anyone fitted oxford heated grips?

Dunk

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When I bought my bike , the last owner hadn't fitted the original BMW heated grips and its getting to the time when I'd appreciate them, but the cost is rather putting me off. SO: has anyone fitted Oxford (or any other brand) heated grips to their GS, as they seem an ok price: £45.

cheers
Dunk
 
I had them on a past bike and found them okay "for the money". They were not fantastic though. My main gripe was they were either too cold or way too hot, and they broke after one winters use (largely due to my bad gorilla-grip riding style...).

I would not buy them again, but would save up for the BMW ones, or look at other "in-between price" brands that you can get.

If you are strapped for cash (like me this time of year!) I'd get some nice cheap muffs instead.
 
If you mean heated grips rather than the wrap round jobbies,I have the similar Daytona grips on my 800G/S.
They`ve been on for a few years now,no problems and work well.
Make sure you wire them to a switched feed,so you don`t flatten the battery when parked,and allow a sufficient loop of cable for the twistgrip to rotate without ripping the wire out.
 
Tarka: I looked at the Daytona ones and they had a good write up in an old RIDE mag but just mentioned the Oxford ones as they seem the most popular for the same-ish price.

As for any others I couldn't find any more that were higher priced. Motrax were cheaper, Hein Gericke were the same. I like the idea of the Oxford wrap around heated grip things BUT they appear huge.

Did you have any problems getting them on the bars?
You mentioned fitting them to a switched feed so they don't drain the battery if left on. This seems the pearl of wisdom for fitting grips BUT how do you go about doing it? Most people seem to just connect up to the battery and hope they don't forget.

I've got some bar muffs already but I don't really like to ride with thick winter gloves (got the claw-type) so I use my summer ones but there have been days recently (fortunately living in London it never gets REALLY cold) when I've been in pain and praying for red traffic lights so I can hug my engine and thaw out.

I'd rather not pay ouy £170+ for BMWs grips.
 
As it happens, Andy Malton and myself fitted Hein Gericke heated grips to my 1150 a few days ago. AFAIK the Hein Gericke grips are simply re-branded Daytona grips. We had a bit of a game getting the grips to fit onto the bars but after sticking them in some boiling water they eventually went on. We wired them straight to the battery which works well until you forgot to turn them off and flatten your battery. My next plan of action is to see if I can buy the OEM heated grips electrical connector.

Grips work extremely well but are slightly fatter than the original grips which takes a little bit of getting used to. Certainly better than shelling out hundreds of pounds for the BM ones.
 
cool hand luke

I have Oxford grips on my VFR...........right hand one is warm and the left hand is cool...............
In comparison to my genuine BMW ones on the G/S (2nd/Hand from Sherlocks) the Oxford ones are hardly worth the bother............
As for the Honda one's on my pan they burn !! (if on high temperature.)
In my opinion buy the best which two out of three of my bikes confirm and then you will have hot hands:beer:
 
Dunk,
Look in your wiring diagram for a switched feed off your ignition switch. It`s no mystery,follow the positive from the battery to the ignition switch,then look on the diagram for the wire that will be swiched to that when the ignition is on.
I spliced into the switched live and soldered the heated grip live to it ( incorporating an inline fuse ),but you could use a 'Scotchblock' connector ( those horrible clamp on connectors ) if you can`t solder. I would advise fitting a fuse though.
The grips went on the bars ok,spraying the insides with hairspray makes them slide on,then grip.

NOTE : Those who just connect to the battery will,one day,forget to switch them off.............OR.....Someone will swich them on when you`re parked !!! Trust me on this....
 
Tarka: cheers for the advice but I feel that I'm out of my depth here and I understand why people just connect to the battery.

I've got an Acrobat Reader document from here that shows the electrical diagrams and i think that I've got the right one (schematic for heating, anti-theft system and socket).

On the diagram I found the wire going into the ignition switch (x9430) and comes out into a soldering point (x9450) and onto the fuse box (f9200). Is this the one you are talking about?

In reality is there only 1 wire that comes from the ignition? If not, how do I know which one it is?

Where do you solder the wire to? OR Where do you fit the little box thing? Finally: how on earth do you fit a fuse onto the wire?

If this is too complicated to explain, don't worry mate, I'll try and badger someone with some electrical knowledge into showing me.

Cheers anyway.
 
Dunk,
I tried to PM you with a phone number,but you`re not a sponsor so I can`t.
Not sure what bike you have but what you say sounds about right. Allowing for the constraints of the written word,I`ll try and talk you through it...

From the ignition switch you have found a wire going to the fusebox.This is most likely a switched live,so when you switch on 12v positive goes through the switch,along that wire and to the fuse/fusebox.You can chck this with a voltmeter set to DC Volts or even a 12v bulb with 2 wires on it. Put one bulb wire ( or meter probe )to a good earth,ie bare metal such as a bolt,or battery negative post. Put the other bulb wire ( or meter probe ) to the wire connected to the fuse/fusebox. Ignition on will give 12v or thereabouts on the meter,or light the bulb.Ignition off will extinguish this. Follow so far ?

To fit a fuse,go to a car spares place ( Halfords,Motor World,etc ) and get an inline fuse holder with a 5 amp fuse. I`ll have to check my rating,but I`m sure 5amp is enough.

Also,as you don`t sound up to splicing and soldering ( no offence) get a Scotchblock connector. This is a blue clamp on connector which wraps around the main 'Through' wire,and has a clamping part to join an additional wire,if you follow.

The 'through wire' in your case is the switched live,and the additional wire is one end of the inline fuseholder,yeah ?

The other end of the inline fuseholder will connect to your 'little box thingy' which I imagine is your hot grip control switch.

Hopefully this gives a clear image of an ignition switch controlled 12v feed through an inline fuse to your hotgrip controller.

As for where to fit the controller,mine is on the right side of the bars,between the clamp and the brace.

Pity you`re not local,I`d have done the job for you.
Hope this helps.
 
Cheers mate, that doesn't sound too tricky. I'll have a look at my bike ('99 GS1150) over the next day or so and see what I can see and if I can find the wires easily enough I'll go and buy some grips. If I encounter any problems I'll holler.

Thanks again
Dunk
 
Hi Dunk,

If I were you I'd track down a set of SH BM ones. I fitted a set of Oxford ones to my wifes SV (power wire going to a switched feed in case someone forgets to turn them off!!:rolleyes: ) They are the sort with a little reostat and on max they only draw 2amps. OK but not as warm or neat as the BM ones and RH warmer than the left as the right is insulated from the bar by the twistgrip mechanism. :)

I also have a very cheap pair on my MZ scorpion £25 at the NEC a couple of years ago. They draw 3amps and are a bit warmer but were unbranded sorry.
 
Right: I've had a look at the bike and there's 1 thick black cable going into the ignition which has several wires inside it. The cable has a white head/adaptor which fits into the actual ignition housing. The wire I need (I'm almost sure) is the 1.5mm green one which runs from the ignition to the fuse box when turned on. I presume have to split the thick black wire and attach the Scotchblock connector to the green wire with the fuse fitting somewhere into this.

Next job then is to get the grips and have a go.

Also to avoid the left hand getting colder I've read that people have wrapped the left bar with insulating tape to stop the heat from the grip being sucked out by the metal bars.
 
Unfortunately you get what you pay for.The main trouble with the aftermarket ones is they have to fit a wide range of bikes and usually the fit of some of them leaves alot to be desired.
If you can get the bmw ones ,do. They will plug straight into the bikes' pre-prepared wiring harness,add value to your resale value & come with a 2 year warranty.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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