Heated grips and uber-bright bulbs

Hi Guys,

Hope someone out there can point me in the right direction.

I'm looking to fit some heated grips to my 06 650 Sport, but wanted to check a few things with the all-knowing chaps on this forum.

I upgraded my headlight bulbs last winter to some extremely bright 100/90w bulbs, and whilst the light produced is far better than stock, when trundling through London the horn stops working (especially if I'm on main beam). I'm looking to replace these with some less power-hungry ones, as the horn can come in quite handy during the morning rush hour. Can anyone recommend any, ideally something cheap on ebay??

I also want to fit heated grips, and am particularly drawn to the Tech7 ones in Busters for £25. Has anyone got these, and are they any good? Should i just bite the bullet and buy Hein Gericke/Oxford items?

Any thoughts/advice gratefully received.

Thanks

Monkey

[dirtydog]

the horn issue is more then likely heat not power consumption, it's fairly well known to happen on pointies

[ophic]

I got the busters special offer grips which were supposedly Tech7 but turned out to be another brand when they arrived. Anyway they work fine, were easy to fit and do the job. I find the right hand grip gets warmer than the left, and they're not quite warm enough when the temperatures drop below zero at motorway speeds (or at least i can't feel them - they may still be preventing frostbite). Also the throttle grip needed the end trimming off but this is the same for all, i think.

I use oxford heated grips; they are not bad, but they are not great. Consider the Symtrc grip heaters....these look good to me, since they are just the heating element. Take off the grips, wrap the element around the handle bar, put the grips back on. The switch looks good aswell.

I can't comment on the bulbs, but I do ask...do you have power for the horn for any amount of time?

Thanks for the advice ref grips. I wear a thick-ish pair of winter gloves, with a pair of Hein Gericke neoprene over gloves (which work great). I was worried I wouldn't be able to feel the heat through the gloves though.

In response to your question, there is power to the horn when I'm on the motorway, but not bimbling through town. I stand more chance of the horn working if I'm on dipped beam, but it's still hit and miss in town, which makes me think not enough power is being produced to power both the bulbs and the horn, unless I'm doing 70......

On a seperate note, I'm off to see Messrs Hetfield, Ulrich and Co this evening in Nottingham.....

Originally Posted by dirtydog

the horn issue is more then likely heat not power consumption, it's fairly well known to happen on pointies

Thanks for the tip!

Have just checked it's location, wedged between the rad and engine. No wonder it gets a little warm!

Have bought some Osram Nightbreakers and fitted those anyway, I'll see if they make a difference before relocating/changing the horn.

What genius decided to put it there??

Horn is almost definately a heat issue, bend its mount away from the engine slightly, this usually resolves the issue, Very unlikely to be anything to do with power, even if they were on the smae circuit then the fuse would blow if thery were drawing too much.

Night breakers are great, put them in mine about a year ago.

I have Oxford heated grips and the DL650 V-Strom Handguards for serious Winter useage , Rukka Gore-Tex Xtrafit gloves and my hands are toasty , the Oxfords are rarely run flat out anymore with this combination are are usually ran at around 50% on fairly cold days , in fact this week I havent run the heated grips at all .

[Nobbylad]

Horn : Bend it out of the way AND fit a Stebel Nautilus in series with the stock horn, it is THE best mod for <£20 you can do.

Grips : DL650 handguards (£30) and the Symtec grip heaters (£40), when fitting the grip heaters, wrap some insulation tape tightly around the left-hand bar before fitting the heating element (you'll probably need to put a wrap of tape around each end of the element to keep it on properly anyway), spray the OEM grips with hairspray before re-fitting over the heaters. You'll be able to wear summer gloves all through winter (even though it's getting much warmer now). The symtec switch fits nicely into the dash and doesn't look out of place.