Gloves....they say "Porella" on the inside. They were on sale at Cycle Gear 4 winters ago, and I snatched them because my hands were cold! Insulated & waterproof (fairly so), and look like a synthetic black leather. I bought them simply because they had the same type of connection to match the plug-in on the sleeves of my Powerlet heated jacket liner. The gloves have held up fine....still work great! Think I paid about $50 for them. I like those Gerbings Micro-wire. Seen them in person, but never tried it. I'll stick with my stuff till it fails. Make sure you buy snug fitting gloves and jacket liner. The closer the wires to your skin, the better it works. I don't wear any separate glove liners over my hand, for that reason. If you need 100% waterproof over your heated gloves, buy a pair of those "Lobster Claw" over-liners (seen them at Aerostitch). They pack away very small. I only wear a Tee-shirt under my liner, and the fleece-lined riding jacket over it. Usually nothing else. It works that well. Always thought I would buy the pant liners and sock/insole heaters. But, I've never needed them with good gloves and good jacket liner. Guess the warm blood circulates thru the body keeping the extremities warm. I do wear thick wool socks inside a nice pair of insulated Alpinestar boots, during cold weather. Sometimes I apply a pair of those Hot-Hands, peel-n-stick, self-heating insoles on bottom of my feet. That works pretty good for about 6 hours. HF
I got the original grips fitted as part of the deal when I bought the bike new. They took a month to come in so the dealer fitted them at the 1000k service. They were about $550 AUD so expensive, but I couldn't be bothered trying to work out what alternatives worked or didn't so just got them fitted. They look identical to the original grips, the only addition is the switch. The whole package is BMW, even the instructions. I can't remember what BMW model they were supposedly from but if anyone wants to know, i can always hassle my dealer again. At this price, they'd better not give me any trouble!
You were right, Scotty, 350 euros they quoted . Heated grips are available though checked at factory.
Hi Mario 33 They are re badged bmw ones. defo not worth that. The best there is are Honda ones at over £300, they are not any thicker than standard grips. Best value and most reliable in the UK are R+G ones. Scorry
StuartT (cafehusky member) has the OEM heated grips. I saw them with my own eyes when he dropped over to my house to collect the spare MOD sidestand foot I had. They're expensive and quite frankly the way the control panel mounts on the handlebar looks quite nasty and doens't look "factory". When I bought heated grips for the Buell Ulysses I owned years ago the grips came with a complete replacement right handlebar switch block with the heated grips controls built it, just like you'd see on a japanese touring bike. I like the idea of a factory replacement that can be easily fitted and integrated in the bike, but for the price, I will almost certainly buy something aftermarket for my Terra and spend the price difference on beer and petrol.
I'm also a fan of the Symtec grip heaters for all the reasons Picklito mentioned - and as an aside, the variable power settings actually use less power on low instead of always being on full power and shunting the excess to heat when set on "low". I have both the Gerbing electric gloves and recently picked up a pair of the Gerbing glove liners. The gloves work well, but the felt-ish lining sticks to your hand when your hands get warm and a bit tacky....it's hard to pull the glove off without them going inside out. The glove liners I can wear inside my elkskin ropers, which suits me much better offroad riding. I'm not putting a bunch of offroad wear and tear on a set of street gloves. I have a set of over-mittens, like Aerostich offers but in waxed cotton. Having a layer to put over your glove is (IMO) the easiest & cheapest way to keep your hands warm. Colorado is all about layering if you ride year 'round, and hands are no exception.
I like the idea of heated grips because they are always there. I often ride to work at 4am when its cold, only to ride home at 5pm when it is hot. If I get a little chilly on the ride in, I could just turn on the grips to make it more comfortable, instead of being hot in the afternoons or toting two pairs of gloves. That being said, I'd like to see a few photos of grip installs. I'm imagining where I would install that pesky switch, and I can't think of a good place.
Installed the amazon grips today. They were a direct replacement. I just slipped the old grips off, and slipped these on. Then I placed a fuse in-line and ran wiring from the battery. If you guys are interested I am happy to post a more detailed install with pics, but it was pretty straight forward. I was going to just tap into the wiring I installed for the 12V on the bars, but I wanted separate fuses for each. It looks like a decent unit--well worth $36. My two main concerns are that the throttle wiring has to rotate (there is plenty of slack and it shouldn't be an issue) and that the units wiring is a fairly light gauge. I am sure that it will be fine--if not they should pull right off, I will let you all know how they hold up Here is the finished product: With throttle closed: Throttle Open: Oh, and the best part of this system is the temp adjustment control built into the left grip. It has 3-4 clicks/settings as you slide up the grip. I will give it a test run in the am.
Thanks for the heads-up on those Next. They look great. Unfortunately the Amazon seller won't ship them to Australia, but I found an ebay seller with the same units who would ship them for $US40 incl. Heading into winter here so something to keep the blood circulating through the fingers is my top priority.
Glad to hear it Nev! After my ride last night I can attest to the heat these put out.... They don't need any glue to apply, so I am planning to rotate them a little to get more heat to my finger tips. Right now the hottest spot is on my palms, and I really want that spot on my fingers as much as possible--should take a few seconds to loosen the bar-ends and rotate theses puppies to the perfect finger warming location. For the price, I couldn't be happier with them.
Most likely it's not a hot spot on the grips that you're chasing. Your fingers are into the wind, and your palms have much greater contact and are on the sheltered side. Every bike I've owned with heated grips has always felt hotter on the palms. You just wired them directly into the battery? The only think I like giving a direct battery connection is my phone charger which can be left plugged in for weeks on end without draining a battery. My memory is too poor to trust myself to remember to switch the grips off every time. I will wire mine up to a relay using the headlight circuit as the relay switch.
Next, would you provide a link to those grips? I looked on Amazon and didn't see any that looked like yours. Thanks!
Just an update-- grips work well. After a long chilly ride through clouds and icy mist yesterday I can say they worked VERY well. Toasty warm. I am still playing with the rotation on the left side-- the throttle is constantly changing since you twist it so it's fine. I am not so sure that there is a cold spot at all on either side-- tough to tell since my palm stays hot regardless. I did rotate the left one back about a 1/5 of a turn and that seemed to keep my fingertips warmer--I should have been wearing my winter gloves--I think that probably would have been made the difference on my fingertips. I think you combine these grip heaters with a heated vest and you could ride in some very chilly weather in relative comfort.
Fitted OEM grips as I got them as part of my deal. Very easy to fit and instructions quite clear except it neglects to mention one of the Torx fasteners for the side plastics. Unfortunately this set are faulty, only working on the high setting but the dealer has ordered a replacement set. I agree with the switch set up, it is a little tacky looking.
Just ordered a set of the Heated Hand Grips from Amazon. Thanks for the link above. Really enjoying my Strada
