Heated Grips and Full Lock Turns

[seven]

I want to get some heated grips and am debating between the Yamaha and Oxford Sports and both seems to have similar cabling on the throttle side. I was looking at my bike this morning and it doesn't look like there is enough clearance between the grip and the tank to allow the heater cable to exist and/or allow for proper throttle movement.

I tried envisioning the different positions I could mount the grip in to get the clearance and the only way I can see it is if I mount the cable on top but I have never seen anyone do that before, it is always mounted to the bottom. I want to avoid the situation that I turn the bars and the heater cable either prevents me from going full lock or worse, it causes the throttle to twist either more open or closed and cause an issue.

Is the heater cable flexible enough that it wouldn't matter? From the videos I have watched on the installations it is hard to tell.

[shinyribs]

The cable's joints don't stick out more than the space of your fingers wrapped around the grips. If your hands aren't currently hitting the tank your grips won't either. Just be careful to give the throttle side grip cable plenty of room to twist and flex. Don't want to strap her down too tight.

[Triple Jim]

You could loosen the bar clamps and rotate the bar a little to raise the grips if you want more bar-tank clearance.

[mjh937]

I have the Yamaha heated grip and the cabling is no problem as it faces forward.  Here is a not great photo of it, but it was the only one I had on my phone. 

[seven]

2 hours ago, shinyribs said:

The cable's joints don't stick out more than the space of your fingers wrapped around the grips. If your hands aren't currently hitting the tank your grips won't either. Just be careful to give the throttle side grip cable plenty of room to twist and flex. Don't want to strap her down too tight.

I will have to check that but I think with my gloves on and doing full lock turns there was some contact. I have been considering a different bar or some risers to give some extra clearance.

2 hours ago, Triple Jim said:

You could loosen the bar clamps and rotate the bar a little to raise the grips if you want more bar-tank clearance.

Yeah I think I am going to play with this a bit.

57 minutes ago, mjh937 said:

I have the Yamaha heated grip and the cabling is no problem as it faces forward.  Here is a not great photo of it, but it was the only one I had on my phone. 

Well see, you are one of the few people that installed them upside down. LOL. So at least I know that orientation works. From all the videos I saw, Yamaha and Oxford say the wire should be at the bottom but I couldn't see a reason it couldn't be at the top and thus face forward. The wire on the Yamaha grip looks to be a packaged a little tighter than the Oxford grips too, which is good to know.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

[Triple Jim]

2 minutes ago, seven said:

2 hours ago, Triple Jim said:

You could loosen the bar clamps and rotate the bar a little to raise the grips if you want more bar-tank clearance.

Yeah I think I am going to play with this a bit.

I may do that slightly myself.  My fingers get pinched between the bar and the tank if they're in the wrong place when I hit the steering stops while maneuvering around the garage.

[seven]

1 hour ago, Triple Jim said:

I may do that slightly myself.  My fingers get pinched between the bar and the tank if they're in the wrong place when I hit the steering stops while maneuvering around the garage.

I hope a little adjustment is all that is needed because I don't really want to have a further reach forward. I have a bad left arm that I can't fully straighten so full lock right turns are already tough. I will need to do some more research on taller and more swept-back or wider bars but it sounds like cable lengths are going to be an issue pretty quick. I don't want to have to try to source custom length cable either.

[Triple Jim]

25 minutes ago, seven said:

I hope a little adjustment is all that is needed because I don't really want to have a further reach forward.

Same here, I like the riding position a lot.  If I adjust them it will be to raise the grips about 1/4" at the most.  I have only 1,000 miles on my MT, so I'm still getting used to it and deciding if I want to change anything at all.  It's an awfully great package as I picked it up from the dealer.

[D'ster]

I have the Yamaha ones on my 2017 and have had no issues with them at all.  A very worthwhile investment, especially on our cool mornings.

[seven]

1 hour ago, D'ster said:

I have the Yamaha ones on my 2017 and have had no issues with them at all.  A very worthwhile investment, especially on our cool mornings.

A fellow Winnipegger! So I know it is subjective, but how is the heat output and what heat setting do you use? I have heard of some people saying the high setting was typically too hot however my fingers get cold crazy fast and even at 10C my hands start to cramp up in normal city riding.

[mjh937]

36 minutes ago, seven said:

A fellow Winnipegger! So I know it is subjective, but how is the heat output and what heat setting do you use? I have heard of some people saying the high setting was typically too hot however my fingers get cold crazy fast and even at 10C my hands start to cramp up in normal city riding.

I find the high setting to be very hot, so I only use it briefly when I first turn the heat on.  I mostly use  medium or low depending on the outside temperature.  The thickness of your gloves will make a difference how they feel. 

[seven]

9 hours ago, mjh937 said:

I find the high setting to be very hot, so I only use it briefly when I first turn the heat on.  I mostly use  medium or low depending on the outside temperature.  The thickness of your gloves will make a difference how they feel. 

What sort of temps are you riding in?

[mjh937]

13 hours ago, seven said:

What sort of temps are you riding in?

Seldom below 40, mostly in the 50’s and low 60’s this time of the year. 

[seven]

I installed the Yamaha grips last night and just wanted to get an opinion if the gap on the throttle is too wide. The bar end does not even come close either so no binding on either side. I know there isn't much I could do now but I didn't take a pic of the original grip and the gap and hate that maybe I did it too sloppy.

 

[mjh937]

6 hours ago, seven said:

I installed the Yamaha grips last night and just wanted to get an opinion if the gap on the throttle is too wide. The bar end does not even come close either so no binding on either side. I know there isn't much I could do now but I didn't take a pic of the original grip and the gap and hate that maybe I did it too sloppy.

 

That looks about the same as mine, and as I cannot believe I could have possibly got it wrong you must have done it correctly  .  I installed my heated grips a couple of years back and they have worked perfectly so far. 

[JayMT07]

Here are the Yamaha heated grips on a Renthal Ultra Low bar. The clearance was the same on the stock bar as well. 
 

 

[seven]

I went with the OEM grips and am very happy with them. Compared to the Oxford grips, from pictures, the cable comes on the Yamaha grips comes out much closer to the grip and appears like it would give much better clearance. The cable is nice and flexible too (I can't say anything about Oxford) so if it touches anything it exerts no real pressure.

[cheetahman023]

@seven did you have to purchase grip spacers and if so where do they go?

 

[seven]

41 minutes ago, cheetahman023 said:

@seven did you have to purchase grip spacers and if so where do they go?

 

Nope, no spacers required...not sure what grip spacers are honestly.