Quandary on heated grips

[Mark Darlington]

Hi everyone,
Looking for some advice/opinions on this. My 95 RS has a blanking switch where the heated grip button is on the fairing.

I'd quite like heated grips, but to enable the heated grip option I think I need to:


Buy different handlebars (mine are smooth beneath the grips and I believe they need to be ridged)
Buy different grips with the wires on
Cable all that back to a switch that works
All that sounds very expensive - I'm not sure it can be done cost effectively unless I can find someone selling the whole lot second hand.

Or, I could go and buy an aftermarket kit, like the Oxford hot grips, which would be presumably much cheaper (around £50 or less).

Any views? Has anyone been down this path already? I have read other posts indicating that perhaps the BMW heated grips aren't great anyway. :help:

Cheers,
Mark

[dickybeau]

I have BMW heated grips and they are not that great. While the Oxford grips look less than pretty, they seem to be effective. I don't think that the BMW switches are particularly expensive so you might be able to combine a proper switch with ersatz heating grips.

[MikeH]

The bars are different - those for heated grips are hollow with a hole for the cable inboard near the serrated clamp. So for the OEM grips you would need a complete fitting kit plus new bars. Why not just fit the R1100GS hand guards? - probably just as effective as heated grips for about £20.

If you decide to go with the grips Motobins can supply the parts - give them a call.

[Feedback]

I just got done putting heated grips on my 94 RRS. It was easy to do, just a bit of time involved. The bars you have should work fine but you may need to get new bar ends to fit the wires. I modified my bar ends to work but that took some doing. You might find some used bar ends at a good price. Since mine had never had heated grips I had to hunt down the connector for the grips. It was bundled up with cable ties down on the frame. I had to take the side pannel off to find it. The connector for the switch was right there ready to plug in. I got my grips used at a good price. (THANKS MIKE!!) And that came with the switch, connectors, and even some screws that I needed. (Thanks again Mike!!)

You can e-mail Mike at m_figielski@hotmail.com . He might have what you need.

[Dee Duble Yuh]

If you just want the practicality of heated grips, after market grips (try http://www.busters-accessories.co.uk/ or http://www.mandp.co.uk/home.aspx ) or GS hand guards might be all you need. You can usually find heated grips that are cheaper than Oxford, and you don't need special handlebars... but the switch might look ugly. I personally dislike the "wrap-on" Hot Hands because they look awful and I'm concerned they might slip off. OTOH, you can remove them in the Spring and go au naturelle.

If you are concerned about looks and resale value, the BMW originals are probably a safer bet. This winter I've rarely used the high setting, but it has been a very mild winter in the UK.

Or you could mix and match BMW swithc gear with after-market grips.

[JimVonBaden]

I repaired my heated grips with inserts from Aerostitch. They cost $30 and came with everything I needed. Of course I already had heated grips originally, but you could buy the heated grip switch, online at Max BMW for $15, or on E-bay. Then drill a couple holes for the wires and install the heating pads under the original grips. Just add a layer of insulating tape on the left grip so the bare doesn't absorb all the heat.

Another option would be a set of aftermarket heated grips wired into the original switch.

I have a thread on here somewhere where I installed my Aerostitch grip inserts.

Jim:cool:

[Glenn J. Harris]

:yo: :yo: :yo: If you decide to go with BMW grips get the GS1200/R1100S Style grips. These grips do not have the raised ridges on their surface so are more comfortable and get VERY HOT. I just had a set installed on my 1150RS and these really work.
Glenn,