General - Warm hands

[anon]

From: rowlf Sent: 24/02/2003

Having tried handlebar muffs and inner gloves inside my normal gloves my hands were often still quite cold, if tolerable. However, a couple of nasty problems on one trip put me off muffs.

1/ I had drilled holes through the muffs and removed the bar end weights, refitting them through the holes in the muffs to hold them more securely. At speeds up to about 70 they are fine but over that the wind pressure forces the muffs down and back applying pressure to the clutch and brake levers. The clutch lever did not seem to matter but the slight pressure to the brake put the brakes on enough to heat the discs and pads. This resulted in brake fade so I had almost no brakes as I got to a roundabout at the end of the motorway .. er !.

2/ On two other occasions as I moved my hands inside the right muff it pressed on and operated the ignition cut-off switch, 'killing' the bike. First time I wondered what the hell had happened and had to get across two lanes of traffic to a safe place, . . quickly !.

I have since bought Klan (formerly Giali) heated gloves and can thoroughly recommend them as can repairman, another of our members. They keep the hands and fingers nicely warm and do not restrict movement at all.. I fitted the operating switch to the centre of the handlebar with cable ties so I can switch it on and off easily as my hands begin to roast.

They are £90 including next day delivery from www.giali.com

The only disadvantage of heated gloves is that you have to keep plugging them in and out each time you get on or off the bike, so they are best suited to one off longish runs or commutes rather than courier type activities. The dangling cables can also be a bit of a nuisance at times, especially as you get off the bike and they get caught somewhere. Still, they are superb at solving the problems of cold hands so I think the minor inconveniences are worth putting up with. In fact it's probably worth having a pair of cheap gloves nearby for those short 'on-off ' trips.

*********************

Also available are a number of varied heated grip products to fit over or replace the handlebar grips but they do seem less effective at keeping the fingers warm Especially if, like me, you spend a lot of time in traffic with your fingers 'covering' the clutch and brake levers, and thus in the air flow away from the heated grip. However, a number of our members use them succesfully and they are cheaper than gloves. They also get round the problem of having to 'plug yourself in' each time.


Giali/Klan do heated overgrips which fit over the existing grips and save having to remove the existing grips and permanently fitting them. They cost £50 from the above link.




Oxford also do a similar product

[derefood]

I'm considering heated grips as I couldn't get on with muffs.

Are they easy to fit for someone rough with tools, or is it a job best left to a dealer?

Do you need a relay and stuff with heated grips?

Mark xx

[judi]

Mark

unless you know what your doing, i would leave it to someone who does.

Judi xxx

[Ghoti]

derefood said:

I'm considering heated grips as I couldn't get on with muffs.

Are they easy to fit for someone rough with tools, or is it a job best left to a dealer?

Do you need a relay and stuff with heated grips?

Mark xx

Dead easy to do mate. A relay is not needed (but AA relay might be if you do it wrong;)). The latest Oxford jobbies have a power sensor that automatically turn themselves off if the battery drops too low. If you do leave the ones without this facitility on, you will need a jump to get going again, but you'll only do this once (or twice).

Don't be tempted to lubricate the grip too much to get it on. It may make it harder without lubrication, but it stops it slipping once on. Hairspray has been recomended as it lubes everything up to slide the grip on and then dries tacky to help hold the grip on the shaft.

_{Note: modified to try to make M40Man look foolish below and then modified again for spelling mistakes}

[m40man]

"If you do leave them on, you will need a jump to get going again, but you'll only do this once (or twice)."

Ghoti is wrong here. He is seldom wrong. But here he is wrong.

If you leave them on, my new Oxford ones turn off themselves before the battery is too flat to start the bike.

Sadly I couldn't get them to turn on again even though my motor was running, because they think the battery is still too low on charge.

Inserted get them to so the line makes sense.

[alpaholic]

m40man said:

"If you do leave them on, you will need a jump to get going again, but you'll only do this once (or twice)."

Ghoti is wrong here. He is seldom wrong. But here he is wrong.

If you leave them on, my new Oxford ones turn off themselves before the battery is too flat to start the bike.

Sadly I couldn't get them to turn on again even though my motor was running, because they think the battery is still too low on charge.

"« Last Edit: Today at 3:28pm by Reaper »"

Curious.

