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Hi all.
I had heated grips on the Falco but I don't want to fit oxford grips to the Blade.
Does anyone have any experience with heated gloves or a vest.

Cheers,
FK

Not personally but I've heard that Gerbing are the best (at a price) and don't go anywhere near anything sold by Maplin!

suggest you look at the R&G heated grips

cheaper than the oxford ones and no where near as large and bulky....

mate of mine fitted these to his ZX6

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Motorcycle-Heated ... 53e4d6f207

So far so good.. Even if they last only one winter, it's not going to break the bank.

I have the new Oxford Sports heated grips on the ZX9R and I am very pleased with them!

Hi Howard. I'd be interested to know what the diameter of those sportgrips are.
FK

The Missus has a BikeTek heated jacket and loves it. Even at 05:30 up the M4 she's yet to have it on it's full setting and it's been plenty warm enough. It has a heated front and back, but also heated sleeves and collar.

However, she's on her third controller, as the off button has broken on the previous two.

Santa is set to bring me one this Christmas all being well, I reckon the knackered controller is either two from a bad batch, or it's something she's doing to it when getting off the bike. Either way Champion Moto have been very good about replacing them and they have a two year warranty.

FlyingKiwi wrote:Hi Howard. I'd be interested to know what the diameter of those sportgrips are.
FK

Not sure what the standard Oxford grips are.
The standard (2001) Falco grips are 31 mm external, but are the original units at 30K plus miles, so may have worn down a little bit, (I measured the throttle grip).
The Oxford Sport grips are 33 mm, but I don't notice this when I regularly swap between bikes, so it has never bothered me.
They are the new ones with the on-off button and the the up and down buttons for heat settings.

Ahem
I have a theory, which is mine

Heated grips heat the inside of your hands/fingers, leaving the backs of hands/fingers (the parts most exposed to wind-blast) at the mercy of the elements.

Heated gloves, however, (or some of them) heat the backs of the hands. This seems a more logical approach. And you don't have to faff around with your grips. Just have to put up with the minor inconvenience of the wiring & connectors.

I've got the Klan heated gloves - decent kangaroo hide outers, reasonably well armoured, with a separate inner carrying the heating elements. TBH, I've hardly used them with the heating on - they're warm & waterproof enough without, except in the bitterest of weather.

Wish I could get some heated knee warmers, though.

MartDude wrote:Ahem
I have a theory, which is mine

Heated grips heat the inside of your hands/fingers, leaving the backs of hands/fingers (the parts most exposed to wind-blast) at the mercy of the elements.

I arrived at very much the same conclusion some years ago, Mart. Heated grips and nowt else on a freezing day leave your hands feeling a little like what I imagine 'Baked Alaska' must feel like (if you're a cake/pudding).

But in reverse, of course.

From someone who has always ridden all year round and never got round to fitting heated grips until last January, I agree the heat is a bit local, but I find it is a massive improvement if my hands are kept warm. I used to always keep stopping to get the circulation going in my hands, when I couldn't feel them. It's much better/safer now!
Heated gloves could be better still, but I never got round to trying them either!
Anyway at my age, I'd be constantly getting off the bike with the bloody cables still attached to all the heated kit, air bag jackets worry me for the same reason.

HowardQ wrote:Anyway at my age,

Yes, that's becoming a major factor now - the cold hardly bothered me until the last 3 or 4 years. Used to travel regularly from Manchester to Birmingham & back (mid '70's) to see my girlfriend; kept going by the thought of warm bosom & thighs & stuff when I got there. On an unreliable 1963 A65; I have a dismal memory of waiting for 2 hours for the RAC on the M6 near Walsall, with seized main bearings & rattly big ends, on a freezing February evening.

My, how are the mighty fallen! Nowadays, would I ride 90 miles on a freezing Friday evening in February just for a shag? Don't think so

Ok so I've decided to go the heated glove route. After reading a few reviews I decided on a pair of these.
exo2 Stormshields

Best price on fleabay and Exo's homepage was £135 ish.
Then I came across a place called V Customs.
They had them for £93 but if you join there VIP scheme (free) you get £20 off first purchase.
Today they were delivered to my door for £78
I love a bargain.
ps. VIP offer available on anything over £25.
They also do club discounts. maybe one for our admins to chase up?

Nice.

I'll look into the club discount thing..

I was actually thinking of getting together a discount scheme as I set up with the scooter club I was with. We got some decent deals locally on various mad things, not just vehicle related.. but yes I'll look into it, see what gives