Any recommendations for decent heated grips, preferably with variable temp control?

I experienced them for the first time on a chilly morning test ride last week.
Fantastic! I almost bought the bike for the grips alone!

So now I've got to have them. Any opinions on which are best?

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Beware the dark, mechanical bird.

Well, there are a load of threads at the bottom of this one when I opened it, and they are all discussing various aspects of heated grips.

My wifes' 650GS has the BMW version, which are not cheap (from memory, they were about £200 as an optional extra on the new bike) - I am appreciating them now that the weather is getting colder.

I have just ordered some Oxford grips for my bike - they are cheap enough that I don't really care how they compare with the Beemer version but they have a good reputation anyway with those I have talked with; especially this years version which has a new control switch which is much more weather resistant than the older version (according to the hearsay anyway).

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Dave

Cheers Dave, (was that the fastest reply ever? I only went out to make a cuppa)!

I did a quick search of this forum but I didn't find anything brand-specific.

The Oxford grips look a good deal 'tho, maybe you could post a review when you get yours fitted?

Cheers again,

Angus.

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Beware the dark, mechanical bird.

I've got the Oxford grips. They are the best independents I have had (have had two other types-can't remember names). The Oxford temp control and on/off switch isn't the prettiest thing you'll ever fit on your bike, but it works. Note that the effectiveness is also linked to how well your fairing/handgaurds work. I had a pair on a Honda VFR 750 and they were good and hot - moved them over to a naked bike and they weren't so good. Obvious really, but something to consider. Make sure (you've probably thought of this anyway) that you take your power from a switched supply so you can't leave them on when you leave the bike. Best bike accessory you can buy.

Vince Strang in Australia - vsm@northnet.com.au has a great set of heated grips. Easy to install, reliable and good price, well under $100Aus. Has high and low seetings. Have a set on my DR. all the best Brian B

yep i have the oxford heated grips and so does me dad, very good, never drain the battery, give good heat, comfy. The bad thing i have about them are that they are not that long and have a large rib of rubber at the end of the grip. This means people with bigger hands (like me) find the end of your hand sits on this rib. Its not the end of the world but can be annoying sometimes.

Compaired to my old honda heated grips on a Deauville these are like cookers. They produce alot more heat and heat up quickier. Also the heat controller box can be changed indivdually so if any problems with it buy a new one, where as with my dads old honda ones the controller wents so all the grips and everything had to go. Unlucky.

For the price i would buy them again and fit them to any bike.

The Oxford heated grips on my DR are the best things I've ever bought, ever. Never owned a bike with heated grips before (used to pick on people that had them...), but think these things definently helped me do more kilometers per day crossing Russia and Monglia than any other mod I can think of. I ended up riding Vladivostok to Tyumen via Mongolia in normal Smith motorcross gloves (not water or wind proof) as I lost my Dainese winter gloves in Japan! I managed to ride a few days in the rain and do a number of water crossings in Mongolia that without heated grips would have been hell. They really throw out some heat!
BUT, I think that a few modifications are needed. I had problems with the electrical connectors between the grips and the controller. They are bullet type connectors that seem to spred apart and loose contact with constant vibration, I had to squash the female side together a couple of times when one grip stopped working. Easy enough to do, but now that I know I would have changed the connectors or proberly got rid of the connector completely and hard wired them in. I also had a problem with the fuse/fuse holder. I think the vibration killed the fuse, but not having a spare with me I cut the holder out and joined the wires. I DO NOT recommend this though, ya might wake up one sunny Mongolian morning to a burnt out wreck that was your bike. I intend to change the fuse and holder to a normal blade fuse instead of the mini blade fuse they come with, in my experience these hold up to vibration a bit better and carry a spare! Also be careful of where you mount all the connectors and fuse holder, I was careful enough about this but it may have contributed to the probelms I had. On paved roads I don't think you would experience any of these problems.
Interested to know if other people have had these problems.....

On the subject of heated grips I like the look of the velcro on type. Are they any good ? My BMW has them built in but I want to be able to have something thats removable for summer use.

The idea did not appeal to me, but I have never seen them fitted to any bike - they would be very bulky in use (and I like very good feel of the controls with thin palms to my gloves) and you still need a wiring loom to be fitted with a switch, so nothing saved there.

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Dave

Thanks everybody for the input, looks like Oxford get the vote.

Good advice on wiring/fuses too, I'll keep that in mind.

Hot hands here I come!

Cheers all.

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Beware the dark, mechanical bird.

Take a look at these:

Buy Symtec Heated Grip Kit|Motorcycle Tank Bags, Luggage, Panniers, Tail Bags, Seat Bags, Enduro Bags, for Aprilia, Benelli, BMW, Buell, Cagiva, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, Moto Guzzi, MV Agusta, Suzuki, Triumph, Yamaha, Off Road, Enduro motorcycles

Just binned my Oxfords after the controller died and fitted these by Symtec.
Cheaper than Oxfords, but a bit more hassle to fit. Very neat 2 position controller and seem to give off a similar amount of heat.
One advantage is you fit them under a normal grip - the Oxfords are quite thick and bulky.

If your BMW has heated grips do not take them off and put the velcro things over normal grips. I have a pair of the velcro rubbish kicking around my garage somewhere. They are the worst things I ever bought. They were bulky and lost ALL heat when you got up above 30mph. My Tiger has proper heated grips and I love them. They're the 2nd best biking thing after my Garmin.

Early days, but they are now fitted, by me, and working OK.
These have the new(ish), waterproof control unit which is quite a clever bit of electronics at the heart of the heating system.

Instructions: excellent overall with clear directions and they really are fool proof - they cannot be connected wrongly; I know because I tried to do this - all connections can only link together in one way.

The grips: seem well made (and made in China) - robust, solid rubber grips which are similar to the originals in diameter.

Connections: wired directly into the battery, as per the instructions. Therefore making the electrical connections could not be simpler. There is a wiring diagram, but it is not needed really.

Heat: 4 settings, from 30% upto 100%.

Control unit/switch: this is good! Clever bit is that it detects if the battery is "too low on power to run the grips" which means that if you accidentally leave them on when the bike is stopped then the sensor will switch them off anyway, before the battery is too low to start the engine.
In any case, it is quite hard to leave them switched on because there is a set of bright LEDs which tell you what is going on; one of 4 different colours for the 4 heat settings.
The next clever bit is that the button has to be pressed for about 2 secs to switch them on; the first line of defence against, say, kids switching them on while you are away from the bike. The second "line of defence" is that, ordinarily, they won't work anyway until the engine has been started and the battery is getting charged - I 've tried this and it works.

Problems: none really - getting the bar end weights off turned out to be a bitch, but after that, nothing.

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Dave

heated jacket will save your SOUL!

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Patrick passed Dec 2018. RIP Patrick!

Also, not fashionable but very effective, Muffs (stop sniggering at the back).
No electrics to wire up and they keep your hands dry


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