Heated Hand Grips--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Victor five five
(7/21/04 11:24 pm)
Heated hand grips
I'm considering getting a `Dual Star' heated ahnd grip kit and fitting them myself
Has anybody any tips (or good or bad comments)
Marty
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Red01SuziB12S
(7/22/04 1:16 am)
Re: Heated hand grips
I love mine! I just went with the basic install with the Hi/Off/Lo switch instead of the variable knob. Went without a hitch, but I chose to install new gel grips at the same time, so I didn't have top try and save the stockers. I figured with >25K miles on the stock grip, they were due to be changed anyway.
http://www.dual-star.comPaul W
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Victor five five
(7/22/04 5:48 am)
Re: Heated hand grips
Sounds good Paul,
I take it you couldn't salvage the stock grips.
http://www.Motorcycle.Com Inc reckons they can be salvaged, but I guess a few bucks more is neither here nor there
Marty
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------elmojo
(7/22/04 11:55 am)
Re: Heated hand grips
Where do you get the dual star heaters from? How much?
Has anyone compared them to the Kimpex heaters?
How about gel grips, which seem to be the best?
Mike P.
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Red01SuziB12S
(7/22/04 2:21 pm)
Re: Heated hand grips
I probably could have saved them, but I didn't want to, they were getting a bit worn and I had been wanting to put some gel grips on anyway, and figured that this was the best time to install both, so I just sliced the old ones off.
You will have to do a little work on the throttle sleeve if you're installing the heaters - or aftermarket grips. You'll need to remove some of the ridges in the sleeve. If you're just doing grips, you probably only need to shave off the extra circumferential spine, if you're doing heaters, you'll need to shave the lateral spines off, too.
I haven't compared Dual-Stars to anything else, but if you do a search over at Sport-Touring.Net you can find a bunch of threads on heated grips, and the vast majority prefer Dual-Star.
You can buy them direct from Dual-Star for $29.95 (US) without the Heat-Troller. I don't know if anyone else sells their products or not, everyone I know of that has them, bought them direct.
As far as the best gel grips, I haven't heard any real rants about any of them. Pro-Grip offers several different styles, I think it is more a matter of which style you like the looks/feel of yourself. Just be sure when you buy grips, you buy motorcycle grips and not ATV grips. ATV grips are both the same size due to their thumb throttles, m/c grips have a bigger ID for the throttle grip.
Paul W
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Kevinb600
(7/27/04 9:20 pm)
Del heated grips
Paul
Where did you install the hi/low/off switch? Did you wire directly to the battery or did you find power else where? I bet you use those heated grips even on chilly summer nights, with a light pair of gloves on!? Let me know
Kevin R
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Red01SuziB12S
(7/27/04 10:28 pm)
Re: heated grips
Haven't used them this summer, but I did turn them on for the midnight rides home in the spring.
I wired them directly off the battery because I didn't feel confident in any of the stock "switched" wires to be heavy enough to handle the added load and was too lazy & cheap to go to the trouble to add a switched relay controlled circuit.
I debated on where to put the switch. I could have mounted in the fairing, but since its power is not switched, I didn't want to risk some passerby turning the grips on and draining my battery when the bike was parked somewhere. I decided I wanted to mount it in a discreet, but easy to reach while riding position. I chose the left lower fairing mount bracket. It was a tight squeeze, but it fits and the toggle doesn't show at all. You just have to reach up inder the edge of the fairing and flip it in the desired direction... and not forget to turn them off when the ride is over. A little idiot light placed conveniently in the line of sight would be good, but haven't done that yet. So far, only forgot to turn them off once, and fortunately caught the mistake before the battery was totally drained.
Paul W
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Kevinb600
(8/3/04 10:08 pm)
Re: heated grips
Paul
Just installed my Dual-Star heated grips. I think that I did it correctly. I used electrical tape over the clutch side bar first, then wrapped the heating element around it. I wired it directly to my battery, and mounted the switch (hi-off-low) on the lower left fairing bracket. I installed new Pro Gel grips, and everything seems to work fine. Any suggestions? Advice? Beside, don't forget to turn them off. Have you used yours a lot in the early spring? Did you mostly use the hi or the low setting?
Kevin R
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Ray Nielsen
(8/3/04 10:30 pm)
Re: heated grips
You could add a relay between the battery and the power switch, one that's activated by a wire that's only hot when the ignition is on.
