Justin, you are too much.
I have actually heard of this phenomenon called "ice" and avoid it like the plague. That and wet leaves are my two dealbreakers. Thanks for the kind words! "You know you love your bike when...."
Redwolf, the Hippo Hands have to have a bracket of some sort added inside to keep them off the controls. When I first put them on without brackets, they sure did push against the controls at higher speeds - when I heard the familiar "sqweeeeeeeeek" of my front brake coming on, it scared me half to death and I stopped my bike and removed the Hands.
At the good advice of several people on this board, Justin among them, my husband and I fashioned brackets out of aluminum bar and fastened them onto the handlebars with hose clamps. This pushes the Hands outwards and no more wind problems.
I also had a more simple/ugly solution before the aluminum bar - I put a metal rod inside each Hand, sewed it against the outside wall, and slipped three key rings through the fabric of each Hand and around the metal rod. Using leather cord, I pulled the Hands taut away from the handlebars and fastened the cord around the turn signal stems. It looked pretty rough, but it kept the Hands from pushing against the controls and that was the intent.
I can tell you that the Hippo Hands made a step-change of difference in the warmth of my hands, and my husband reports the same improvement. Until we had those, our hands were the limiting factor - everything else was warm, but you can't ride with your hands hurting from the cold.
The leather mittens and cotton liners are working really well, because you can get the little hand heater or gel pack inside the mitten and still have good dexerity with the controls. There is plenty of room inside the Hands for gloves with a gel pack or chemical heat pack inside. I was trying ski gloves there for awhile, which are heavily padded against the back of the fingers, but that did get a little crowded between the grip and the clutch/brake levers and it could be a safety issue. A little bit thinner solution is better, like the leather mitten (Pro Bass Shop).
All in all I am really happy with the results. I have a beautiful commute through the countryside, but it takes a good hour and I had to have a hands solution that would last that long.
Good luck to you. If you order the Hippo Hands from Dan in Canada, I would recommend foregoing his standard brackets, which in my opinion aren't well suited for the Savage. You need a longer piece of metal and can easily do it yourself with aluminum bar.
Best wishes and stay warm!
Amy