Cheap Hot Grips.

[nadroj]

They'd look a little silly on your hands.

I was replying to Dpex but Sp beat me...

[BMWST?]

Yeah they're great! One wee issue I find is that when they're on, they heat up to 1000000C, get a bit burny so ya gotta turn them off, then when your hands cool down you turn them back on again......LOL, i'm sure i'm doing something wrong!

which model have you got,ie how many heat/switch positions.Some have a "start" heat which is full power,maybe thats the setting you are on?

[firefighter]

which model have you got,ie how many heat/switch positions.Some have a "start" heat which is full power,maybe thats the setting you are on?

That's them, Daytona I believe, I have had a tinker of-course but found that anything other than start does pretty much nothing/or only heats one grip.....so iv'e just stuck with the whole off and on thing! May have another looksie-when I was playing with the selector I was on the desert road at night, 3 Celcius and was freezing my everything off.....

[Aa7]

i set mine at 100% when i start my bike and warm it up before work and then when i am a few hundred meters to a kilometer away from home drop them back down to 30% (lowest) for the rest of the ride and its ample heat. anything else and it gets too hot. or set to 40% when its raining.

the only problem i've found is that they keep your palms hot and your finger tips not so hot so you tend to grip the bars more than usual when the hot grips are turned on, other than that they are awesome and should be on every bike.

[vifferman]

2. When you install them and first switch on, there is a high likelihood that they won't work and you'll be doing 'fuckin' arsehole speeches to all who may listen. Not so. They have a circuit design which will not enable them to ignite till voltage is at about 13.5. All you do is wind ya bike up a few thou, press and hold the + button till the little blue light comes on, then away you go.
BTW: With your headlight on at idle, unless you have a superb alternator, the sodding thing will not turn on.

Mine work fine all the time.

4. DO NOT leave them turned on after you turn you bike OFF. Although their start-up voltage is around 13.5, the cut-out is (if memory serves) 11.5. When you battery has sagged to 11.5 you're up for a rolling start.

I thought wiring them direct to the battery was dumb - mine are wired to my BlueSea fusebox (which is switched via a relay).

5. Be real careful, when you install the grips, that they are free to rotate and not caught up on either the inner end the bar or on the counterweight.

I cut the end off the throttle grip to make sure this didn't happen - the last few mm don't have any electrical parts in them.

BTW: The faster you go, the hotter they get.

They shouldn't - the voltage shouldn't increase after about 5k rpm, so they're not going to keep getting hotter ad infinitum. Anyway, the windchill factor increases the faster you go, so it's not a big deal. Unless your bike has fairings like the VFR that direct wind away from your hands.

They're very effective; I'm not sure I'd ever use more than the first heat setting. The old heated grips (dunno what brand, probably "OEM" Honda) had an infinitely variable controller, so they were easier to set to a comfy heat.

[Slyer]

How about you grow some nuts and harden the fuck up?

[PirateJafa]

Heated handgrips? Fuck, next you'll be really pussying out and wearing gloves and a jacket to keep warm.

[Gremlin]

Stay away from the "Hot Grips" brand, that has off start and on, they were bloody crap.

Do get the Oxford ones, they're fantastic. The old model had the push button and the button was a dial, the new version has the 4 stages. I think I prefer the old one for ease of use, holding your finger on the + for 3 seconds while riding is more tricky, especially if your finger slips off the button. But the new one takes up less room. Meh, I have one of each, on two bikes.

No idea what the sportbike ones are about.

Mr Slyer... by all means, come for a ride when the ambient temp is less than 6 degrees, not taking wind chill factor into account.

[Aa7]

the differences between the sports bike grips and the standard oxford grips is only the grip pattern. The originals are more a full rubber sectioned grip while the sports bike ones are a heap of dimpled/raised pyramids forming the grip. both sets use the same switch or so i thought but the sports bike ones dont seem to need to have the switch held down for as long as the originals to function otherwise a great product. the slider grip always seems to heat up ever so slightly quicker than the left grip but i presume it is because it only has to heat a small section of plastic rather than an equal sized part of metal. the difference isnt really noticeable after the initial warm up anyway

[MD]

I'm getting the Oxford Sports grips fitted this week $129.
I've fitted the Daytona brand to previous bikes, they were about $200 several years ago. Daytonas were Ok but my year with the F800S and proper BMW heated grips, showed me how well heated grips should work.

Looking forward to testing them when we get a dry weekend.

[slofox]

With the Oxford grips, did you use the supplied glue or something else? If other, what did you use?

Debating whether to wire them directly to the battery as suggested or through a switched circuit - lights maybe? Any advice?

[nallac]

I used the supplied super glue..takes a while to set properly.Give it 10 minutes before twisting the grips.

I wired to battery to start with to get em going and set up,
then spliced in to the main ignition loop from fuse box as it was next to battery..I don't like the idea of having to switch them off myself
as i know i always forgot on the last bike. Don't want a flat battery after doing a Graveyard shift!.

All up took about 2 hours with taking tank and seat off twice, after changing my mind about wiring position(and forgetting to turn fuel tap back on!!!!)
and knocking on of the grip plugs out..will pay to wrap some insulation tape around connections to save it happening again.

Seem to work well nice 'n' hot,
just don't like the battery saver bit as they don't work with the bike idiling when cold and headlights on...will find out if its better after going for a decent ride to charge the battery up.

[vifferman]

With the Oxford grips, did you use the supplied glue or something else? If other, what did you use?

I test-fitted them first (and tested they worked properly before installing them), and found the left one was OK as it was. The throttle grip was OK too, so I just used a bit of the supplied glue near the inside end of the throttle, in a narrow strip about 2 cm wide.

Debating whether to wire them directly to the battery as suggested or through a switched circuit - lights maybe? Any advice?

I already have an accessory fusebox (BlueSea marine one) under my seat, and the previous hot grips were hooked into that, so I just unhooked those and connected the new ones. I didn't like the idea of having them unswitched. It means there are two fuses (both 5A) as I couldn't be bothered removing the inline one supplied with the grips.

[xwhatsit]

when the ambient temp is less than 6 degrees, not taking wind chill factor into account.

When it gets that bad I hold my left hand on the cylinder head. However I get to my destination with one toasty-warm (and dry!) left hand, and one sodden numb fingers-about-to-drop-off right hand.

Maybe I should install another throttle on the LHS clipon so I can alternate hands.

I've never tried a bike with heated grips, I've found latex gloves inside your normal gloves keeps my hands pretty warm, even if utterly miserable (although my hands get sweaty). When I get a bike with a bigger alternator might have to give it a whirl.

[nallac]

I've never tried a bike with heated grips, I've found latex gloves inside your normal gloves keeps my hands pretty warm, even if utterly miserable (although my hands get sweaty). When I get a bike with a bigger alternator might have to give it a whirl.

You don't know what you are missing...
you may/get wet hands but at least they are warm..