Heated Grips

[MaritimeGirl]

Does anyone have heated grips on their bike? If so are they worth having, or not so much? I often find my fingers get cold on rides and was thinking of treating myself to heated grips on my new bike, but have never had them before and am unsure of how useful they are. Hoping someone has some experience with them.

[softail02]

I have aftermarket heated grips and absolutley looooove them! BF installed them for me spring of 2007. He wired them directly to the battery instead of the headlight. The only problem is having to remember to switch them off when I turn off the bike. I even use them on cool summer evenings so that I don't have to stop and put on gloves. the other plus, you can use the grips you already have on the bike.

Heat Demons Grip Warmers

http://www.symtec-inc.com

This company has made heated grips for snowmobiles for years.

[Alice]

I absolutely love my heated grips. They allow me to ride longer with my thinner leather gloves and not have to automatically use the bulkier winter ones. One thing I have noticed, though, is that the outside of my hands, particularly my pinky fingers, will still get cold even though my palms are toasty. But it's not nearly as bad.

I'm all for function over fashion, and I know that Hippo Hands are supposed to be wonderful and would alleviate the pinky issue, but those things are just so ugly! I can't do it.

[Skippii]

On the V-strom, I had heated grips, heated gloves, heated glove liners, and a heated jacket liner.

My opinion would be to skip the grips and the glove liners, and just get the gloves and the jacket.
If you don't want to go for the full glove system & electronics, though, a $25 set of snowmobile heated grips is an absolutely fantastic investment.

[SFW]

I see bikes with hot air vents...ho does that work vs heated grips or gloves, any better?

[Skippii]

I see bikes with hot air vents...ho does that work vs heated grips or gloves, any better?

Do you mean air vents to keep the engine cool, or to keep the rider hot?

I'm not familiar with the latter, but I'd venture to guess that it doesn't work very well at all. To stay warm, you need heat close the body, and insulated from the outside (like heated gloves), of heat to be in direct contact with your body/gear through conduction (heated grips).

Heating vents on a bike would be significantly colder than trying to stay warm in a convertible with the top down and the heating on.

[denisep]

define cold.....

For riding above freezing-- heated grips are sufficient.... anything under 40 degrees, I slide on the heated gloves.

Most folks don't ride below 40 degrees anyway. Heated gloves plus a heated vest will carry you all the way down... (I'm comfy at 18 degrees) A nice pair of insulated riding pants, and some goretex boots?

Yum Yum

[softail02]

I love my heated grips, but they do lack in warming the tops of my hands in really cold weather.
For $100 they were/are a great bargain that I use even during the summer riding season in early AM or late PM when there is just a little chill in the air.

Only problem, I really dislike my heated gloves. Even though they are the correct size, they are so thick and I hate dealing with the wires. I have basically the same gloves without the heat and only wear them when it is extremely cold, use my heated grips and move my hands around on the grips to keep my fingertips warmer.

[Skippii]

For $100 they were/are a great bargain that I use even during the summer riding season in early AM or late PM when there is just a little chill in the air.

HUH?

Mine were $23.97, and that included the elements, wiring harness, and Hi/Low switch. And I got $10 off.
Hotter than you'd ever need on High (first degree burns possible even in sub freezing), and great on low.

These were the ones I got from my local shop:
http://www.bobscycle.com/browse.cfm/4,9 ... AFF=690FGL

Edit: Did you get new rubber grips as well, or rubber grips with inbedded elements? That would explain it. I've never seen the point in those, unless you needed new grips anyway. What are your opinions, or what persuaded you to go this route?

[softail02]

For $100 they were/are a great bargain that I use even during the summer riding season in early AM or late PM when there is just a little chill in the air.

HUH?

Mine were $23.97, and that included the elements, wiring harness, and Hi/Low switch. And I got $10 off.
Hotter than you'd ever need on High (first degree burns possible even in sub freezing), and great on low.

These were the ones I got from my local shop:
http://www.bobscycle.com/browse.cfm/4,9 ... AFF=690FGL

Edit: Did you get new rubber grips as well, or rubber grips with inbedded elements? That would explain it. I've never seen the point in those, unless you needed new grips anyway. What are your opinions, or what persuaded you to go this route?

Insides are pretty much similiar. Only where/what do you use for your controller?
Mine fits right next to the left turn signal, just looks like another turn signal type button, with four lighted heat selections. Comes in black or chrome to match up to
the Harley design fixtures.

www.symtec-inc.com Heat Demons

Wanted heated grips since I hate thick gloves like my heated gloves/wires. I have short fingers anyway, so almost always have a little extra at the end of glove fingertips which get in the way sometimes.

[Skippii]

It comes with the controller.

I mounted it right below my 12V socket (which is controlled by the red switch)




I was going to lable the big red button "Eject" and lable the switch something like "Dirt/Street" or "Fast/Slow" or something equally silly, but never got around to it.

[Skippii]

http://www.symtec-inc.com

laughed when I saw this:

Complete Motorcycle Hand Warmer Kit w/ Round Rocker Switch Your Price: $46.75

FOR YOUR HARLEY Harley HeatDemon Kit Your Price: $129.95



I see now that they also offer an expensive kit for metric bikes.
The difference seems to be a 4-stage heat control instead of 2, and this also includes the full wiring harness and fuse, as well as a much nicer controlller--so the price difference does make sense.

Also, both the inexpenseive and pricey ones on that site come with different grips for the right and left--the $25 ones do not. Does it matter? Maybe, and maybe not. Your throttle grip goes on the plastic sleeve of the throttle, while the clutch hand goes on the bare metal. The RH element has to heat up just the rubber grip. The LH element has to heat up the whole freaking metal handlebar, which conducts heat away from the element much faster than the grip, so if they were the same, your left hand would never get warm.
This is solved by having the LH grip be MUCH hotter than the RH grip. It's simply, easy, and very convienent, and it works.
...But, the engineer in me hates any design like that, and the adventure rider in me simply couldn't spare wasting that much energy. We like to load our alternators to the max with all kinds of heated clothes, GPSs, HIDs, Sat radio, Radar, LCD rearview camera, extra running lights, subwoofers*, and anything we can plug into a socket.
The solution is to use two identical elements, and wrap duct tape around one of the handles a few times. Takes 5 minutes (plus another 5 minute trying to push the grip back on!), and problem solved.
*You probably thought I was kidding.

[TorontoRider]

MaritimeGirl, I don't know what you decided to do in the end, but I thought I'd tell you about the grips I just added to my bike.

They're Oxford Hot Hands. They are temporary (they also make permanent ones for under the grip). My bike has a pathetic electrical system, and these have a very very small draw. It's partly because they're wrapped on over the grips, so the rubber of the grips provides insulation. If they're installed under the grip more heat is lost into the bike and not to the grips.

They wrap around each grip and do make the grips bigger, so I had to remove the crampbusters. They get very hot, though, and the manufacturers advise only using them with winter gloves for that reason. Because my winter gloves are bigger and clumsier I was quite glad of the bigger grips size, easier to hold. It did put a bit of pressure on my thumbs by the end of the day as the levers were that bit further away but it wasn't a big issue.

They only have an on/off button but with winter gloves and my hands, once they're on they're on! There's a simple level to switch them on and off as needed - generally the under-grip ones have more sophisticated controllers to set a particular temperature level.

For something I'll use until they come off in late Spring, and that can transfer to other bikes, and that have such a small power draw and work so well, I'm very happy with them. About US$75 I think.