Heated Grips and Heated Jacket Liner

[wgwgoldwing]

Got my grips and jacket liner stuff installed. My bikes a little dirty so never mind the dirt.

The grips are called Hot Grips:

I really like these because the are bigger than most grips. I have long fingers and having something a little more substantial to wrap them around feels great:

Plus the extra thickness provide a good bit more cushion.



I use a Gerbing's heated jacket liner. I installed the surface mount for the liner here:

With a right angle cord, it makes for super easy access while on or off the bike:

For controllers, I went variable. Gerbing's single portable controller for the jacket liner and the Warm-and-Safe Heat-Troller for the grips. They are mounted under the instrument panel with double sided foam tape:

Wires are routed under the front cowl and lead to my power distribution block located in the left fairing pocket:

As far as cost go, here's a list (all in USD):

Hot Grips $110.99
Heat-Troller $79.95

Gerbing's panel mount kit $36.95
Gerbing's portable controller $69.95
Gerbing's heated jacket liner $219.95

Tested everything out yesterday on my way home from work. Temperatures were in the low 40's (Fahrenheit) and everything works great.

WGW

 

[TechiePilot]

Nice work, wgwgoldwing... now you can really turn up the heat!
How much work/how easy was it to remove and replace the grips?

 

[wgwgoldwing]

Nice work, wgwgoldwing... now you can really turn up the heat!
How much work/how easy was it to remove and replace the grips?

The OEM Honda grips came right off no problem. Took about 10 minutes. I took off the handle bar weights. Then I used a long thin straight screwdriver between the handle bar and grip. I turned the screwdriver while pushing in a little. As I worked around the grip I was able to go deeper and deeper releasing the grip glue in the process. I would have just broke out the air compressor, but this took me about the same amount of time as dragging the compressor out to the garage and waiting for it to fill with air. The original grips are undamaged and can easily be re-installed if necessary.

The new grips are installed with high temperature epoxy. Removal, if necessary is accomplished by wrapping the grips completely with cloth and turning the grip on high for a while. This will "overheat" the grips and allow the epoxy to release. Otherwise, they can just be cut off.


WGW

 

[happy]

Your mods look great!

However I do not like the wire hanging out of the throttle grip.


Nevetheless a good job, done great!

 

[gpd211]

Any heated grip will have longer wires exposed on the throttle side. It has to rotate.

 

[Beemerphile]

Your mods look great!

However I do not like the wire hanging out of the throttle grip.

Even the OEM Honda heated grips have this.

 

[happy]

Even the OEM Honda heated grips have this.

Sorry I did not know that.

 

[L.B.S.]

Holy awesome ingeniousness, Batman! I love the right angled plug outlet, and the fitment of the controllers under the dash, so cool!

Cracking job, WGW!

 

[LA_NC700X]

Looks really good and very functional!

Other than my 06 K1200GT... None of my other bikes has heated grips... I wish I am brave enough to try to install one...

 

[soggybottom]

I like heated grips and you did a nice job. This time around since I have been using a Gerbings heated liner the last 2 winters I thought I'd try their heated gloves. The grips are nice but only get your grip side warm. So this fall I found a 3lx pair on Gerbings bargain page, $104 delivered. I tried them on a 47 deg morning already and they do keep my hands warmer than grips, but pluging them into the jacket will take some getting used to.

 

[treybrad]

Anyone have any comments on these 'all-in-one' units vs. the under grip style like Symtec offers? I've only used the under grip ones, which are about half the cost. I liked the Symtec units, they never gave me trouble over 5 winters and 60k miles, but they weren't quite big enough to wrap all the way around the bar. Somehow it seemed like I could always tell there was a cool(er) spot where the elements didn't meet.... (which may have been all in my head!).

I do really like that Gerbing outlet mounted like that -- very clean!

trey

 

[Naked_Duc]

Fantastic work. Thread subscribed!

 

[Rocker66]

Sitting at work tonight it feels as though tomorrow morning will find me plugging in my GEbring liner & gloves for the first time this winter

 

[wgwgoldwing]

I like heated grips and you did a nice job. This time around since I have been using a Gerbings heated liner the last 2 winters I thought I'd try their heated gloves. The grips are nice but only get your grip side warm. So this fall I found a 3lx pair on Gerbings bargain page, $104 delivered. I tried them on a 47 deg morning already and they do keep my hands warmer than grips, but pluging them into the jacket will take some getting used to.

I did the heated glove thing for one winter. They certainly do keep your hands and fingers warmer. My main issues was with having to plug them in each time I get on and off the bike and making sure I had them on and wired, just in case I needed them. That's the biggest benefit to the heated grips. You can use your own gloves (not big, bulky and wired) and the heat is on demand, already there, just a turn of the switch, no matter what glove you are wearing. I may still get a set once the temps stay steadily cold. Let me know how the combo works for you. My jacket liner has the sleeves prewired so adding the gloves would be pretty easy compared to what I use to have to do.

They also make a glove made specifically for heated grips. Light on the palms and palm side of the fingers and very heavy insulation on the top sides. They are designed to retain the heat on the top and allow easy heat transfer from the grips. I haven't tried them yet because they were kind of expensive (seems like they were around $150). I'll have to dig around and see if I can find them again.

WGW

 

[Rocker66]

I had heated grips on my 3 previous commuter bikes but this time rather than pay over £600 to have them fitted to both my NC and Crossrunner I thought I would try gloves with a wiring harness on each bike. Commuting this winter should tell me whether this was a good choice or not

 

[Beemerphile]

For me the heated grips and the heated gloves are for different duty. If I know I am going to a long cold ride, I wire up the gloves. The heated grips are for when I get caught out in the cold such as coming home in the evening, or taking the chill off in the morning when I expect it will warm up later. I also use them to take off the chill in the rain or when my arthritic hands need a little therapeutic heat.

I am using the two-channel warm-n-safe wireless controller that can be velcroed to any flat surface. My favorite spot is the top of the front brake reservoir. Separate channels for gloves and jacket. The only wire you need is a 12 volt power wire to the jacket.

 

[Rocker66]

As the NC gets used mainly for my commute hooking up the gloves is no problem

 

[TechiePilot]

The OEM Honda grips came right off no problem. Took about 10 minutes. I took off the handle bar weights. Then I used a long thin straight screwdriver between the handle bar and grip. I turned the screwdriver while pushing in a little. As I worked around the grip I was able to go deeper and deeper releasing the grip glue in the process. I would have just broke out the air compressor, but this took me about the same amount of time as dragging the compressor out to the garage and waiting for it to fill with air. The original grips are undamaged and can easily be re-installed if necessary.

The new grips are installed with high temperature epoxy. Removal, if necessary is accomplished by wrapping the grips completely with cloth and turning the grip on high for a while. This will "overheat" the grips and allow the epoxy to release. Otherwise, they can just be cut off.

WGW

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I appreciate it.