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Kimpex grip heaters

V-lust

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Joined
Nov 11, 2004
Messages
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Location
Boonsville, Tx
I installed my third set of Kimpex grip heaters a few days ago and wanted to share that this is an easy an useful mod. The first set went on my ST1100 several years ago and were still working fine when I sold it. Second set went on the WeeStrom about a year ago and the third set on the wife's K75 a couple of weeks ago. You need to provide some insulation on the clutch side to lessen the "heat sink" effect and get roughly an equal amount of heat on both sides. The last two I used 1" heat shrink on the clutch side and found it to work as well as the old throttle tube I used on the ST. The most frequent complaint I have seen on these heaters is wires coming loose from the heater pad so I used a small zip tie over the wires to preclude their being pulled away from the pad. You may have to trim the inside of the grip to allow for the lock on the zip tie. Heat shrink tubing over the pairs of wires improved the appearance and I think the durability of the installation. For $30 or less and a little time you can have warm hands in nearly any weather your likley to ride in in Texas. Several sources just Google "kimpex grip heaters"
 
I just ordered a pair of the Symtec grip heaters and a pair of grip puppies. I'm gonna mount them under the grip puppies and see how hot they get then make the decision whether or not to pull my grips and install them under the grips or leave them under the grip puppies.

What can I say? I'm lazy. ;-)
 
10-95 said:
I just ordered a pair of the Symtec grip heaters and a pair of grip puppies. I'm gonna mount them under the grip puppies and see how hot they get then make the decision whether or not to pull my grips and install them under the grips or leave them under the grip puppies.
I was wondering about this: mounting grip heaters under Grip pups on the Wee-strom. I'd like to avoid dismantling the stock grips; I have ProBend handguards on the bar. And posited that the Grip pups might insulate the heat too much to be effective and thus pull too much power.

Post your results; I'm curious.
 
It'll be sometime after Thanksgiving before I can get to it. I forgot to order the infamous horn lead so I may be fishing around for a suitable substitute and I have to work over the holidays.

I'll post it up with some pics ASAP.
 
10-95 said:
I forgot to order the infamous horn lead so I may be fishing around for a suitable substitute and I have to work over the holidays.

After trying to get the Suzuki parts guy to try and find said horn lead and him acting like I was wrong about the part I decided a soldiered splice would be a "suitable substitute":-P If you go to the parts guy with a part # they might be able to get the Offical part.
 
st driver said:
After trying to get the Suzuki parts guy to try and find said horn lead and him acting like I was wrong about the part I decided a soldiered splice would be a "suitable substitute":-P If you go to the parts guy with a part # they might be able to get the Offical part.


I ordered one over the internet on Bike Bandit. The local Suzuki parts guy was absolutely convinced my DL-1000 was a Yamaha when I tried to order a new knuckle protector a few weeks back. I didn't figure I needed to bother with him again. I lost all patience with him and Action Sports reaffirmed that I shouldn't do business with them. :zen:
 
+1 on the Kimpex grip heaters...they can become a welcome accessory any time of year.
I have em on my Duc under Galindo Superbike grips and just bought a set from Cycle Gear to mount on the RC. I wasn't able to find heat shrink tubing large enough, so I'll use rubber electricians tape for the insulation on the left clip on...should work fine.
 
I got to searching and found only two sites with this product, Ride Now has it for $23 plus $8.95 ($32) shipping and The Snowmobile store which I could not find a shipping cost with out entering all my CC info. What I did find was another company called Dual Star that sells the same kit for $29.95. As of this posting I have no shipping cost info. They are West Coast so it well be 11 our time before I can find out. Phone orders only as the site has no check out script which is way more secure!
Well post when information becomes availble. BTW I use Oxford wraps which work well, they do make your grip much fatter so small hands wel have issues.
 
I have done my homework. Both Ridenow and Dual Star offer the kit for $32 to the door. With the power of the internet and e-mail I got a response from Ride Now, they well ship USPS for $5 which well save you about 2 gallons of gas or a slice of pie and coffee. The link for the kit is Kimpex Kit then call:

Wayne Brasher
Customer Service
PH #480-755-5402
FAX#480-755-5332
EMAIL @ wbrasher@ridenow.com

Wayne responded to my e-mail and offered the USPS shipping. The deal is that the site offers only UPS which cost $8.95 which with the price of $23.35 makes it the same price as Dual Stars which is charging $29.95 plus $2.xx.shipping.
To get the USPS shipping you have to call so he can adjust the order. So there you have it! I am calling Monday.
 
10-95 said:
I just ordered a pair of the Symtec grip heaters and a pair of grip puppies. I'm gonna mount them under the grip puppies and see how hot they get then make the decision whether or not to pull my grips and install them under the grips or leave them under the grip puppies.

What can I say? I'm lazy. ;-)
I would figure for cold weather on a strom, just adding those hand guards would take the wind off of your hands and grip heaters wouldnt be necessary. :shrug:
I know they work very well on dirtbikes, but dont know about sustained highway riding.

Vaughn
 
Bagwell said:
I would figure for cold weather on a strom, just adding those hand guards would take the wind off of your hands and grip heaters wouldnt be necessary. :shrug:
I know they work very well on dirtbikes, but dont know about sustained highway riding.
NO! I can testify to that strong negative. I have big ProBend handguards on my Whee.

