heated grips on 2019

[Skidood]

Anyone else notice that the right-hand grip gets much hotter than the left hand one?  Or is it just my bike?  Today I had them on medium setting and the right one eventually got so hot I had to turn it off and this is at 70 MPH at 10 degrees C

[betoney]

20 minutes ago, Skidood said:

Anyone else notice that the right-hand grip gets much hotter than the left hand one?  Or is it just my bike?  Today I had them on medium setting and the right one eventually got so hot I had to turn it off and this is at 70 MPH at 10 degrees C

That has been a common issue with the factory heated grips, one solution is to remove the left grip and wrap the bar with a few layers of electrical tape, it seems to help even out the heat level with less heat apparently being absorbed into the metal bar.

What level are you using them at?  I have my lo/med/hi set to 3/5/7 - I rarely use med (level 5) unless the ambient temp is near freezing and when I do its only for short periods, they get VERY hot.

[Skidood]

10 hours ago, betoney said:

That has been a common issue with the factory heated grips, one solution is to remove the left grip and wrap the bar with a few layers of electrical tape, it seems to help even out the heat level with less heat apparently being absorbed into the metal bar.

What level are you using them at?  I have my lo/med/hi set to 3/5/7 - I rarely use med (level 5) unless the ambient temp is near freezing and when I do its only for short periods, they get VERY hot.

Thanks very much..glad to see its not some kind of defect.  Not sure what my settings are at the moment.  The difference in grip heat is quite astounding, if I could assign/estimate numbers to the heat I feel, I'd say 3 on the left and 7 on the right. 

Is it hard to remove and reinstall the left grip in order to wrap the bar with tape?

[betoney]

58 minutes ago, Skidood said:

Not sure what my settings are at the moment.  

Is it hard to remove and reinstall the left grip in order to wrap the bar with tape?

It isn't what I would call 'difficult' to remove, you just have to use patience and be careful not to tear the grip.

What I have done in the past when installing different handlebars is get a can of lubricant with the thin red applicator straw and spray it between the grip and handlebar.  Let it sit for a few seconds and then grab the grip and slowly but forcefully try to rotate the grip on the handlebar, you will find that you can only move a small section at a time, now insert the straw a bit further and spray a little more and repeat until you can get the straw further and further under the grip.  DO NOT use a screwdriver or hard device to slide under the grip and try to 'pry' the grip off, you can easily ruin the grip if not careful.  Always be aware of the grips electrical wire and the amount of slack you have available.

When the grip is finally off, clean it thoroughly inside with isopropyl alcohol to remove all of the lubricant.  (Just one of many reasons that I have my old replacement toothbrushes in my toolbox, cleaning brake caliper pistons is another)

When I did mine I wrapped 2 layers of electrical tape and as expected it makes the grip quite tight to fit back on the bar but I have changed handlebars twice now and assure you that it is possible. 

There are many methods of getting the grip back on the bar, there is grip glue available (any bike shop should have it in stock) and I have heard of some using slippery dish soap inside the grip which dries sticky and still others, myself included, use hairspray inside the grip.  A word of caution if using hair spray, it dries very quickly, so you have to spray it inside the grip so it is slippery and then very rapidly slide the grip into place.  I have used that method many times over the years and am familiar with it though if its your first time you might want to use grip glue.

[Grumpy Goat]

I do hope that my bike is an anomaly in this regard, and that the grips heat fairly evenly left to right. My OCD is just enough that a big difference would really p!ss me off. Thanks @betoney for the solution (which I hope not to have to do).

[Rdecae81]

my 2019 is similar, very hot right grip and almost cool left grip. which is VERY different from my first Yamaha.  I had a 2004 FJR1300 and it was Left grip hot, right grip cool.  This is one area where BMW seems to have a real edge on Yamaha.  Since 2005 all my BMW bikes had great heated Grips.

[Wintersdark]

Mine are pretty even, but I've heard lots of complaints about uneven heat due to the situation @betoney outlines above.  

Another alternative if you're not opposed to bigger, softer grips, is slapping a pair of Grip Puppies on.  They insulate the heated grips in a sense, which prevents heat loss particularly on the left grip (which already loses heat to the metal bar).  They take a bit longer to heat up obviously (it's a foam layer around your normal grip) but they heat up just as much and tend to be much more evenly heated when they do.  

[piotrek]

I installed OE heated grips on buddy's FJ a bunch of years ago. I was surprised how loosely the LH grip slid over the bare handlebar. We basically had to wait for the glue to set before applying any twisting pressure. The OE LH grip is moulded over a plastic tube, but maybe the supplied glue acts as a super conductor... transferring the heat to the bar. Buddy also complained about uneven heat between left and right. The tape trick was a later discovery unfortunately.

[Skidood]

5 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

Mine are pretty even, but I've heard lots of complaints about uneven heat due to the situation @betoney outlines above.  

Another alternative if you're not opposed to bigger, softer grips, is slapping a pair of Grip Puppies on.  They insulate the heated grips in a sense, which prevents heat loss particularly on the left grip (which already loses heat to the metal bar).  They take a bit longer to heat up obviously (it's a foam layer around your normal grip) but they heat up just as much and tend to be much more evenly heated when they do.  

I checked those out...I would think that putting one on my "hot" grip and leaving the other alone would help. I doubt the different feeling of the grip would bother me.

[Wintersdark]

3 hours ago, Skidood said:

I checked those out...I would think that putting one on my "hot" grip and leaving the other alone would help. I doubt the different feeling of the grip would bother me.

No, they don't make the grips cooler.  They prevent the grips from cooling rapidly when you take your hands off, however, and tend to "average out" the grip temperature.  They take a bit longer to warm up, but stay warm.  And you DEFINITELY wouldn't want to run only one, as they significantly change the circumference of the grips.  Not about the feel so much as the overall size.  

 

They also strongly reduce vibration, which can be a plus

 

[TomTracer]

The left grip is against the handlebar tube. The right is over the throttle tube, not against the handlebar. Could that difference be enough to cause the difference in temperature feeling right vs left?

[Wintersdark]

4 hours ago, TomTracer said:

The left grip is against the handlebar tube. The right is over the throttle tube, not against the handlebar. Could that difference be enough to cause the difference in temperature feeling right vs left?

Yup.  The difference will go away later as the handlebar itself heats, but that grip will take longer to heat up than the other because it loses the heat it produces faster.  

That's why @betoneyadvises wrapping that handlebar end in electrical tape to insulate it a bit better.