Honda Heated Grips

[jslarson]

Just purchased a 05 ST1300ABS and decided to buy the OE Honda heated grips. Want to share some information. First off as many of you know the OE grips are a little spendy as compared to aftermarket grips. If a grip or the switch every fail you will have to buy a complete grip set again. Honda does not sell any service parts for the grips. I followed the instructions and they have you use a plastic spacer when installing the right side grip. Do your own measurement and you will find that if you use the spacer and install the grip when you install the new weight it will bind up into the grip and the throttle will not turn. If you look inside the grip you will see a ring in the outer end that the grip needs to slide on untill it lines up. I installed the grip with the plastic spacer and learned the hard way. And as I stated Honda does not sell the grips so I got to purchase a complete kit again. I have contacted Honda and while they agree parts should be availiale they are looking into it and will be getting back to me. I will post how Honda handles the situation. This is the 11th Honda motorcycle I have purchased and the first issue I have had. As the say "the jury is out".

[R.Markus]

Dual Star heated grip kit is the way to go. $30 and whatever grips you want. :)

[Mellow]

Yes, used the dual stars this morning, a little...

Here's some info on them and some other options:
http://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=952

[Mike]

Dual-Stars are the way to go, $30.00 and 3 years of use so far!

Just remember that the left bar end will need additional insulation even though that left heater has more element area. Heat shrink works best, some have used two wraps of electrical tape, bottom line is that aluminum bar is a hell of a heat sink and needs some insulation.

Add a heat troller and your still money ahead compared to the Honda heated grips.

[Marshal_Mercer]

Just purchased a 05 ST1300ABS and decided to buy the OE Honda heated grips. Want to share some information. First off as many of you know the OE grips are a little spendy as compared to aftermarket grips. If a grip or the switch every fail you will have to buy a complete grip set again. Honda does not sell any service parts for the grips. I followed the instructions and they have you use a plastic spacer when installing the right side grip. Do your own measurement and you will find that if you use the spacer and install the grip when you install the new weight it will bind up into the grip and the throttle will not turn. If you look inside the grip you will see a ring in the outer end that the grip needs to slide on untill it lines up. I installed the grip with the plastic spacer and learned the hard way. And as I stated Honda does not sell the grips so I got to purchase a complete kit again. I have contacted Honda and while they agree parts should be availiale they are looking into it and will be getting back to me. I will post how Honda handles the situation. This is the 11th Honda motorcycle I have purchased and the first issue I have had. As the say "the jury is out".

I suspect that you know that the spacer is only there so that you will allow that amount of space between the grips and the control pod, then it is removed. Thought that I should mention it, anyway. If the space remaining between the grips and the bar end weights is too small, move the grip toward the control pod some more when the spacer is out, before the grip glue sets-up.

Also, you should have no trouble removing the grips: just remove the end weights, lift-up the grip from the bar (I use a Phillips screw driver), and spray some alcohol between the inside of the grip and the bar. Off they come. Dry-off everything and reattach.

Hope that you don't give up on these as they work really well.

Contact me off-line if you need to at mhmercer@earthlink.net

Marshal

[jslarson]

Randy called me today from Honda customer service. Honda is going to do nothing for me. I am sorry, Randy explained to me that this is not correct. He made a phone call and called me back, thats something. I was told that Honda buys the grips from a company in Japan, imagine that. Honda has no control over the fact that the company does not provide service parts. ( being the small player that Honda is ) Honda gets top buck for everything they sell and I expected they would offer me something in the form of compensation and to keep a loyal customer. I have purchased 11 Honda motorcycles, 2 Honda generators, and 2 Honda Lawn mowers - maybe I am not loyal enough. My son races MX and I will be purchasing his new bike in the next month - will he be riding team Red or Green? Maybe Honda has gotten so big that they don't care? So be carefull if buying Honda accesoriess, my dealer told me parts are never avaliable. As a fellow rider please pass your comments along to Honda and your dealer. We all work hard for the money we give to Honda - is it to much to ask that they have parts avaliable for their product?

Thanks to everyone who reads this and passes it on.

