Oxford Heated Grips

[Action]

Being on the frugal side I surfed E-Bay until I found some heated grips I liked. I wanted grips that had the heating element built in, a controller that had multiple settings, and that looked good and did not have a knob. I settled on Oxford grips. I got them on sale and the total damage was $49.00 delivered. The kit was complete with two grips, a controller with 4 settings, and wiring to hook everything up. Installation was very simple and there are a couple of “how to” threads out there. I used hair spray instead of the supplied super glue. The grips were so tight going on, even after removing every trace of glue, that I felt hair spray would be sufficient. So far, so good, the grips are solid. The only thing I did different is to wire in a relay so that the grips work off switched power rather than battery power. I mounted the relay under the seat and used the tail light wire as the trigger power source.

Pluses –
If you ride in any kind of cold weather heated grips rock! I ride down in to the high teens and my hands used to get very cold even with winter riding gloves. Problem solved! I rode in today; 25F when I left and my hands were toasty warm with the grips set at 75%. It had warmed up to about 45 on the way home and rode with my summer gloves on and the grips set on 50%. Most enjoyable wearing thin summer gloves at lower temps.

Negatives –
I don’t like the extra wire coming out of the grips but I don’t see any way around it. The grips were very tight; it was all I could do to get the left one on. Last neg, I think the kits should come with a relay, but I realize that would make them more expensive and some people could not figure out how to wire them up.

Over all I am very pleased with the Oxford grips. I think they are a good value for the money and they are working well so far.

Action

[NorcalBoy]

Nice work Action! the wiring definately isn't skimpy coming out of the grips - they look very heavy duty. The switched lead relay is definately the way to go.