Oxford HotGrips.....any good..?

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macvisual
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Oxford HotGrips.....any good..?

Post by macvisual »

Ok, my V-Strom k8 DL1000 factory fitted heated grips are now refusing to work, so question is, are the Oxford HotGrips worth it...?

Any folk here fitted them onto their 2-wheel pride n' joy over the years..? Seems there are three different models of heated grips available; Adventure - Sport - Touring.

Any advice/knowledge appreciated...!


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mac
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garyboy
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Re: Oxford HotGrips.....any good..?

Post by garyboy »

I have used the medium priced, and the cheapest price (£45 at the time) and they were excellent, if a bit on the chunky size (may have slimmer models?, dunno)
they are just as good as my £330 honda heated grips, and in fact are actually hotter as they keep their heat, and not varied by thermostat or wotever, to pretend to be intelligent lol.

the cheap ones are direct to battery and you need a switch to turn them off
the dearer ones need a loom type thing, that turn them off when the key is on off.
Yoyo
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Re: Oxford HotGrips.....any good..?

Post by Yoyo »

I use Oxford adventure grips on my S10 and they are great. It's about the 3rd set ive fitted over the year. The latest version come with an intelligent controller that connects straight to the battery and switches them off when it detects the bike isn't running.

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dodursley
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Re: Oxford HotGrips.....any good..?

Post by dodursley »

I have fitted Oxford heated grips with the 'intelligent' switch but it does not always completely cut off the battery when engine is off. Leaving the bike unused for some weeks and it may flatten the battery so it will not start. I always put a relay to switch the supply off when engine off. Usually use the feed to the rear brake switch as the relay switching connector as it is generally near the battery.
frenchy3
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Re: Oxford HotGrips.....any good..?

Post by frenchy3 »

dodursley wrote: Sun Oct 18, 2020 8:43 am I have fitted Oxford heated grips with the 'intelligent' switch but it does not always completely cut off the battery when engine is off. Leaving the bike unused for some weeks and it may flatten the battery so it will not start. I always put a relay to switch the supply off when engine off. Usually use the feed to the rear brake switch as the connector is generally near the battery.
+1 on the Oxford adventure hot grips. I have a set fitted to my Royal Enfield Himalayan. I bought the bike secondhand and i may not have chosen to fit heated grips but they were already on there i thought i would leave them fitted. I must admit to being a convert now. I think the secret is to not wear really thick winter gloves but to use a thinner glove and take better advantage of the heat output from the grips. I normally have handguards fitted which take a lot of the wind chill away.
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Elmer J Fudd
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Re: Oxford HotGrips.....any good..?

Post by Elmer J Fudd »

I had a set fitted to the (long gone) Trannie by the Honda dealer in Glasgow, who made a total arse of the install, including snapping a screw somewhere on the right bar meaning it was off the road for a week till they got the part in. They also fitted direct to the battery and not to the Fuzeblock as instructed, bundled up the excess cable and held it together with electrical tape, and put the controller in the wrong place. I ended up doing it all again myself.

Heat is excellent, though controllers have been known to fail (mine was fine) from water ingress.

I ended up cutting the cables down to tidy up.

Also there was something funny about the controller bracket, can't remember, but I ended up altering it.

Best wired through a relay.

Short answer is that the heat is good.
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cozi70
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Re: Oxford HotGrips.....any good..?

Post by cozi70 »

I also have Oxford "intelligent" grips fitted to my 125 honda, and symtec on a big bike.
I've fitted the move basic commuter ones to another honda 125 via a relay,and they work fine.
The intelligent grips fit direct to the battery,as folk have explained,and can turn themselves off automatically once sensing no battery charging input,but on the smaller bike if I run them above 50%,which I rarely do,at tick over they must be drawing too much current from the small battery and warn me they are about to turn off,cured by slightly raising the revs. Great heat though!
Sanqhar
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Re: Oxford HotGrips.....any good..?

Post by Sanqhar »

Take the opportunity to get heated gloves, far better.

tom
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qcnr
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Re: Oxford HotGrips.....any good..?

Post by qcnr »

Fitted oxford heated grips on my 690. Brilliant. Only downside now is that
I feel more vibrations as the KTM standerd grips were a lot softer and therefor
absorbed some vibration.
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mark vb
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Re: Oxford HotGrips.....any good..?

Post by mark vb »

I had Oxford hotgrips on various bikes going back to 1995 or so. The last pair were quite old when I removed them, but had 4 heat levels and a simple on/off switch. I also fitted a relay to avoid the risk of leaving them on. They were always reliable and gave good heat, even in freezing temperatures. But.... the heat was all of course on the palms, albeit I could just about keep the underside of fingers & thumbs warmish by contorting them into a 'claw' shape to keep them pressed onto the grips.
Then came the revelation - heated gloves, so much better than hotgrips.
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