Heated grips or heated gloves v85tt

General Discussion
1

Im unsure which way to go, having had neither before. Its mainly the ends of my fingers that are getting cold and hurting and cant decide which way to go. Was out saturday and sunday trying to get nearer the 900 mile 1st service as i might get dealer to quote on the grips, as i understand the throttle needs re-programming. Cheers all - Mark

1 Like
2

I’m in a similar situation. Fingers cold and white after a mile at below 15C.
Have used both but not with a V85. Grips are easier as you don’t have to (un)plug them. Gloves can give better heat to the fingers depending on the position of the heating elements.
Either with handguards will help a lot.

1 Like
3

Grips
Batteries don’t go flat
They are always with you on the bike
The backs of your hands can be colder

Can’t comment on heated gloves as ive never used them

1 Like
4

Not a V85 but a V100S however I’ve got heated gear wired into the battery. I rode from Northumberland to Gloucestershire a couple of weeks ago when the temperature varied between -4 and 1. I had the heated grips set to the highest setting and my heated gloves to the lowest. My hands remained warm and toasty throughout.

1 Like
5

From what I’ve read on forums etc. the MG OEM grips don’t get that warm. People seem to fit the Oxford Premium Grips which get hotter and are plug & play with the V85 (there’s a few YouTube videos on this topic.

Givi do some hand guard extenders that might help in keeping the breeze off. The OEM guards aren’t the best in this respect though cooler in the summer.

1 Like
6

Ive got the Givi extenders on, they work well but my fingertips are below the guzzi guard, its mainly my right hand fingertips. Plan now is a ride somewhere to try heated gloves i think. :+1:

2 Likes
7

i have nil experience of heated grips, but i too have suffered from screaming cold fingertips. After some considerable research (for example: into where the heating elements are routed in differing gloves) I settled for a pair of Keiss undergloves and was totally happy with them.

A few caveats, based on a few years usage:

  • the wiring can be a bit of a faff. but so too can be stopping for a pee with multiple layers of legwear on. winter riding, eh? in reality: a few moments pre-launch prep vs screaming cold fingers

  • the Keiss undergloves aren’t terribly thin, so a size larger overgloves can help. also, I felt that i lost a bit of “feel”, less dexterity perhaps, with under & overgloves on. but not dangerously so.

  • battery life (2600amh battery, in my case) was about 3 hours - plenty for me. i believe there’s ‘wire to your battery’ accessories if you do more winter hours than that

  • last but not least, possibly the biggest negative: they worked so well for me that i totally forgot about my fingers, and became aware of how cold my toes were.

  • one observation: early on, I thought: “these aren’t working”… this, because my hands weren’t feeling any ‘warm’. so I rode home with them ‘off’ and OUCH! yes but no but: they weren’t making my hands warm, they were stopping them from being cold.

hope this is useful to you

4 Likes
8

Heated grips plus muffs would be my recommendation. First adopted in the winter of 1984-85 when I found myself in the grip of a northern German ice age and never bettered.
Gloves are good but keeping the batteries charged is certainly a pain in the hin end. The bulk of batteries in the cuffs is also an irritation when getting them into the sleeves of your jacket. This is even more of a faff if using heated inners with an oversized glove. The above mentioned loss of dexterity also makes it even harder to get the whole arrangement tucked into your sleeves. The comfort and safety of having warm and functional fingers is definitely worth the inconvenience whichever system you go for. Add an electrically heated visor, another sodding battery to keep charged up, and you are significantly better equipped for baltic conditions. I’m using gloves just now. The heated grips have stopped working on my commuting machine. One thing I should add is that I have been through more than one (Scottish) winter with muffs without needing to switch the grips on unless temperature was below zero centipede. Hope these notes help. Rod

3 Likes
9

I fitted Oxford heated grips to my V85TT. Have to change the connectors to integrate with the bike’s system, but worked well. Still got cold finger tips on really cold rides as the original hand guards aren’t low enough. Changed to Powerbronze, which are larger, but bike was stolen shortly after. Now have 2012 Stelio with Oxford grips, which are good. However, also have Keis heated gloves wired to the bike. Resent ride at 4C, no cold finger tips with gloves set to mid.

2 Likes
10

I have the grips and they don’t get super hot, I had a BMW before and they were a lot hotter, saying that I fitted at the weekend some Givi hand guard extenders, they look good and Sunday I went out and they definitely stop the back of your hands getting cold, I wore my thin summer gloves, grips on and hand were fine,

Iwanted the extenders to help more if in pouring rain, last year on a trip in the alps my hands got soaked and cold, as the standard hand guards are very small,

IMG_9633
IMG_96334032×3024 2.28 MB

5 Likes
11

Ive got the givi extenders on and the back of my hands dont seem to suffer, its my fingertips that hurt (right hand mostly). Im going the glove with inbuilt battery route ive decided, rst or the rather lovely merlin ones in a classic brown, all depends on price :+1:

2 Likes
12

I have HAVS (white finger) so my hands really don’t like getting cold, I own 4 bikes with heated grips which are fine for milder days if I get caught out wearing summer gloves but about 6 years ago I bought a pair of Gerbing short heated gloves and they are a massive step up from heated grips with the added bonus I only need I pair of gloves no matter how many bikes I own (14 :grimacing:)
I used to be an all year round commuter so they got lots of use but to me they are the best £160 I’ve ever spent on bike gear and extra bonus they still don’t leak after 6 years use. :sunglasses:
Yes,having to plug them into the bikes wiring is a little bit of a faff but after a week or so it’s easy enough :sunglasses:

2 Likes
13

OE heated grips are warm at best, but ok with good gloves & wind deflectors help

1 Like
14

I used to have heated grips on my bmw, I began using gerbing heated gloves. They need to plug in but if you have an optimate charger , there is an adapter to use the same flylead. The gloves heat the back of the hands , where the wind blows. Better than heated grips IMO.

1 Like
15

I use a Keis heated vest/gilet, plus Oxford ‘lobster claw’ gloves. I get slightly cold fingers in very cold conditions, but that’s about it. The theory is, keep your core warm and the extremities (oo-er) are less likely to get cold, as the body doesn’t need to redirect blood from them to keep the core warm.

2 Likes
16

I’ve been using heated grips since 1993. Never going without again. The V100 grips are only good down to 45 degrees. While most of the grips weren’t very warm, they mostly kept my hands from hurting. I will say the BMW grips on my RT are toasty!

2 Likes
17

I had an interesting conversation with my local MG Dealer this week. He advised that the MG OEM grips do not fully come in below 20 mph as the bike isn’t delivering enough power (current?) to support them. I must admit this is the first time I’ve heard this.

1 Like
18

it’s stated in the manual they dont come on below 2k rpm (or maybe 2500 i cant remember).
speed doesnt matter just rpm.

2 Likes
19

I have hand-guards and use Oxford intelligent grips which are easy to wire in and work well. I got some “Tucano urbano neoprene handgrip covers”. I can now ride in winter, often without the heater or on lowest setting, using them with summer gloves. I reckon the covers will be too hot come spring time! I thought they were a bit pricey, but they turned out to be worth it. Cold fingers, what are they?
For bike compatibly check turbano website, then try Sportsbike shop

2 Likes
20

i have some oxford muffs and they worked so well i didnt need the heated grips but i took them off as it made it hard to use some of the controls. better fitting muffs would be fine, the oxford muffs would fit better with original hand guards but i have caponord guards fitted which are a bit bigger

1 Like