[m40man]

"Note: modified to try to make M40Man look foolish below and then modified again for spelling mistakes "




........... still spelt "facitility" wrong! ;D

[m40man]

.... mine would not turn on this morning, even though the battery had plenty left in it to start the bike. Shame, 'cos it was quite chilly! (IE, they turned on, I set them to 75% heat, within a minute or so they switched off. Tried again, same thing happened!)

[CD]

I think for the cost of a relay its daft not to fit one and not a great deal more work. The ignition switch isn't designed for much extra load, so a relay makes sure its not overloaded. But the main reason - a relay wired in with the ignition automatically cuts the power when the bike is switched off.

There's another issue with lead acid batteries. When they get below around 9volts they go into a permanent state where they wont accept a charge from the vehicle generator. This is where an Optimate charger comes in handy as they deliver a low power high voltage kick (20V I think) to wake up dead batteries. I've used this a few times on bike and car batteries that were accidentally totally flattened (lights left on for days). The batteries had been over-discharged and seemed dead but the Optimate recovered them.

I can't vouch for how well Optimate works on long term trickle charging as never used it for that job.

[m40man]

"I think for the cost of a relay its daft not to fit one and not a great deal more work."

None of the makers of these heated grips (well - the three different brands I've got on my bikes) say one is needed. Wether you wire direct to battery or pick up an 'ignition-live' connection like your rear light, headlight etc, because the power draw is insufficient to need one.

I would certainly use a relay for items like additional lights, though.

With or without a relay - beware these damned new Oxford ones with their battery-monitoring circuitry. I'll see if the ride home tonight puts enough juice into mine to let the damned things work again :-(

[m40man]

Arrived home: Soaked through, though, so didn't use heated grips as it didn't seem cold enough. I hope I don't have to keep the bike on charge all the time :-(
(I don't ride this one that regularly.)

Bum got cold though - Note to self: You know your overtrousers leak - buy new ones!!

[Pops]

I fitted the new Oxford Heated grips when I replaced my bars for the Renthals. The new grips (marketed as 2007 model with digital thermostatic control) has a new switch that has an electronic gizmo built in that detects when the power being drawn from your battery is too low and as protection from flattening the battery switches them off. Today as a test I started the bike, turned the grips on the high setting then turned the lights on, side, head then full beam. Grips still worked. I then turned one flasher on, the gps on then hazard warning lights on, at this point the heated grips went off. I turned everything off, apart from the engine. I was then able to switch the heated grips back on. According to the instructions this is to avoid getting into a situation were there is not enough power left in the battery to start your bike.
HTH somebody.

[m40man]

Just what I was saying in my post at 2:59 [1], Keith. But with the filthy weather on the way home I was not about to switch my lights off to get my grips on! (Only to have them switch off again when I put my lights back on.)

A great idea, these battery-protecting grips. But the Trophy has a good big old battery on it & they seem a little sensitive to me. I don't think they should ever switch off automatically when the engine is running.

Out of interest - Do you keep your bike on a trickle-feed or Optimate? Or do you enjoy it everyday so don't need to?

[1] I looked to quote the post number, but they don't exist on Proboards!)

[m40man]

............ actually Pops - I nearly beat you this morning on the battery-saving-switching-off of lights. I got to my first turn out of home and realised that I'd forgotten to reconnect the rear indicators (I'd had the rear end off for reasons not worth going into). Had to park-up & whip the saddle off & quickly connect them.

Glad you enjoyed a good day today. This morning was great - bone dry. But my run home was in a downpour :-(

[Ghoti]

m40man said:

[1] I looked to quote the post number, but they don't exist on Proboards!)

There is a reply number (ie

Re: Warm hands
« Reply #4 on Today at 2:59pm »

[m40man]

.......... I was just thinking for a minute that I was about to make my first triple-post.


Then I realised I had nothing left to add ;-)

[m40man]

Ghoti!! You spoilt my witting triple-post thingy I had going!!

[m40man]

"witty"

[m40man]

;-)

[Pops]

Martin, I don't use or leave it on a trickle charger. Get to take the bike out at least a couple of times a week normally. It did need a boost once when I had'nt used it for three weeks or so. Put it down to the meta alarm draining it.

[m40man]

Pops - see reply #4

;-)

[m40man]

Damn it Keith - I nearly got a "fiver" post going there ;-)

[Pops]

sorry mate, go for it.

[m40man]

pops said:

sorry mate, go for it.

.... most kind, Keith.

............ I'm too exhausted now though. (Anyway - Ghoti would come along and spoil it )

[Ghoti]

No I would not