Side-effects of heated hand grips

[saf]

Last night I installed a set of Oxford heated grips on kj's bike. It was very easy and this morning I gave them a try to find it very pleasant in cold weather.

Then I started thinking about the effect of the heat on my leather gloves. Caring for leather protective gear often involves not exposing them to water and or drying them out with an artificial heat source as it promotes the leather to become brittle and dry.

Once I got the thought in my head I could only think of the leather on my glove palms after a few weeks of using the grips and then going for a palm slide down the gravel.

Has anyone had any experience with this? Can you confirm or deny that this is a non-issue?

[j-rad]

Hey Saf....

Don't really have much input on that exactly though have a bit of a funny story with the grips....

My Mrs had Oxford ones installed (the type that is moulded as part of he grip itself, not the heater element types that go straight onto metal bar, retaining stock grip) and after many years use and the fact it had been hard wired onto the battery by her dodgy ex meant I ended up leaving it on quite a few times, running the battery flat.

Now here comes the good bit and come to think of it, if it's affected the grips as per below then it's quite possible it could have a detrimental affect on the glove material. . . . .

Riding home one night I noticed the right grip was getting considerably hotter (non adjustable temps) then it got REALLY hot and I tried to take a look except my winter glove had MELTED to the grip........what happened was due to age of grips +
being left on from time to time, it weakened the rubber of the grip to the point that when it got hot it had melted right through exposing the elements inside the grip and sticking my glove to the throttle!!!! :D

The grips were like 5+ years old so not really blaming them as such but yeh, was a bit of a suprise!

[trumpst]

Not sure either about the leather on gloves. BUT, like j-rad, mine are wired directly to battery. Left them on the other day to come out to a vERY flat battery. I will get them wired to ignition asap, but if yours are not to an ignition power source, get that done soon as it's easy to leave them on:storm:

[Boxer]

The newer models should have a cutout switch (so they claim), that if left on they will automatically switch off if the battery level gets too low.

[Richie]

I had a set on for years and no problems with the leather drying out and effecting the strength

[Captain]

I couldn't imagine a problem, it's not like they heat to 100 degrees + or anything like that. After all, they probably only heat to what, 10 or 15 degrees above body temperature?

[*Oggy*]

Put it another way.... If they stop your hands freezing up and crashing then your not rubbing the leather along the tarmac, so gloves will last longer.

I was looking at the ones that wrap around the grips, so they can be taken off for the 49 weeks, you dont need them.

[saf]

I couldn't imagine a problem, it's not like they heat to 100 degrees + or anything like that. After all, they probably only heat to what, 10 or 15 degrees above body temperature?

It needn't be that hot to cause damage. For example I always used to dry my gloves out on the back of an old CRT monitor. It did the trick alright but I did notice the gloves became rigid and brittle over time.


Put it another way.... If they stop your hands freezing up and crashing then your not rubbing the leather along the tarmac, so gloves will last longer.

I was looking at the ones that wrap around the grips, so they can be taken off for the 49 weeks, you dont need them.

You phrased it the right way Oggy. :ayyy:

I saw the wrap around version but decided not to as it involved a potentially loose surface around the grips. Maybe they're good though, let us know if you get them.

[Tarrasque]

I installed a relay for my heated groups to switch off with the power from the bike. Even though it does have the auto cut out switch sensor thingo, it was to late for my bike.. it needs a lot of juice to turn over