To be honest I'm not too impressed with mine. Compared to the Oxfords on my other bikes they are hard, a little small diameter and not especially warm. Wear thick gloves and they might was well not be on. I believe they are working correctly because both heat settings work and both heat the same amount,
OEM are complete kits undo switch ect ect but some on here have fixed the wire under the rubber. from bmw it will cost around £75-80 and take 45min ish.
To be honest I'm not too impressed with mine. Compared to the Oxfords on my other bikes they are hard, a little small diameter and not especially warm. Wear thick gloves and they might was well not be on. I believe they are working correctly because both heat settings work and both heat the same amount,
The reason may be that you have an 08 GSA which I believe was the year they swapped from steel to alloy handlebars. They just don't retain the heat like steel bars.
An interesting point about alloy handlebars. My Yamaha 900 has steel bars and Oxfords which are anything too powerful. They never go beyond 75% for long. I wonder if that extra power would cope with the Beemer's alloy heat sinks.
The reason may be that you have an 08 GSA which I believe was the year they swapped from steel to alloy handlebars. They just don't retain the heat like steel bars.
I use my heated grips most of the time. In cool weather I can use summer gloves.
I had some cheap 2 stage (hot/warm) grips on another bike. The LH side was never as warm as the right presumably due to the throttle slide insulating the metal heat sink of the handlebars. The BMW grips also give equal heat side to side so maybe the elements are just inadequate.
The Oxfords have never been a problem so I assume are better thermally insulated. They are about 5mm fatter than standard BMW grips.