Heated grips

I opted for the Oxford heated grips from Lockitt.com - cost was $85.00. Removing the old grips is easy but before proceeding with this you must check the length on the new grips vs. the standard grips. You will notice they are 1" shorter. So I cut the original grips off 1" from the end leaving part of the old grip in tacked.

There is a natural crease in the old grip so cutting it at that point seemed only natural. I cleaned the handle bar tube with Lacquer thinner and sanded smooth in order to get all the old glue off.

On the twist grip side I first dry fit to make sure it was going to go on OK. Once satisfied I applied the super glue provided and slide the grip on making sure to get the supply wire in a position that would allow movement. These grips are open both ends so the weights can be re installed when finished.

Glue sets pretty fast so you need to move right along. After 5 minutes the grip can no longer be adjusted.

One side done.

Other side is a "real trick" the fit was to tight I could not get past 1/2 way without a block of wood and a hammer. I placed the grip in boiling water for 15 minutes and sanded the handlebar smooth like glass. Still only 3/4 of the way and stuck. Last resort - grease the handle bar and twist like hell! OK it is on but I did need the hammer and block of wood for the last inch. I twisted so hard the skin pealed off both of my hands! That grip will not ever come off without a skill saw.

Power

Step #1 - remove the faring right side pocket - push the pins (4) down and the pocket will just lift out.

According to the manuals there is an accessory plug in the left and right faring pockets - wrong not on my 01 there isn't! OK so no big deal just remove the right faring pocket, seat. loosen the right rear of the top enclosure and remove the side covers.

I attached the ground connection directly to the battery and the "Hot" wire to accessory  wire from the relay box. This connector is active only when the key is on so the grips go off when the key is turned off. You will need to check the schematic but it's the 5th relay from the left in the center string of relays - Easy if you remove the relay box and pull the center batch out - I stripped the wire and soldered the hot grip wire to it - then taped it up.

Attaching to the battery made sense as the grips have there own fuse which ends up next to the normal fuse area.                            

Running the wire was easy - I just taped the end to a welding rod and snaked it up to the right pocket - this was the easiest part of the project.

Once I had the wire in hand I just wormed it under the enclosure top into the handle bar area.

I added the switch which is designed to be strapped to the handle bars. I opted to attach it to the enclosure top - Velcro worked out just fine - holds it in place with no drilling or glue. This way when I need to remove the top enclosure there is no need to do anything but lift it loose. The switch has a built in light & resister. The switch itself is rubber booted and water proof. Just make sure the handlebars clear the switch OK.

The wires from the grips were routed behind the handle bar wire channels by removing the two Philips screws on the shields and packing the wires in with the rest. The connectors were wrapped in black duct tape and hidden under the ignition key area. I also used some black duct tape to cover the wire from the switch.

Last step is to re install the seat, covers and faring pocket. To remove you need to push the pins down - to reinstall just pop the pins up as shown here. I hooked up the key release cable put the pocket in and verified the latch would work, then installed the pins. The cable for the release became kinked and needed some fine tuning in order to make it work as it should.

Started the bike and flipped the switch - no flames or explosions.

After 5 minutes or so the grips get "warm" not hot just warm this seems good as I was afraid the grips would become hot and require turn off, turn on or a different control. I like the fact the grips are slightly larger in diameter than the stock one as I have long fingers so the grips fit me better. So far so good.

I ended up pulling off the handle bar wieghts and replacing them with a washer and small metric screw - looks better. I did not notice any difference in vibration etc.