Heated Grips and Grip Glue

RaYzerman

RaYzerman

Joined
Feb 17, 2007
Messages
2,386
Location
Millgrove, ON, Canada
Bike
2010 Honda CBF1000
I am about to install a set of Hot Grips, and I see that epoxy is the recommended adhesive for heated grips. That sounds too permanent to me, and I was wondering if there is a suitable alternative. I see a couple of you have used hair spray and no adhesive. Does anyone have experience with heated grips and hair spray, or should I be looking for an adhesive?
 
I had Hot Grips on my last bike, and used the epoxy like they said. It lasted for about 5 years and one day the right grip starts to slip while I was out for a ride:eek:

The epoxy lost the grip on the plastic under the grip.

I used hair spray this time, but I used heaters under BMW rubber grips. I just put a set of Honda Line heated grips on Louie Louies bike. To me, they were just like the Hot Grips. The Honda grips said to use grip glue. That worked great.
 
I've got Symantec heaters under BMW grips with nothing more than hair spray. I just didn't like the idea of using heavy duty adhesive. Sounded more like overkill than anything else.

Good luck.

John
 
I am not sure hair spray will work. I installed Honda grips and they have a plastic core. This is not like a traditional grip. There is no interference between the grip and bars. Honda uses grip glue or epoxy because it can fill this gap. I can't imagine that hair spray would fill the gap and/or hold for too long. I think the Hot grips are similar to the Honda grips and Hot grips calls for epoxy. I would use epoxy or the Honda grip glue. You do not need to purchase special epoxy. Any hardware store with Devcon 30 minute epoxy will work. Devcon is a quality epoxy.The longer cures hold up better to the heat. They can be removed at a later date by using a heat gun to soften the epoxy and some perseverance. I removed mine to install a Vista Cruise. Do it right, it would not be good to grab a fist full of throttle to pull into traffic and your grip does a 180. The Symantec heaters are different. They are a foil stuck to the bars that a standard grip is slipped over. If I did it again, I would try the Symantec and slip a sticky old fashion rubber grip over it. I don't like how hard the rubber is on the Honda heated grip grips.
 
Thanks, Tom for the email. The weather isn't all that warm today, so I will wait. My Vista Cruise hasn't arrived yet either. However, I'm not familiar with the Honda grips, but the Hot Grips have ribs running lengthwise, and are the perfect glue traps. I don't yet know how much interference fit they are to the bars, but I'm going to take your advice and have the epoxy handy. It is truly the way to go for safety, it just sounded too permanent at first. Thanks for the tip on removal with heat.... I wasn't aware epoxy would respond to heat.
I chose these because they do seem softer. Perhaps you could wrap yours with a tennis racquet tape for a wee bit larger diameter and comfort? You can control the thickness, and a little thicker in the middle might really help.
 
The instructions on the Hondaline heated grips say to use isopropyl alcohol to loosen the adhesive on the stock grips. They also say to use Honda Bond A for the adhesive. Honda Bond works great for lots of things, like sealing the cases and base gaskets on 2 stroke engines. Because I have some in the shop, I will be using what Honda recommended.
 
My Honda-brand heated grips were installed by the dealer as part of my new bike purchase. After about 2 years, the throttle-side grip started to slip without me noticing. This eventually tore the 2 small wires apart inside the rubber sleeve right at the point where they exit the grip. It look a lot of fiddly soldering and insulating to do a fix, but I am unure how long it will last.

My advice: use a very good adheasive so the grips never slips. The cost of replacing these grips (in Australia) is off the scale as the whole setup must be purchased as one (i.e. with control unit). I may be chasing "Hot Grips" soon :(
 
REPOST from Paul:

There are several Hondabond formulas.
Hondabond A is not available in the US.
Hondabond 4 is a semi-drying liquid gasket used in low heat applications.
Hondabond HT is a Hi-temp (75-600f) Silicone liquid gasket with a non-acidic formula. This is what you should use for the valve cover gaskets.

Paul
__________________
Paul R. Buettner
El Paso, Texas
2003 ST 1300A
AMA, STOC, IBA
 
John-DownUnder said:
My advice: use a very good adheasive so the grips never slips. The cost of replacing these grips (in Australia) is off the scale as the whole setup must be purchased as one (i.e. with control unit). I may be chasing "Hot Grips" soon :(
Click to expand...

About 2 years ago, I ruined one of the Honda heated grips on my 03 ST1300 by using compressed air to remove it. Then realized that the heating element wires in the grips were flexible, but not elastic. In any case I contacted David Silver Spares and was able to buy a single replacement grip. Seems like it was only $40 USD or so back then. You might try them if your single grip fails.
 
fredz43 said:
... I contacted David Silver Spares and was able to buy a single replacement grip.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip, fredz43.
I'll be in the UK in 3 weeks and if my grips fail during my travels there, I'll certainly be contacting David Silver Spares.
Cheers
John
 
Last edited by a moderator:
John-DownUnder said:
My Honda-brand heated grips were installed by the dealer as part of my new bike purchase. After about 2 years, the throttle-side grip started to slip without me noticing. This eventually tore the 2 small wires apart inside the rubber sleeve right at the point where they exit the grip. It look a lot of fiddly soldering and insulating to do a fix, but I am unure how long it will last.

My advice: use a very good adheasive so the grips never slips. The cost of replacing these grips (in Australia) is off the scale as the whole setup must be purchased as one (i.e. with control unit). I may be chasing "Hot Grips" soon :(
Click to expand...

Also, if you had the grips installed at the time of purchase, these accessories are covered by the three year Manufacturer warranty... let honda replace them for you... :)

<D>
 
Update - I installed the Hot Grips a couple of weeks ago, and thought you'd be interested to know the results. I found the ID of the grips rather large, so they actually have clearance to the handlebar diameter. One should really put a wrap of golf club grip tape on, and I think you could still slip them on with no resistance. However, maybe I should have but I didn't do that. I just spread lots of epoxy on to ensure there was enough that could get into the grooves of the hot grips. When the epoxy hardened, there was no issue. I held them in place with masking tape overnight.
Next time..... I will take the time to get some golf grip tape, wrapped so there is a space (groove) between the wraps to give another place for the epoxy to bond both tape and throttle tube if you're concerned about the epoxy not adhering to the plastic tube two or three years down the road. I would also consider instead of epoxy, perhaps using high heat RTV gasket sealer, as this may be similar to Hondabond??
In any case, the grips are heating up real nice on those cold mornings, although I haven't used a high setting. The Hot Grips are rather firm, but a larger and comfortable diameter. I may use a thin tennis racquet tape to have a touch more padding... still way better than STock grips.
 
Hair spray only lasted 2 years with me, I now need to pull the grips and reset with epoxy, wish I'd done that first time around.
 
I used Honda grip adhesive on my heated grips. That was 8 years ago and I have not had any problem with them.
 
I can't believe I started this thread way back in '07. I found out they shipped me the wrong Hot Grips, they were 1" I.D. instead of 7/8", so I didn't have much choice but to use the epoxy. Loved those grips as they had a larger diameter and heat when you wanted it. Anyway, since then I have installed other grips, and my adhesive of choice is a small stripe or two of high temp RTV. That way you can always get them off if you have to, and they stay put.
 
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