Heated Grips

Shea

Joined
Aug 9, 2007
Messages
3
Location
Central PA
Hey, really enjoying my ST! One thing I want to put on is heated grips. I have them on my Transalp and they are the best thing to have on a bike in my opinion. I stopped at the stealer the other day and asked them about grips for my ST. They told me that Honda sells them and they have installed them - $200 bucks for the grips/controler, $17 for some sort of wire harness and then 3 hours of shop labor to put them on? WOW $400 bucks for heated grips! You have to be kidding me. Is it that much of a big deal? Man it was not that big of a deal to put Hot Grips on my Transalp - what gives????
 
If you're not scared to dive under the tupperware, it really isn't a big deal... And you can get grip heaters much, much cheaper than that... However, the quartet harness would be an improvement (if you are going to add electrical farkles)...
:cool:
 
Not afraid of jumping in and doing it, I was just suprised it would take them, a stealer 3 hours to do it? Seems that it must be involved? Also on the Transalp wiring stuff seems less complicated. I am a little intimidated by the electronics and so forth, don't want to start cobbing things up! Tell me more about the harness and my options. Like I said I like the Hot Grips - I don't have to buy Honda....
 
It takes a while to install the quartet harness and then more for the grip heaters.
Do it yourself and be realistic about the down time, for your bike.
 
If you have not had the plastic off your ST the first time is a chore. You have to remove the lower faring, left mirro housing, and side panel. It really is not a hard job but you will want to keep track of the pins that hold the front , lower and inner cowls I have had mine off several times for different services). I agree with Ligito, be aware that this will take time. Also, when cutting the hole for the control module you have to be carefull!. The quartet harness is a real help and make the wiring much easier. I have seen some of the STs with the BMW heated grips, maybe you will want to speak to the BMW dealer near you about the price of the unit. I really enjoy mine.
 
Symtek are a lot cheaper and I have found that with a heat controller they are very nice...

Mark
 
When I took mine apart for the first time, I made a crude drawing on a piece of corrugated cardboard and mark where each pin/screw went by poking them through one layer of the cardboard... that way everything went back exactly like it came out... :D
:cool:
P.S. The quartet harness gives you an access point into the wiring... It is used in conjunction with the honda heated grips in order to power them...
 
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Mark is spot on. Spending all the moolah on the Honda option is overkill IMO. I Heatroller and Symtec toasters will give you better bang for the buck.

Be thinking about other farkles you want to do while the tupperware is down. (e.g. Powerlet in the left fairing, accessory outlet in the right pocket, etc.) Consolidating makes a lot of sense. Even if you're not going to be installing everything now, at least run the wires for anything electrical you plan to do.

John
 
i did mine when i did the cruse control , powerlets , two up front and added the honda power plug in the right pocket and the harness , good winter project if you have a garage , and the hand grips WORK , at #2 setting they get hot and i do like the little control pad looks cool lol , and dont worry about what ya need to take off etc , honda gives you instructions with all the fasteners pointed out , i just numbered them on the instructions and baged them with labels , there are a few different kinds lol
 
I ripped off the heated Honda grips that were on my used bike - rubber was way too hard and my throttle hand was slipping. The heat element is molded right into the rubber grip.

I installed the Symtec foil heaters for $30 plus any grip you would like over the top $10. This includes a hi/low switch.

You can add the variable controller if you think you need it. Judging from posts, Honda heated grips are having more field failures than the Symtec.

http://www.symtec-inc.com/
 
I just had them installed. The dealer charged me $150 for the install. I brought it in for the rear tire and I had them put the rear spoiler on at the same time. Total $325 I thought it was a fair price. They even put a disconnect so I could take the top box off.

Tom
:03biker:
 
Thanks for everyone's help. This will likely be a winter project. I will also and power outlets at the same time - great idea. Thanks again.
 
+1 for Symtec. I have a set on my 1300 for 2.5 years now. The only problem is that the slick looking round rocker switch is not weather proof and eventually quit working. I contacted Symtec about buying a new switch and they sent me two new ones for free. Good folks.

I cannot understand buying the Hondaline heaters given their price and high failure rate. I never even considered that route.
 
wjbertrand said:
+1 for Symtec. I have a set on my 1300 for 2.5 years now. The only problem is that the slick looking round rocker switch is not weather proof and eventually quit working. I contacted Symtec about buying a new switch and they sent me two new ones for free. Good folks.

I cannot understand buying the Hondaline heaters given their price and high failure rate. I never even considered that route.
Click to expand...

I purchased the Honda heaters at the same time I purchased my ST. If done this way, Honda will cover the grips for the full term of the Honda bike warranty (3 years).

<D>
 
I've used the Aerostitch Warm Wrap Grips for a couple of years with complete success, especially after I put them on a home-made heat-troller-thingy. $44, easiest on/off in the world, no mods required.

Just my .02...
 
I mail-ordered the Honda heated grips and the (required) harness and installed them myself. Money well spent. Fairly easy, the biggest time-consumer was removing/replacing the fairings, which you have to do. The rest was easy and they work very well, better than the on-off or two-position aftermarket grips (Honda stuff does seem to always work well). While I had the fairings off I also installed the power outlet and wrapped the headers and ventillated the inner cowls (to help cool) and wrapped the glove boxes with heat insulation so everything in them doesn't melt. BTW, you don't need anything fancy to remove or install the grips, WD40 to remove and rubbing alcohol to install - works well.
 
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