Grip heaters, opinions?

[MICRider]

I have a question about grip heaters, did a search on the forums here but came up pretty much empty. For anyone that has ran them, what's the best kind? There seem to be two different main models, a simpler (and cheaper) one that is just an element that you stick to the bars and then hook to the battery, and a more elaborate one that comes with it's own grips and a control box for temperature. The simple ones come with only an on/off hi/low switch. I like the looks of the dedicated grip models, they look very well put together, but what if I want to use a different grip style? Thoughts and opinions greatly appreciated as the morning commutes are cold!

[Weldangrind]

Mine have five fingers in them, and they're removeable for when I want to eat a sandwich. They require no electricity. :wink:

[FastDoc]

My Gold Wing has them and I appreciate them very much.

As far as he element type that go under the grip I have never had experiance with them. I'd splurge and get dedicated units with a controller. You will enjoy them for as long as you have the bike.

Given the KLR's mission and competition I think Kawasaki should have ncluded them, or at lest made them an option.

[MICRider]

Originally Posted by FastDoc

My Gold Wing has them and I appreciate them very much.

As far as he element type that go under the grip I have never had experiance with them. I'd splurge and get dedicated units with a controller. You will enjoy them for as long as you have the bike.

Given the KLR's mission and competition I think Kawasaki should have ncluded them, or at lest made them an option.

Thanks Doc, I think the dedicated units look better as well. I went ahead and ordered these:
http://www.aviciouscycle.ca/klroxfordheathand.html

I bought a set of waterproof winter gloves with some bday money I had last fall, but they're still not warm enough on the cool mornings. Hoping the heaters will do the trick . Our season has been put on hold for another week though due to a 6 inch dump of snow... Blech!

[MICRider]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

Mine have five fingers in them, and they're removeable for when I want to eat a sandwich. They require no electricity. :wink:

Lol! I have a couple of sets of those too, but they're not doing a good enough job for me when the temps are around 0 Celsius (or below!)

[FastDoc]

Those look great and the price seems great too good choice!

The nice thing about the electric grips is they are there 100% of the time. Even in the summer some cool evening when you don't have cold weather gloves you will appreciate them.

[dmmcd]

I have the stick-on element ones, I think they are symtec, on my SV. I have aluminum clip ons, which like to wick the heat away. I have them wired through a relay to the battery. When I first installed them, I wired them to the headlight circuit so they would turn off with the bike, but they never really got hot enough for me. After re-wiring, they work pretty well. I also wear mittens when it is below 30 deg F.

[Weldangrind]

Originally Posted by MICRider

Lol! I have a couple of sets of those too, but they're not doing a good enough job for me when the temps are around 0 Celsius (or below!)

My hillbilly approach is to wear a pair of nitrile gloves underneath regular gloves. They act like a wetsuit after they warm up, which usually takes about 15 minutes on a cold day.

[waynev]

They work great on my snowmobile, they came from the factory though and are are fitted inside the bars, i only use them on really cold days though as they get very warm and my hands get too hot.

[SpudRider]

If you have time, please take some photographs of the installation, Stew. I would enjoy seeing you post a thread on this subject.

Spud

[MICRider]

Okey dokey, the heated grips showed up today and they look great! I'm going to wait till the weekend to put them on though as I have to tear half the bike apart to install em... I'll try to get some half decent pics of the install to maybe help others contemplating installing a set. Props to A Vicious Cycle for a very pleasurable ordering experience again... Eric and the rest of the crew rock, I would definitely recommend them, though I think they pretty much only carry parts for Japanese bikes. Sure could have used the grips this morning... Half hour commute to work in +1 Celsius temps, factoring in a 110 to 120 kmh wind chill... Brrrr! Awesome ride though, and it was beautiful coming home. I took the "scenic" route back with a bunch of twisty's in the sand hills. Life is good!

Cheers,
Stew

[MICRider]

Well, I got the Oxford Heaterz installed. It was a simple job but time consuming as I had to remove the sidecovers, seat, and the lower cowlings and tank. Heavy tank on the KLR's when it's half full of fuel! I didn't get any pics though... I'm kind of bad for falling into a single track mode, I start something and forget all else. It really was a simple install though, the only pain in the butt part was figuring out where to run the wiring so that it wouldn't chafe or bind while riding. I haven't had a chance to get it out yet but the initial tests are promising, they get toasty! I might install a relay at a later date so that I don't forget them on and kill the battery (probably install one right after I kill the battery the first time)

[SpudRider]

I'm glad you got your grip heaters installed, Stew. I might be installing a pair of grip heaters on my two bikes, also. We understand about the lack of photos...I guess. :roll:

Spud

[MICRider]

They seem to work well, I'm just hoping that I can feel the heat through my gloves... I have a set of deerskin (street) gloves that I have had forever, they're quite thin (and very comfy!) so I know I'll be able to feel the heat through them, but I also have a pair of waterproof touring gloves with armor/padding on the fingers. They're quite thick so it'll be interesting to see if I can feel the heat through them. It was a busy day in the garage, I started out putting on a lowering kit (lol, my second one!) and ended up doing the grip heaters right after. Only pic I managed to get was one of my pride and joy stripped down. Kinda fuzzy too, phone pic

[MICRider]

I'm going to do a little post install thread in the reviews section, I took a few pics of the bike after the install