis heated seat cushion review: Verdict

This Keis heated seat cushion is easy to use and fits well on all kinds of different bikes thanks to a choice of connection options. I haven’t done enough miles on it yet to be sure of the reliability, but my other Keis kit (heated gloves and a vest) are currently in the middle of their sixth winter, and nothing has broken, failed or let me down on any of them.

The is well-priced for the performance and flexibility it offers, and very well built. It lets owners of older, cheaper motorcycles – or smaller bikes and scooters – enjoy the benefits of a warm bum. I’d definitely recommend it.

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