Oxford Grip Heaterz on a KLR650

[MICRider]

Hmmm... Just realized I've never done an install review before, bear with me and hopefully this is at least a little informative .

I mail ordered a set of Oxford Grip Heaterz a week or so ago, temps in the morning here are hovering around +2 Celsius (or about 35 Fahrenheit). My jacket and such keep me fairly comfortable, but my hands get cold so I thought I would try a set of grip heaters to see if it makes my commute more comfortable.

I bought my grips from A Vicious Cycle in Ontario. Great outfit and super fast shipping. I believe these grips can be bought locally at motorcycle shops as well but I prefer mail order unless I'm in a real rush. They were around $85 Canadian, with GST and shipping they came out to about $104. I chose the "waffle" design as they had serrated grips and I thought that would be better (less slippery) if they got wet or muddy. On hindsight though, the rubber is pretty tacky so I think the "standard" smooth grips would have been fine too. The waffle ones come in a box marked up for sport bikes. The ones I ordered were for 7/8 inch handlebars.

When I unpacked the box it contained:
1) The heated grips, one larger diameter for the throttle tube.

2) A small bracket designed to hold the control module on the clutch mount. (I couldn't use this because my enricher lever is there)

3) 4 small zip ties (super cheap, 2 broke!) 8O

4) 2 self adhesive pads for dash mounting the control module and control (?) box

5) A wiring loom with connectors to go from the control box to the grip wires. All have clip together connectors.

6) Instructions

7) Super glue

Heres the wiring diagram in a nutshell showing the boxes and how they connect.



Fairly simple connections, I ran mine straight to the battery. You can also wire in a relay so that the system is only powered on when the ignition is on. This is a really good idea I think and I might put it in later (after I kill the battery a few times)
Installing the wiring is very bike specific... On my bike it involved removing my side panels, seat, lower tank cowlings and the tank itself. Sorry, no pics on this part. I left the actual control module, (not the one with the buttons) back by the battery under the seat and ran the wires for the temperature control module (with the buttons) and the grip power wires along the frame and zip tied them on.

After removing my stock grips (throttle one slid right off, the clutch one was glued on quite well!) I dry fitted the grips and figured out the optimal position for the wires where they wouldn't interfere with any of the other controls. I also made sure that they didn't block my horn or starter button! You have to leave some slack in the throttle one as it has to have free motion when you twist the throttle. I also made sure that my bar end weights would still fit without trimming the grips... My throttle one just touched the grip, but it was enough to bind it. Rather than trim the end of the grip I elected to put one small washer between the bar end and the weight... Problem solved! Spaced the weight out just perfectly.

Once your sure of the position the grips need to be mounted in, and they slide on without too much trouble, your ready to glue em on! Some people use hair spray to hold their grips on but I elected to try the super glue as Oxford reccomended it. Don't get any on the paint though! I applied glue to the handlebars one side at a time then slid the grips on and positioned them as I had determined in the dry fitting. Oxford tells you to leave the glue dry for 24 hours. Here's a pic of the installed throttle grip.



After the grips are glued on (careful not to move them until they're dry) you can install the temperature control module. It's a small box with an on/off button and a +/- button for turning the unit on and setting the temp. The box is weatherproof so you don't have to worry about it shorting in the rain. They supply a bracket and some screws so that you can mount it on the clutch lever perch. That would be a nice place to put it but my enricher lever is there so I couldn't mount it that way. I ended up just using the double sided tape and mounting it on the dash of my bike. Like so,



It seems good and secure there, and by using the double sided tape I didn't have to drill any holes in my fairing 8)

So, the completed install looks like this,



The total install took me a couple of hours. I really took my time though and made sure I got it right... You only get one chance with super glue! I haven't had it out in the cold yet but in testing the high setting is very warm! Too warm for ungloved hands. The grips are fairly low draw, they only take 4 amps. The control module (again, not the one with the buttons) has software in it that switches the unit off at 11.5 volts if you forget to turn them off... I kind of doubt my bike would start with that low a voltage so I would still have to get a boost. That's why I think the relay is a good idea... Then you never have to worry about killing the battery :roll:

So, all in all the install went very smoothly. Took a little time though because of all the disassembly required on my KLR. Depending what bike you have it could be simpler to install (or more complex!) I'm hoping they extend the bike season a bit for me since it's so short here already. Not much fun riding with freezing hands!
Heres one more gratuitous shot of my baby all put back together...



Not a chinabike, but it's assembled in Thailand so it's pretty darn close!