[Bones]

I put the OEM Honda heated grips on my '03. They were not available at all when I bought the bike, and when Honda finally released them in the US dealers in my region (New England, where it gets cold often) weren't on the top of the list. I hunted around and found them at HondaDirectLine in Miami (where it never gets cold). Anyway, I bought the kit and installed them with the help of a buddy who used to be a Honda mechanic. After two seasons they died, all at once. Diagnosing the problem using the original instructions, it looked like the controller was bad. I called my dealer but they only found a part number for the whole kit. I called Honda Customer Service to see how I could get just a controller. The woman I spoke to said she'd look into it for me. In the mean time, I called my dealer, told him the story, and gave the service manager the contact information of the woman in Customer Service. In a couple hours I got a call back from the Honda rep. Long story short, she said to visit the dealer who sold me the bike so they could confirm that the grips were bad. I did, the dealer agreed they were bad, and Honda warranteed a new set. They arrived at the dealer a few days later and I returned to the dealer which installed them. No cost to me except some time. The service manager said he was asked to return the bad grips to Honda because they wanted to figure out why they died. Maybe my situation is different because the product stopped working, but Honda replaced it and paid my dealer to install the replacement even though I bought the original somewhere else and installed it myself. I give my dealer credit for working with Honda to get the situation fixed. It was basically painless. Don't know if all this information is helpful but I thought I'd share it.

[Kennedy]

Guess that was good of the dealer to do that for you. I had mine along with the 12 volt outlet installed by the dealer at time of purchase. I figure at the very least now they will have the same 3 year warranty as the bike with out problems if they give up because they were part of the bike and purchase price when I took delivery.

[NormanPCN]

Guess that was good of the dealer to do that for you. I had mine along with the 12 volt outlet installed by the dealer at time of purchase. I figure at the very least now they will have the same 3 year warranty as the bike with out problems if they give up because they were part of the bike and purchase price when I took delivery.

American Honda warrants your bike as manufactured and deliverd to the dealer. They could care less what the dealer installed at the time of purchase. Does not matter if it is a Honda accessory or not. The "Motorcycle" and the "accessory" will have their own warranties respectively.

[Bones]

Honda warrantied my bad OEM grips which were two seasons old and which I originally installed. Was Honda obligated to do that? I don't know, but the fact is they did.

[Kennedy]

Honda warrantied my bad OEM grips which were two seasons old and which I originally installed. Was Honda obligated to do that? I don't know, but the fact is they did.

Yes, that is what my comment was in regards to.

Norman you may be right and will let you know if and when mine give up. :)

[Kennedy]

HMMM. From the Honda Warranty book page 2.
Category
touring Time and distance 3 years unlimited distance

Honda dealer installed bolt on accessories
3 years if installed at time of unit retail

[jslarson]

After several calls back to the customer service center my call was esculated to another individule who took the time to listen and understand my position. He represented Honda the way I thought they would be, very professional and business minded. He quickly resolved the problem and asked me to send the grips to him for a partial refund. As I installed the grips myself I felt I needed to share in the responsibility. My faith in Honda has been restored. Now if the snow will go away i can actually get out there and ride.
Again thanks to everyone for there comments and support.

[Kennedy]

Glade to hear they took care of you to your satisfaction.

[kingprawnokay]

I worked for a Honda dealer and can confirm that (unless things have changed in the past 9 months) all parts installed at the time of purchase are covered under the bikes full waranty. That is one of the perks of adding accessories at the original point of sale. The same is true for Honda cars.

I'm sorry, but thankfully Norman is wrong this time.

[Oxfordman]

You can get replacement grips here in England, see the thread, David Silver Spares will ship to the USA.

http://www.davidsilverspares.co.uk/cgi-bin/dss2-cgi/Catalogue.pl

Hope this helps

Oxfordman (Paul)

[JSHRAM]

If it cold enough to need heated grips, it is cold enough to need a heated vest. A heated vest is worth its weight in gold, trust me (riding in Alaska and crossing the U.S. last October proved the worth of a heated vest to me and the wife). The widder system, for another $100 can add heated gloves tied to the vest power and thermostat. Now your heat is on the OUTSIDE of your hand where the cold wind is and not the inside.

JH

[deanrd]

Can anyone tell me which connector on the quartet harness is used by the Honda factory heated grips?

I've installed the harness and Symtec heated grips, but I'm not sure which plug to use. Red, White or Black? I'm thinking White.

[snowmoer]

Can anyone tell me which connector on the quartet harness is used by the Honda factory heated grips?

I've installed the harness and Symtec heated grips, but I'm not sure which plug to use. Red, White or Black? I'm thinking White.

Not sure which connector the Honda grips use, but I used the white plug when I installed my Symtec's. The green wire is the ground, and the red/black is the switched 12V. Mine work great!