Heated grips...

[Basil Brush]

First of all you lot down in the Southern hemisphere stop reading now...

Been out a couple of times recently. Dunno if it's old age - on the cusp of 55 - but, my fingers are frozen to the bone. I have a pair of thicker gloves I wear this time of year and late autumn. Moving onto summer style gloves when summer makes an appearance.

When I bought my 14 it came with heated grips. I binned them. Now I need a set. Looking at Oxford hot-grips. Do you just wire up to the battery? Seems too simple to me. And, are the 'sports' ones the best?

Of course it goes without saying. All suggestions and piss taking are very much appreciated.

BB.

[gsxbarmy]

Don't forget Brian that R&G also do heated grips - so another option.

Personally I never had them on my 14, I never liked that the wire off the throttle side moved with the throttle as it came quite close to the front brake lever. Nor that the heated grips could possibly turn on the handlebar grips themselves (if not stuck on completely). Instead I fitted hand guards, which I found took a heck of a lot of the wind blast off my fingers and hands and kept them warmer a lot longer and used those in association with winter gloves. Plus you can take the hand guards off in the summer if you wish (If you want to go this route I can supply details of both Suzuki and Storm handguards for you to consider)

Going back to your battery question - the only problem with connecting them direct is that if you (accidentally) leave them on, you could drain the battery pretty quick. So from a wiring point of view, would suggest you use a switched live to power them, so they can only be on with the ignition. From memory the orange wire which comes from the ignition in the headlight is a switched live

[Del]

I tried them but still got cold hands - so ended up with a pair of heated gloves no more cold fingers

[Mister Fishfinger]

The Oxford ones have an auto shut off feature. They detect the lower voltage when the engine isn't running and switch off the heating elements accordingly. Disclaimer: I haven't tried them myself, just read the blurb.

[Hooli]

I've had loads of heated grips over the years on my 14.

The ones I've got now are the best I've had, they are Oxford touring. Some of the cheaper ones barely get warm compared to these. Plus rather than switching off at low voltage they detect the 'dirty' voltage from the engine running to switch on, turn the bike off & they go into a standby until it's restarted.

Mine are wired via a switched feed, but I did that years ago for the first set I got & see no reason to change. These ones I've got would be safe to wire direct to the batt as they always switch off with the engine.

I've got handguards too, between the two I ride all year with summer gloves.

[Speedy1959]

I agree with Hooli..
I too have the Oxford touring and they are definitely hot enough..
In fact I have never had them on the 100% setting..
The 75% setting gets too hot after a while even with winter gloves..

I can vouch for the auto off feature working as I have accidentally left mine on several times only to discover it had turned off when I came back with my burger!

[grog]

sorry, Aussie reply. i ride in 3 to 5 degrees winter morns. winter gloves never warm enough, i got some inner thermal gloves. dri rider brand. no more probs. very thin, very cheap, very warm. agree hand guards would be good. my mate has electric heated gloves, jacket, pants. not for me.

[Rynglieder]

I've never had them on the GSX but they came as standard on my GTR.

OK, there is a bit of added warmth to your palms, but as others have said they don't stop the wind chill to your knuckles!

I switched them on yesterday when I took the GTR up for a new tyre and service because the facility was there, but I am not sure that I would pay for them as a separate accessory; if you are doing a lot of riding in the cold heated gloves may be a better option.

[froudy]

After two sets of R&G heated grips failing in a couple of years I got a pair of RST Thermotech heated gloves.
They have three heat settings, and even on the coldest of mornings when riding to work at 6am I've only ever needed to use them on the middle heat setting...
Toasty warm hands

[Hooli]

I plan to add heated waistcoats to my & my other half's riding gear. Keep the core warm & the rest of you doesn't get as cold either.

[Bigger Birdie]

I've had a set of Oxford grips fitted to Bertha for years, and love them.

The switch for the power settings no longer works, but they get warm enough for my morning commute.

I think I'm going to have a look and see if I can copy Speedys cable routing, that looks good.

I can vouch for them flattening the battery if left turned on. After several bump starts when mine were wired direct to the battery, I got my local bike shop to move them onto a switched feed. No my colleagues no longer hide when they think she's not starting 

Not sure about the appearance of hand guards as an alternative, although the ends of my thumbs get awfully chilly some days.

[shanered6]

The oxfords a really good and ive tried loads of makes the best feature is that they do turn them selfs off if you forget  and the grips are realy good as well .

[Basil Brush]

Thanks for all the replies - much appreciated. Nipping out tomorrow to get fixed up.