Oxford Heated Grips - Another Thread!

I know that a few people have already fitted these to different bikes but I really can't be bothered with cold hands this winter or faffing about with thick winter gloves and inner liners.
Got these from https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk - they're the Premium Touring ones, which I think (hope) are the correct length for the Bonneville. £49.99 instead of £79.99.



The Premium have five settings, whilst the advanced have nine (too much faffing involved here I think). They are for 22mm bars (which the SE has and not the 25mm (1" bars of the T100). The difference between the Touring, Sports and Adventure models is grip length and grip pattern.

I should be trying to fix these tomorrow and will update the post as I go. Already watched Delboys Garage video where he fits them to the Scrambler. Point to watch - don't bash them on with the palm of your hand as you might with ordinary grips - as you might damage the wiring or contacts within the grip.

Other advice I will be following is to "dry fit" them first and not use the glue - some guy did this apparently and only got the grip half way on before it set!

Don't really want the controller on the bars if I can help it as it looks a bit naff, but better that than cold hands if I can't find an alternative spot.

 

Cheers mate - it was your original thread that got me thinking about doing this in the first place.
My plan is to mount the controller with the sticky pad, hopefully on the LH side of the headstock - like this from The Bike Shed's fitment to a Street Twin.


Can't do it on the RH side on the Bonnie as it has the stupid, pointless, awkward steering lock barrel sticking out there!

 

Sean, according to the instructions with my new grips, the switch is "extremely efficient, and in standby will only draw 71 microamps (0.071mA)." So it looks as if yours must be faulty as the grips draw 3.6Amps on average.

 

Here we go then - the fitting of heated grips to a Bonneville.


Seat off and tank bolts removed. Pull tank back off the support rubbers and carefully lean it back against you whilst standing on the RH side of the bike. You will need to detach the breather pipe.



and then this electrical connection by pressing and separating.



Finally the slightly fiddly fuel hose. Push the orange collar down and squeeze both sides until it pops off. (this is the point when I wished my tank had been almost empty as it becomes quite heavy)


Well, as the tank was now off I decided to check the valve clearances at this point - so slight derail of my own thread

Remove your spark plugs - colour looks quite good.



Remove the four Torx head bolts holding the cover on.



then unbolt this bit so you can get it off.



Success! Exhaust valve showing just around 0.27 clearance (should be 0.25 - 0.30).
Inlets were good as well being around 0.16 (should be 0.15 - 0.20)


At this point it started to absolutely p*ss it down - so the impromptu rain shelter was deployed.


Back to the grips - you really do need to trim all the projections off the throttle tube and then sand it down to a smooth finish. The fit of the grips is very tight, especially the RH one, so much so that I haven't bothered with gluing either side.



Wiring up is a doddle. Positive and negative connections to battery, connect that to the female connector at the end of the controller lead and then each grip to either one of the two remaining connectors (you cannot get it wrong). Check it all works before routing the wires and fixing anything in place and then you're good to go.

(Have now used up my photo allowance - bear with me)

 

This is where I mounted the controller - still accessible but out of the way.


Both grips now fitted - the arrow moulded into the grip indicates the correct angle of fitment.




Just a bit of tidying with the wires - all hidden under the tank. Run up the bike and there we go - toasty hands and no more bulky winter gloves. It is bloody hot at 100% after about 2 minutes.

 

Only did mine as I've reached 12000 miles. I have another thread running on checking valve clearances and only did it today as the tank was off!

 

I think it's because some people are reluctant to wire the grips directly to the battery, fearing that they won't switch off and will continue to draw significant current. This is despite the fact that the oxford grips are made that way and designed to be battery connected only.