Symtech heated grips question

Joined
Apr 22, 2009
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'09 BMW R1200RT
Took my bike in for a few things and had Symtech heated grips installed. I gave the tech instructions to wrap the clutch side bar with electrical tape (as I in printed out instructions with pictures from someone's install) and the guy just mounted the heating elements directly on the bar. Can the grips and heating elements be removed to apply tape or heatshrink and reapplied without damaging the heating elements? I lifted up the grip a bit from the end and it appears that the grip were just slid on without any glue. The right side works well and the left, as you can guess, just feels "not cold" on high.
 
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I have warm n safes on mine, which, as best I can tell, are the same as symtech's and dual-star. Once those things have been turn on and heated up a bit, I don't think there's a chance you're getting them off. When I was mounting mine it was touch getting just part of one off as I was trying to reseat it.
 
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Each element is different (left and right). There is no need to tape the clutch side. They work as planned without doing it. Enjoy.
 
OP
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60HzShuffle
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Well, there is a noticeable difference from the right to left....so something is not right
 

dduelin

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
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The clutch side of mine had fewer element wires to make up for the heat sink effect of mounting directly on the metal bar.

Rider tested various brands of heated grips a while back and the Symtechs did have a fairly large difference in temperature between sides but I haven't noticed it so much in use as to be uncomfortable or noticeable.
 
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Well, there is a noticeable difference from the right to left....so something is not right
You might check the wiring. It's possible they wired one to "Hi" and the other to "Low" and vice-versa. The elements themselves are marked with a small sticker "Clutch" and "Throttle", but they may have removed the stickers when they installed them.

HTH
 
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finger lakes ny
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My Symtecs feel identical mounted directly on the bars. Having said that however, I can feel very little if any difference between High and Low. But I like em just fine..
 
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Spokane, WA
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I removed my right side Symtech heating element when I installed a new Throttle Tamer and then re-installed it with no problems. Just take it slow when peeling the adhesive backing off. It has worked fine now for over a year.

Old Vic
 
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The grip should come off with a little compressed air blown in the end. Sort of ballons away from the grip and comes right off. If they didn't use grip glue should be no issue there. You may be able to just slowly peel the element off. Maybe with a little applied heat?

Did you run em long enough to let them come up to temp. As mentioned they are 2 different wattages for the bar end and throttle sleave. BTW run the bike when you do this LOL.

Check the wiring, where the 2 come together the like colored wires should be hooked together.
You can check if they reversed the elements with a multimeter, split where the 2 elements are joined and measure resistance between white and blue, or white and red for each element. The resistances should be less on the clutch side.
 

Uncle Phil

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+1 on the compressed air to remove the grips. The only 'cement' I ever used is cheap, sticky hairspray and it seems to work fine - no wraps, tape, etc.. They are supposed be designed to handle the difference in the grips. I've got Symtecs on all three of my ST1100s and have not noticed a difference between the left and right grip heat level. Also, there is a big different between low and high with my grips - the high gets so hot you don't run it there for long. If you do slowly peel the heaters from the grips, you will probably need some sort of glue to get them to adhere back to the bars. I would be careful of the type used that is does not react 'unfavorably' with the plastic of the heaters. Good luck!
 
OP
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60HzShuffle
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Thanks, guys. Looks like I am going on a ride tomorrow, so I will observe them in action a little more. Maybe it is just that the throttle side heats up quicker???
 
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I usually have the electric gloves on when I run em so it's hard to say.
Makes sense the plastic throtle body side heating up and cooling down faster. They both seemed to cool off pretty quick if you took your hands off the bars at speed even for a couple of seconds. (BMW grips, maybe makes the heat trasnfer slower?)
 
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I never wrapped anything on the clutch side either. They work fine as far as I can tell and are pretty even heat side to side.
The elements stick to the bars pretty good. I've not tried to move them.
 

Kevin_56

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I put the same type of heated grip elements on mine this fall. My take is that the throttle side is warmer than the clutch side. My idea on this is that the throttle grip has a thinner wall due to the twist tube for the throttle. Thinner wall means the elements are closer to the grip surface and that is why it feels warmer. My kit came with a resister to install in the throttle wires to even the heat between the 2 sides. If it came with the resistor then they know the right side is warmer to the touch that the left. I did not use the resistor so not sure how even the heat will be with it installed. I am happy with my setup. Warmer is better than colder.

Kevin
 
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The newer ones don't use the resistor. The wattage is different on the left and right side. The throttle side has the thin plastic throttle tube to heat up. The left the metal bar. I know there are some folks who have heated grips installed and added the throttle tamer, hopefull they'll chime in with before and after installing the metal throttle tube.
 
OP
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60HzShuffle
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'09 BMW R1200RT
I am embarrassed to say that all is well and I must have been smoking something. I think I must have felt the right side heat up quicker and somehow it felt toastier for my 15 mile ride (it was really cold that day and I was wearing Held Steve's). I turned them on today with gloves off in the driveway and both sides feel toasty. I also had my Gerbing G3's on today and could feel heat on both sides on the low setting (G3's turned off).

Sorry for the false alarm, but thanks for all of the insight!
 
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