Installing Heated Grips or Heated Gloves on Your Motorcycle
As an avid motorcyclist, resident of the Midwest, and choosing years ago not to own a car but motorcycle year round, I have tried just about every gadget, trick and gimmick to help stay warm while riding in colder temperatures. For riders looking to extend their riding season closer to when the snow starts to fall, keeping your hands warm is one of the first hurdles to overcome.
Exposed, your hands take the brunt of wind, wet, and cold while riding. Good gloves can help, as can items such as silk liners or chemical hot packs. But most riders will eventually start looking at electrical heating options.
Speaking broadly there are two electrical hand-warming options for motorcycles, heated grips or heated gloves. The grips are attached to the handlebars in place of the standard grips (there are some models that contain heating elements that up under the grips), and heated gloves. The gloves connect to wires which run through your jacket sleeves to a plug attached to your motorcycle.
Heated grips are one of the more common accessories installed on motorcycles whose owners which to ride further into fall and start riding earlier in spring. They range in price from $30 to over $200, depending on the model of grip and your motorcycle. Once installed they are controlled by a switch on the handlebars.
While popular, the grips are less effective than heated gloves, as the heat has to transfer through your riding gloves before reaching your hands. Also, the cold air is striking the backs of your hands, and the heat is on your palms. This requires the grips to be hotter than would be needed with heated gloves to achieve the same effect. Lastly removing your hands from the grips, for whatever reason, removes them from the heat.
Heated gloves are much more expensive than grips, and start around $150. They require a plug to be installed on the motorcycle and if not used with a heated jacket liner then wires have to be looped through each of your sleeves to connect the gloves to the electrical power of your motorcycle. It is this inconvenience that leads many riders to heated grips, which are a simple to use once installed.
Heated gloves provide heat to the back of the hand, where it is needed most while riding. And, since the heating element is part of the glove itself, removing your hand from the grip doesn’t mean you are removing it from the heat.
I have used heated grips and heated gloves. I have found my hands stayed warmer with the heated gloves in all weather conditions. While more expensive and less convenient, the importance of keeping my hands warm made the cost worthwhile. With the addition of a compatible heated jacket liner much of the inconvenience of running wire through your sleeves (there are connections at the ends of the sleeves of the heated liner) is lost. The jacket liner also assists by keeping your body’s core warm.