After killing my battery twice I did just that. Sure beats ruining a battery if left discharged too long.
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Red01SuziB12S
(8/3/04 10:36 pm)
Re: heated grips
I plan to do that one of these days, Ray. At the time, I just wanted to get them installed so I could enjoy some of those clear, but cold, winter days without wearing big, fat, gloves.
I use them on Low most of the time and wear my normal gloves. High gets real hot, but might be more effective with a thicker glove, which would help keep the backs of your hands warmer. Even on low, I find myself cycling the switch. About 5 minutes on, 10-15 minutes off.
Paul W
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Kevinb600
(8/4/04 6:29 pm)
Re: heated grips
Paul
You brought up a good point wiring directly to the battery for better voltage. However; if we were to install a relay so that it had power on when the key was "on", would this mean tapping into the headlights? Like what Ray said?
Kevin R
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Red01SuziB12S
(8/4/04 7:17 pm)
Re: heated grips
You could use the headlight wire to control the relay, but most bikes have at least one unused switched wire that can be used, too. On B12's without carb heat (most models, but the UK ones), you can use that wire. There's also a running light wire behind the fairing that's not used on most market models can be used. You could use one of these wires to control the relay and still tap the heater power directly from the battery.
Paul W
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Victor five five
(8/6/04 6:26 am)
Re: heated grips
I have sent 4 emails to Dual Star in the past week or so and not had a reply. I guess they are too busy to deal with people outside of the USA even though they purport to be international dealers.
One email to Aerostich. com got me an instant result with their kit costing $27.00. Looks like they are for me
Marty
Waiting for spring - and not far to go
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Kevinb600
(8/9/04 8:39 am)
HEATED GRIPS
Just tried out the heated grips last night, they worked great! It was very cool out so I fired them up on the ride home around 9:00 pm. Had to turn them off they got so hot. Paul, do you remember whether or not the white wires were the (high) and blue being the (low)? Where I mounted the switch, uder the front /left fairing, hard to figure out if I am on low/high. I also think it matters what kind of gloves you wear.
Kevin R
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Red01SuziB12S
(8/9/04 6:55 pm)
Re: HEATED GRIPS
I don't remember which was which, but the instructions said...
Yes, it will matter what kind of gloves you wear. Thinner gloves will get your palms warmer, but the back of your hands will suffer. Thick gloves will keep the backs warmer, but it will be harder to get the heat thru them.
Paul W
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Victor five five
(8/24/04 4:51 am)
HEATED GRIPS
Well Guys, there up and running.
Last weekend i installed my heated hand grip kit and taday was the inaugural test. Brilliant, but the finger tips are still a bit cold but at least not numb as before.
FWIW my B12 has a small bracket each side of the main steering stem high up almost under the tank and points to the rear. It is about 2 inches long x 3/4 wide and has two large holes in it. God only knows what it is there for.
Anyway , I made up an aluminium L shaped bracket about 1 3/4 inches long and bolted ot on using a made up backing plate and mounted the high/off/low switch on that. It is totally accessible from the riding position and the switch is workable even with winter weight Teknics.
The resistor I mounted on the fairing support bracket just out from the switch.
The power supply is controlled from the two accessory wires located under the rear end of the petrol tank (position located by courtesy of elWayne)
I had a bit of trouble getting the clutch side bar weight off so I man handled the grip over it and back on without any major probs. The throttle side bar weight almost fell off, so that made things easy.
all in all, I am one happy chappy
Thanks to you all for the written help
Next project is ??
Marty
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folma
(8/31/04 6:22 am)
Re: HEATED GRIPS
Hey Marty is all ya need now is a set of handle bar mits.
I got the oxford mits, bloody ripper, and I ain't got heated grips. Bout $60 Aussie, 2 minutes to put on and about the same to take off. Smile at him above when he rains and yell at the top of ya voice, "bring it on big fella! is that the best ya can do"
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Victor five five
(9/3/04 4:56 am)
Re: HEATED GRIPS
Where d'yu get your Oxfords.
The HHGs are great but last week we had a doozy frost in the valley and the tips of my pinkies still went numb. I think I need more protection. Thought about a Durex on each poker, but that wasn't practical.
Can I get them from the Aussi dealers at a reasonable price?