It helps, but not much when temps are low like this am. My fingers hated me this morning. Really hated me. And they hurt like the dickens when thawing out, even putting them near the end of the exhaust. :(
 
Bagwell said:
I would figure for cold weather on a strom, just adding those hand guards would take the wind off of your hands and grip heaters wouldnt be necessary.
The hand guards are standard on the 1000 but have to be added to the 650. They DO make a difference but your hands can still get cold, just not as quickly as they would if unprotected...
 
Hand gaurds are nice and work well, but when your out tooling around in 25 degrees then those heaters have a nice feel. Anthing below 40 makes them a nice thing. I have Oxford wraps, sorry it took so long to put them on. But they did not have them in my youth. I have two sets coming. One goes on the Black Wing for the ride back to 'Bama and the other I am going to install under my sheepskin cover so I can sit on it!:sun:
 
DaveC said:
I have two sets coming. One goes on the Black Wing for the ride back to 'Bama and the other I am going to install under my sheepskin cover so I can sit on it!:sun:
Now *that* is creative!
So how do those work on your bar grips?
 
TexasShadow said:
Now *that* is creative!
So how do those work on your bar grips?
Don't know ! Have yet to sit on the bars! :lol2:
They go under the grips, on the Wings the foam grips you get as an after market item are a little loose so there should be ample room to wrap them(Kimpex)around the bar and secure them with the supplied adhesive then install the grip over them.
I believe the adhesive is a part of the assembly out of the box.:shrug:
 
DaveC said:
I have done my homework. Both Ridenow and Dual Star offer the kit for $32 to the door. With the power of the internet and e-mail I got a response from Ride Now, they well ship USPS for $5 which well save you about 2 gallons of gas or a slice of pie and coffee. The link for the kit is Kimpex Kit then call:

Wayne Brasher
Customer Service
PH #480-755-5402
FAX#480-755-5332
EMAIL @ wbrasher@ridenow.com

Wayne responded to my e-mail and offered the USPS shipping. The deal is that the site offers only UPS which cost $8.95 which with the price of $23.35 makes it the same price as Dual Stars which is charging $29.95 plus $2.xx.shipping.
To get the USPS shipping you have to call so he can adjust the order. So there you have it! I am calling Monday.

Well I ordered them on Monday 12-4-06, requested proiority mail by USPS. It is now Saturday night 12-9-06. Wayne told me they were in stock and that they would ship Monday. Seems that I was mislead. Disappointed too. I don't think I well go back to RideNow. I would have just as soon had the truth so I could have informed the buyer about the status of the heaters. I well call Monday to check the status. :rant: I may end up going to Dual Star.
 
DaveC said:
Well I ordered them on Monday 12-4-06, requested proiority mail by USPS. It is now Saturday night 12-9-06. Wayne told me they were in stock and that they would ship Monday. Seems that I was mislead. Disappointed too. I don't think I well go back to RideNow. I would have just as soon had the truth so I could have informed the buyer about the status of the heaters. I well call Monday to check the status. :rant: I may end up going to Dual Star.

Well at 3:00 PM Wayne Basher called to let me know the Kimpex grips shipped.................today A week! a span of 7 days they sat there waiting on some dofus to ship them,:doh: post office came by and picked them up! Post office comes by my place 6 days a week and they come by the business 5 days. They well come in while I am out in California. So I can not even send them on for another two weeks! Warm fuzzies, I have none.

on his behalf he said he would make me a killer deal on my next purchase, he did respond to my e-mail. So as of this customer service good, customer satisfaction, poor.
 
Between these two grip heater posts I'm almost convinced to go get some, especially since I use grip covers for extra diameter for my long fingers the grip puppies look great. Probably beats reaching down to grab my engine for heat :)

Now if I could figure a good way to heat my toes I could ride through anything.;-)
 
Installed my fourth set of grip heaters yesterday and this time did something different. I always used the two position switch with the resistor for low before and this time I bought a First Gear Heat-Troller. As long as I don't figure my labor it's still way cheaper than the factory heated grips and I'm not wasting alternator capacity heating up that resistor. It's nice to have full range control of the heat instead of just low and high. Temp was low fifties this morning and I was dialing back the heat at three miles. I'll try to add a pic of the control which may or may not work.:doh:
 

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My hand grip heaters have stopped working. I did the basic check the connection debug but knowing they did not get that warm(for me) I may just change them. I wonder if the Oxford and the Kimplex are compare able in wattage!


Sent from my iPhone, that's sort of wonky as it thinks it can spell Texan better than I !
 
I noticed on the ride this morning that my hands were getting warm! Barely, as it is in the 50s , I believe my controller is going south and leaving me in the cold! I going to replace it, does the First Gear have a power on light?


Sent from my iPhone, that's sort of wonky as it thinks it can spell Texan better than I !
 
the first gear heat troller is a pulse width modulator and has a led that lights up when it pulses power. dialed down low the pulse is short so the light is only briefly on, the higher it is set the longer it is lit.

there is not a light that stays lit when it is on.
 
Dave
The white dot that the mark on the control knob is pointing to in post #21 is the LED. When turned up high it is on most of the time. Takes four or five minutes on high and I am turning it down.
 
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