what have you tried and what did you like.....or not?                                                                                                                                                                             

I like my Oxford hot grips.                                                                                                                                                                              

what is the switch like to operate whilst riding?                                                                                                                                                                             

The new oxford ones have two push buttons one up and one down. Very easy to use depending on where you mount the switch. They do come with a bracket to mount them on your bars. One bit of advice i give to anyone fitting heated grips is to connect them via a relay. Wire the relay up so that you can only turn on the grips on with the ignition on. Geoff will help you with that bit if you need it.

As phil says, very easy if mounted on the left. For some reason that escapes me now it was fitted on the right on the CG so couldn't change the setting while moving very easily.   Press and hold for about 2 secs to turn on or off and then it's just a quick push to cycle though the settings, 30% (might as well not bother) 40% (nice for a day like today) 75% (pretty toasty) and 100% (burn you if left on for any length of time).                                                                                                                                                                              

I bought a set of wrap round heated gfips. advantages are, they are cheaper and easy to transfer from bike to bike. Disadvantage, they have no heat settings. Either on or off. But the switch is easy to operate whilst riding the bike.                                                                                                                                                                             

If anyone needs help with the wiring I can send a wiring diagram.                                                                                                                                                                              

I had wrap around ones last year on the little bike,I did not get on with how bulky the grips felt with them on, this year will be trying the fixed grips, nice to hear how others find them :-) thanks for the thread Julie                                                                                                                                                                              

As Phil says.  Wire them in via a relay.  The new oxford ones do have an automatic cut off facility should the battery voltage drop too far, but this could still mean that you'll be jump starting the bike.

Wiring in via a relay is dead easy and ensures that you never leave the grips on and that there's no risk of damaging the wiring on the bike.

My heated grips are Daytona grips and all I'd say is that they're ok.  They only have three settings; off, on and quick heat (which is basically just a high setting).  What I find is that the high setting gets too hot after a few minutes whereas the "on" setting is just enough to keep the chill off.

However, I have pretty warm hands and so I think a lot of people would find the "on" setting insufficient.

Also, they don't fit as well as other grips.  I find them a little loose on the clutch side meaning a need to use superglue.  This needs reapplying every now and then when the bond breaks.  The oxford ones however seem tight enough to not need any glue.  I haven't bothered with any on Roachy's bike and they are fine.

My advice would therefore be, spend the extra and get the Oxford ones.                                                                                                                                                                             

no probs Shell, think we need to have somethings in the forum that are helpful and relevent and its deff getting chilly, wonder if the wraparound ones are better for blokes who have bigger hands? its like the lever issue again. Geoff you are right about the daytona ones, ive got these on the cbf and on the hottest setting they are really warm but just on the on setting they dont seem to do much to be honest and the switch is quite fiddly to operate. Does using a relay have the same result as wiring them directly to the headlamp? this is what i have been advised to do as they shouldnt get left on and drain the battery, even though i live on a hill cant see me attempting a bump start somehow!                                                                                                                                                                             

Using a relay is like having a heavy duty switch which is controlled by a smaller switch, like the ignition switch. When you turn off the ignition it turns the relay off which inturn turns the grips off automatically. It also protects the wiring from over load (melting and fire) and switch contacts from having to carry loads heavier than they were designed for.

I wouldn't recomend connecting via the headlamp. It's on all the time and already draws a lot of current. The grips will probably draw more current than the headlamp. if anything overheats at night and the fuse goes you'll be in trouble.  If you can. connect them at the fuse block on their own feed via a fuse and relay. that way only the grips will go off and not anything important. I have oxfords on my cb. they have a seperate on/off button as well as the hot/cold buttons. never had then above 70 % and my hads get cold easily. The wrap arounds are far too bulky to be comfortable.  If you can wait till the bike show, the Oxford stand have them all set up to try. When using them, make sure you dont turn off the engine and leave the ignition on for more than a miniute or so as you'll need to bump it.                                                                                                                                                                              

Having spent 12 years with several different sets on my old kwak, I have finally got rid and put a set of blingy blue alloy grips on that look good. Having trailed up and down the M6 and M1 in all weathers and temperatures only to find that my old duke gloves with a set of thermal lining gloves (C/O Patra) have kept my hands warm enough and that the heat from the grips only ever got my palms warm after 100 miles and just left me feeling uncomfotable. Maybe the new generation of hot grips are more powerful and energy efficient. Maybe I'm just an awkward bugger....but I wont be wasting my money on them again...and I wont park my bike until I cant get it out to the road either. So Julie all I can reccomend is that if you know someone with a set fitted....try before you buy. Then make an informed decision of your own. Good luck                                                                                                                                                                              

When I bought mine they had wiries to go straight to battery. I put a relay in and that comes on with an ignition feed from the rear brake light switch, very handy.                                                                                                                                                                             

I retro fitted a set me Motrax heated grips to my Thundercat which i used to commute on. Very warm and easy to fit. I wired them into the indicator cct, from the switched power supply to the relay. They were used for two years and never had any problems, rain sun and snow :-). But the best ever have to be the factory fitted ones on me 'old mans bike', well worth the money :-)

oxford now have sports grips ,just fitted to my r1 ,switch is by the throttle and easy to adjust while on the move                                                                                                                                                                               

I have Honda grips fitted by the dealer and they wire it through the front brake light switch, so it is through the ignition.   But like Phantom says, it tends to keep your palms warm and the back of your hands are cold just due to wind chill.                                                                                                                                                                             

got the new oxford sports ones on my current bike not that impressed with them,wish id stuck with the Dr Bike ones ive used in the past loads eiser to control much brighter L E D light just as hot and less than half the price only about 25 quid i agree they only realy keep your palms warm but this keeps your circulation flowing in your hands which makes winter riding a lot more comfotable                                                                                                                                                                             

Being a smartarse i have the best grips available, BMW OE. The downside is they only fit BMW's as you replace the original grips, they have 3 settings, off, low and high. If it's anything above 5degrees C then the high setting will be too hot after about 20 minutes even with thick winter gloves. The next bike will have the heated seat option as well!!!!!