Well, after getting some POS $5 heated grip pads on eBay that were total junk, I decided to go to the other end of the spectrum and purchase some top notch, US made Hot Grips brand heated grips.
On Amazon I ordered the 475-875 kit, which comes with two grips, the hi/low switch, and some misc wire. Turns out that was the wrong kit, as our bike requires the ends to be drilled out. The proper kit is the 475-876, and
here is the Amazon link for it. As of today, it's $98.26 shipped from Powersport Superstore.
I drilled mine out with my drill press and two appropriately sized forstner bits. This created factory perfect holes with some care, though I stressed about this for about 2 days before finally doing it. (Buy the right kit to avoid this!) Here they are right after drilling before being cleaned up a bit:
After getting those ready, I removed the bar end weights and existing grips. I used a small micro torch to heat the bar end weight bolt for about 30 seconds, and then they came right out with my impact driver. The grips came off quickly with the help of my compressed air wand.
The instructions call to epoxy both grips on to the handlebars. I decided I wanted to make them as removal as possible. This is easy for the clutch side. I drilled two small holes in the bottom of the handlebar, and inserted a bent piece of a coat hanger.
When fitted into the bottom of the handblar, this provides a perfect key to fit into the ribbed, notched grips. I put a small kink in it, then friction fit the clutch side grip on.
The throttle side is more tricky, since you can't drill into the plastic throttle tube. What I ended up doing was wrapping the tube so the grip fit on snugly. I then expoxied to that, with a small amount on the actual throttle tube. It should be enough to hold, but not enough to be totally permanent.
The low setting of these grips uses a big honking resistor to shed unnecessary heat. I mounted it to the metal center bar in front of the handlebars.
You can wire this straight to your battery, but that is not considered wise since you can leave them on by mistake. I wired up a relay into my tail light flasher (to avoid having to cut into any factory wires) at the rear of the bike. The relay is a $5 12v from Radioshack. As a result of this, turning the key off kills all power to the grips, whether they are on or not.
All connections were made with soldered crimp connectors and protected with heat shrink tubing.
To mount the switch, I cut a piece of aluminum flat bar, drilled two holes in it, and cut the corners off. One hole holds the switch, while the other is bolted to the preexisting, normally plugged threaded hole in the clutch lever assembly. A bit of textured black spray paint on the bolt and aluminum makes it blend in.
Here it is all finished!
A comparison of the old grip and new grip. The Hot Grips are much harder, larger, and feel more substantial. This means your hands are less cupped which lessens fatigue. I loved them the very first ride I took. However, if you were foolish enough to ride without gloves, the softer more rubbery stock grip might be missed slightly.
The verdict? Hot damn these grips a nice. Their larger size is much more comfortable than the dinky stock grips, and the heat they put out is unbelievable. I did 150 miles on 40-45 degrees a weekend or so ago, and they made a huge difference. In fact, I had to keep turning it back to low, since high was downright uncomfortably hot. It's amazing how much better off you are if at least your hands are warm.
PS: This mess took a while to clean up.
