Oxford Heated Grips vs Grip Heaters

[sirbike]

Prior to last year I've used Gerbing gloves.
Last year was my first year using grip heaters. I think the grips are BMW. The grip heaters wrap around the bar underneath the grips.
I was riding just comfortably enough to work down to 35 degrees in my Held Steve gloves for 40 minutes on high.
One day at 32 degrees using my Gerbing gloves a wire broke at the jacket to left glove plug.
I was stunned at how cold my hand got wearing such a thick glove with the heater on. I could get that the glove would be insulated from the grip but it was surprisingly useless.

This year I happened to have Oxford heated grips in the spare parts collection. Big difference. I can turn them on to 100% to warm them up much faster then take them back down to 30 or 40% for most riding.
100% is way too hot to use with the Steves.
I can feel the heat through the unplugged heated glove enough that it gives me some hand warming adjust ability independent from the jacket/glove circuit.
The Oxfords extend the time that I can ride in the Steves at 35 degrees by a couple hours over the 28 mile commute time.

I see the advantage of grip heaters is choice of grip. Depending on a person, somewhere above 32 to 40 degrees, I figure choice of grip comfort may outweigh the benefit of having more heat than grip heaters put out.

The Oxfords are not soft, not bad for me, just not as lux.
I see the advantage of the Oxfords is fast heat up time, using lighter gloves longer and/or colder, and they could compensate for leaving the heated gloves in the shed or heating failure.

 

[Obo]

In the Fall here it's not uncommon for me to ride into just below freezing temps (when there's no black ice.) Add in the percieved windchill at highway speeds and it's darn right frigid!

I have a pair of Oxfords on the ST, and an inexpensive set no name grips from Amazon on my Kawi.

They do help keep your hands warm but they do tend to make the palms much warmer than the backs if you have air on them (the Kawi has less air protection than the ST does.) The Oxfords will make your palms hot faster than the knock-offs will.

I have a pair of Held Freezer winter MC gloves that I also wear when required. While they help with keeping the back of the hand warmer, they deter from the feel of grip and even the ease of which you can use/cancel your turn signals.

I've never had a pair of heated gloves, so I can't comment on those.

Still, even with the distraction of too much heat in one spot or the bulky gloves making the "feel" less, it's nice not to ride with cold hands that you have to warm up one at a time on the cylinder head (yes I've had to do that.) That distraction alone of cold or numb hands is much more of a safety concern in my books.

Ride safe & ride warm.

 

[Al st1100]

I have heated gloves and grips. If your on the road in cold weather and one goes out at least there's a back up plan. They work great together when it's real cold.

 

[the Ferret]

with my Oxford heated grips on about 40% and these Kolpin mitts I could ride down to below zero with lightweight deerskin gloves and mu hands were toasty warm

 

[okckeith]

Another fan of Oxford heated grips. They work better than the factory heated grips on my BMW and Triumph. I have heated Gerbing gloves. I hardly ever use them. But I do carry them with me for just Incase I might need them.

 

[mlheck]

Having both is perfect. I use both for perfectly warm hands.

The grip heaters though are really nice when the hands get wet, even if it is summer time.

 

[sirbike]

So just before my coldest ride to get move up in the top ten, I lost heat in the left glove again. This time at the plug on the glove.
Previously I mentioned that I lost heat at 32 degrees with the grip heaters and my hand was hurting cold after a ride to work.
At 16 degrees with the Oxford grips my left hand was uncomfortably cold but not a worry.
I noticed that at the high settings the left grip doesn’t get as smokin’ hot as the right presumably because the heat sinks in to the bare handlebar vs being insulated by the throttle tube.
So to farkle a farkle, I mounted a right grip on a cut down throttle tube on to the left bar.
Pretty much overkill but I enjoyed doing it.

 

[ST Gui]

I noticed that at the high settings the left grip doesn’t get as smokin’ hot as the right presumably because the heat sinks in to the bare handlebar vs being insulated by the throttle tube.

The grip heater instructions mention putting some heat shrink tubing on the left bar to avoid the heat sink phenomenon. Did you try that?

 

[Rob20111]

I read once where someone used a large diameter piece of heat shrink tubing om the left bar to insulate the grip from the metal.
I don't know what the outcome was.
Has anyone tried that with success?

 

[sirbike]

That would work with grip heaters as grips have some elasticity.
The heated grips on the other hand are rather solid. No give to stretch over anything more than the bar.

 

[drtyrrel]

I had problems with the connections on mine when I first installed them. The pins wouldn't press all the way in when connected. I had to you a small set of needle nose pliers to make sure they were seated. I also had to make sure that there wasn't any tension of the connections when turning the bars. It looks like the new ones use a different connector. What did you use for glue? I just re glued mine for the 5th time. This time I used Gorilla glue (original brown glue).

 

[cjames431]

I recently purchased a new set of oxfords. I had a set of these prior but could never keep the throttle side glued in place. The new set uses a threaded connector male/female socket with an o-ring which I really like. The throttle side also feels like it went on tight. Used Honda grip glue. Oxford does provide grid super glue.

 

[sirbike]

What did you use for glue?

I used the glue that came with it on oem throttle tube on the left.
We’ll see how that holds up. The catch I notice is that the glue gets wiped off when installing. Some channels inside the grip would help there.
The throttle tamer’s knurling makes for a slightly larger diameter than the oem throttle tube so I just hammered it on, careful to apply even pressure on the end of the grip with a plumbing fitting. That won’t be slipping.