Heated grips are relatively cheap, quite easy to fit and really do help to make winter riding more enjoyable. Oxford Products have recently updated their Hot Grips range and they now come in various styles for touring, sports, adventure, commuter and scooter riders. They range in price from around £55-£79.99.

Some heated grips are quite daunting to fit and involve fitting relays and hunting down wiring diagrams. Thankfully the Oxford grips are very simple to fit, they’re basically plug and play so it should take about an hour from start to finish and can be done by even the most useless home mechanic. You don’t have to be a winter rider to benefit from heated grips, if you ride long distances, or commute to work early in a morning or late at night you’ll probably end up using them more often than you’d imagine.

 

 

 

 

 

The Oxford Hot Grips come complete with everything you need to fit them, including a bracket for the temperature control unit, Super Glue to fix them in place, tie wraps and all the wiring and instructions.

 

 

 

 

 

First things first, we need to remove the old grips and the easiest way is to simply slice them off with a Stanley knife. Once removed clean the bars to make sure the grips will slide on easily.

 

 

 

 

 

The control unit comes complete with a bracket, which will fix to the master cylinder on most bikes by removing the two allen bolts and replacing them with the slightly longer ones which come with the kit. Be sure to check that the bracket won’t interfere with the controls and that it’s in the correct place for you to operate it with your thumb before tightening the bolts. If the bracket isn’t suitable for your bike or you’d like to mount the control unit somewhere a bit less obvious there’s a sticky pad included as well. On a scooter you can usually fix it to the plastic work using the sticky pad.

 

 

 

 

 

The new grips should be a tight fit over your original bars; they’re designed to fit the standard size (22mm bar on the clutch side and 25mm on the throttle). Use the Super Glue along the bars to make sure they stay in place (only glue one at a time though!). It’s a good idea to get somebody to hold on to the bike whilst you push the grips on and to make things easier store them at room temperature before you try to fit them, or soak them in hot (not boiling) water this will make the rubber more supple.

 

 

 

 

 

Once the grip is in place make sure that the wire is at the top and that it won’t get in the way whilst you’re riding. Obviously the throttle side has to twist so pay particular attention to the way it operates.

 

 

 

 

 

On a bike, remove the seat (or battery cover on a scooter) and undo the battery terminals, remember to loosen the negative first. Once they’re undone you can attach the terminals for your heated grips and tighten the screws back up, (positive first then negative).

 

 

 

 

 

The next part is the tricky part, hiding the wiring! Depending on your model of bike you’ll probably need to loosen one of the side panels at the very least then feed the wiring towards the front of the bike to meet the connectors at the top end. It’s worth securing the wires with tie wraps under the frame if possible so that they’re not visible. On a scooter you may need to feed the wiring through the frame tunnel, or inside the plastics.

 

 

 

 

 

Once you’ve got the wiring in place simply plug in the connectors, turn the ignition on and switch the grips on using the temperature controller to make sure it works. Finally make sure that the handlebars turn freely and the throttle works smoothly before securing the cables at the top end using tie wraps. After riding with heated grips you’ll wonder how you ever managed without them!

You can buy Oxford Products heated grips from any decent bike shop, or visit www.oxprod.com