BTW did we do the triathalon OK?
Marty
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cpyguy69
(9/7/04 3:21 am)
Re: HEATED GRIPS
Has anyone had any experience with Cycle Country
Heated ATV Grips? Mototrycle Superstore has them
for $37. I ordered a pair. I should be able to make
them fit. I'll add a potentiometer to the circuit to
make the heat levels(hi,low) a little more adjustable.
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Victor five five
(9/7/04 6:27 am)
Re: HEATED GRIPS
Gidday Spyguy,
I would recommend you try an Aerostich heated hand grip kit. They responded to my enquiry at speed and shipped the goods the same day as I sent them the readies.
Cost ex store is $27 USD and the kit comes complete with printed heating circuits with sticky backs, Hi/Off/Low control switch, rectifier, good lengths of cables attached to all the bits and clear instructions and tips.
The only things you need to provide are, some sort of switch mount, rectifier mount and a three wire connectors.
I know these fit the B12 grips perfectly so the only other question is, will they fit your ATV hand grips
You might have to use their search facitity to locate the item.
Good luck
Marty
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Red01SuziB12S
(9/8/04 5:55 am)
Re: HEATED GRIPS
cpy - the only problem I see with ATV heated grips is they are made to have the same heat features for both grips since ATV's have a thumb throttle, whereas heaters like Dual-Star's motorcycle heaters (they have an ATV version, too) apply more heat (more element) to the left grip than the right, since the right sits on the throttle sleeve, insulated from the handlebar.
Now, if these are actual grips and not elements that go between the grips and the bar/throttle sleeve, you may have a problem getting the grip to go over the bike's throttle sleeve because ATV's don't have throttle sleeves (from the factory anyway).
Paul W
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cpyguy69
(9/12/04 1:05 am)
get a grip
My heated atv grips showed up 3 days after ordering
from motorcycle/superstore. Not bad.
Yes both grips are the same size. They have a little
bit of stretch and don't look as if they will be
ultra-tight to start with. Having come from the
"MAKE it fit" school of mechanics, I figure I can get
them on the handlebars with a mininum of blood,
sweat and tears.
As the to heating question, I had planned on putting
a layer or two of "emergence blanket" material on the
left side to limit the handlebar acting as a heat sink.
Also since these are heated grips rather
than heated strips under the grips, there
should be less loss of heat to handlebars.
The other reason I thought I would give these a try
is that I have heard a number of complaints about
the wiring on heated strip set-up and the tendency
of the wires to break off at the grips.
The cycle country heated atv grips appear to
be very sturdy.
They do come with a high/low controller but a lot
of people want more choices on just how much heat their grips put out. There is a company, the name
of which escapes me a the moment, which has a
variable controller which interupts the current flow
in order to change the heat settings but
a heavy duty varistor should work nearly as well.
It will put out some heat so needs to mounted
away from anything that might melt. The other
FET style controller should put out little or no heat.
If I can every get any time off from work, I'll
put these babies on and let you know how they work.
The way things are going it might be a Christmas project.
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Red01SuziB12S
(9/12/04 1:34 pm)
Re: get a grip
I used two layers of electrical tape on my left bar.
The only wiring complaints I've heard with wiring on the Dual-Stars comes from people wiring in a variable controller and trying to decide which two of the three wires to use. I haven't read of any troubles with Dual-Star heaters breaking off at the element, their units seem to be built better in this area than other brands.
I'd like to have more choices, I just don't want them bad enough to pay the extra $50 for the Heat-Troller when the grips were only $30. I rarely use the high position anyway, just cycle the switch from low to off and back when it suits me. If I had a knob to twist, I'd probably be fidgetting with it, too. (I did break tightwad tradition with my Gerbing jacket and sprung for the digital temp controller.)
I've been happy with my element style heaters and like being ably to put whater grip I like on over them. I'm not knockin' your purchase, just stating why I made the choices I did. I hope your grips give you happy service life. Do you have any pics of them installed so we can see what the grips look like?
Paul W
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cpyguy69
(9/12/04 11:50 pm)
Re: get a grip
I saw these for $26 and bought them on a wim.
If they don't work out it won't break me.
As to installation, it may well be the middle of
winter before I get them installed especially if I
go to a different handlebar, risers, lengthened
break lines, etc.
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Topic: Heated Hand Grips (Read 12097 times)