Heated Grips

[Kwayne]

I'm starting my second season on a '99 Interstate and I love it. My woman gifted me Show Chrome heated grips for 1x1.5" & 1.25x5.5" bars. I'm new to doing my own install and am asking if there are better ones or are these the best bang for the buck. I'm near Chicago and do a lot of cool  & cold weather riding (with heavy gloves)  Thx.

[PhredValk]

Happy Birthday (Valentine's, anniversary)!

Just my thoughts. In the few times I've ridden the hiway when the temps were near freezing, the only part of my hands that never felt cold were the parts on the grips, protected from the wind. Fingers and the backs of my hands felt the chill. I don't see the usefulness of heated grips, but rather would LOVE a pair of heated gloves.
Fred.

[Kwayne]

Yeah, I had heated a pair of Tour Master heated gloves that only partially warmed my little fingers. In theory, they are better source of warmth than grips that the hands protect. On an previous ride, I had Hippo Hands and they were great.

[bentwrench]

I've had  the hot grips on several bikes now.they work best on the valk because i also have the nat. cycle hand covers on the bars in winter.Heated grips are a great acc. it's great to be able to flick a switch and keep your hands warm at the end of a ride when the temps are dropping than stop and change gloves.
bw

[blackvalk]

Kwayne,

If you get Motorcycle Consumer News, the have recently reviewed heated grips. Their reviews are always thorough and include pricing.

If you can't find it, I will scan and send it to you. Contact me directly if you need help.

Bill

[gordonv]

For me it is using blood thinners, and at any temp below 8' C my fingers freeze making it hard to handle the controls. Even though this happens more often during the early spring and later fall riding, it can also happen early morning, or even late night, mountian riding.

I've been looking at grips and gloves for over 2 years now. I would love to get gloves, but they are very expensive by the time you pay around $150 for the glove, then an extra $100 for the dual controller. But easy to install. But you need to have them with you to use them. If it's summer, and you left them home, then you are SOL.

Now heated grips, hard to install, but they are always with you. You can use them when the weather is cold. You can also use them on those cold high altitude summer mornings, only with those high mountain passes that sometimes get snow during the summer months. They are there ALWAYS, which means they are always ready to use, and you are never without them.

Just remember to add some kind of indicator and/or relay so once you turn the bike off, they are no longer being powered.

[Gator]

Hey Kwayne, that's a fine gift from a fine woman.
Do us a favour and install them.  Then you can give us a performance report. I've been thinking of installing those heated grips or the ones from Heat Demons. I do like the looks of the Show Chrome grips and controller. We'd all like to know how they perform.

You have nothing to lose and more to gain. Have you forgotten that you score bonus points with your wife when she sees that you actually use a gift that she gives you?  You lose points when you return her gifts. 

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

I had heated grips under stock grip covers worked good but in sub freezing weather fingers and back of hand still got too cold. Finally broke down and got  gerbing gloves and jacket liner. I went cheap and wired to a three position toggle switch that I already had for grip heaters. I normally run just the gloves and only kick the jacket on for a couple minutes at a time. I rode down to 23 degrees this winter and hands stayed toasty.

[Moonshot_1]

Have heated grips on 99 tourer. Were on the bike when I got it.
Can't say I'm a big fan of them. Ridden in a lot of cold weather and have never been impressed with them.

They do work but are only useful in a rather narrow set of circumstances where you are either wearing no gloves or thin gloves.
If it is really cold and you are wearing heavy gloves the gloves insulate you from the heat of the grips.
When its cold I'll get those chem. hand warmers and insert them into the gloves I'm wearing. That works far better than the grip heaters. At least for me.

[gordonv]

How about these ones, Show Chrome, complete grips and dial.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/HONDA-VALKYRIE-CHROME-HEATED-COMFORT-GRIPS-/110652894376?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item19c36d2ca8

I thought I looked at these before, and this style was not the one for the 1" Valk bars.

[Kwayne]

Thanks for all of your replys; Especially Gator's. I lost track of what is really important and will get the grips on soon so I can "see what they got" while there is still a need for them.