Guest Posted November 28, 2015 Posted November 28, 2015 (edited) Wording pasted from my blog... Sorry it's a bit long and sounds a bit dressed up for a thread.After recent weeks, I have decided to get my YBR ready for the colder months ahead. I originally thought to just put some heated grips on but since it's only a pizza delivery bike, I thought it wouldn't really hurt the look too much to have some bar muffs on.GripsHaving tried many different heated grips including Dr bike, R&G and some other less-known brands, I opted for the Oxford hot grips. My girlfriend has these on her z750 and I was impressed with them so decided to buy a set.It's worth noting that Oxford do a set for smaller bikes of 50-250cc which draws ~3A instead of the 4A drawn the original ones.Fitting them wasn't too much of an issue... you will need to sand down the throttle to accept the grip and will need to get some bar ends or just use some gaffa tape like me... (I will fit some bar ends soon!)It has to be said, these are without a doubt, the best grips I have used. They take around 15 minutes to reach the full temperature and with winter gloves on at around 8 degrees at ~60mph, I had to turn them down. In addition to the temperature, the grips are well constructed and feel good to operate. The intelligent controller works well and will turn the grips off when the battery voltage drops too low and the engine is off.There is a bit of an issue that you need to bear in mind if fitting...At idle, the draw from the bike plus the grips exceeds the supply from the charging system. This means if you are commuting and stopping at the lights a lot, the battery will not reach full charge and when you turn the ignition off and try to restart, you better know how to bump start it (which isn't an issue for such a light bike). I was at a junction to turn right for around 60 seconds and the bike cut out. Quick bump start and off I went. The battery won't just cut out without warning which is handy. First thing you'll notice is the intelligent controller will flash green to let you know the voltage is dropping below the minimum level. Secondly, your dash light, main and tail lights will all be flickering. At this point you need to really bring the RPM's up to boost the voltage. There is a an easy solution to this...-At idle make sure you are around 2k or so. I have found this to be fine. -If just riding around town, turn your grips off 10 minutes before you stop. This should give you enough time to top up the battery. If you stop directly after highway riding there will be no need to turn the grips off before you stop....I don't think I'll be turning them on for green laning though. Bump starting it in mud would be a bit challenging!So my review is a very positive one and as long as you remember the above, there's no reason not to fit 'standard' heated grips to your small bike. Bar muffsThese things are the nuts. Mine are Oxford bone dry.At first, I was a bit apprehensive about fitting them due to them looking about naff, but after I came to my senses and remembered that nobody nods at me on my YBR and probably things I'm a pizza delivery guy anyway, I might as well just fit them and stay warm! In addition to them keeping the warmth in, they really did keep me bone dry... and that was tested in very wet conditions. Fitting wasn't too difficult at all. They take a little getting used to but you just... get used to it. With the combination of muffs and heated grips, you can easily wear summer gloves throughout our colder months. On the way home from the supermarket, I tested them without gloves and with the grips to keep them warm, it was a little breezy but cold temperature & rain didn't get through too much. Overall, pretty impressed with that.One reservation I had with fitting some that didn't attached to bar ends was that the wind pressure would force them onto the levers but having tested them at top speed (75mph), I can confirm they do not. Edited November 28, 2015 by Anonymous Quote
Stu Posted November 28, 2015 Posted November 28, 2015 You couldn't be arsed so you thought you would spam instead Quote
Guest Posted November 28, 2015 Posted November 28, 2015 You couldn't be arsed so you thought you would spam instead Pretty much lol.Fine! Let me take the time to edit my op... Quote
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