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Warmfit Handlebar Heaters
The silver switch to the right of the clutch lever is the 3 position switch
for the handlebar heaters (Off, Low, and High).
The only reason I can think of why motorcycle manufacturers do not fit
heated handlebars/grips to motorcycles (apart from a couple of high priced
tourers) is that the they assume motorcyclists abandon their machines at the
first sign of inclement weather. However, in the UK there are quite a few
people who use their machines throughout the year come rain, snow, ice and
other nasty weather.
I have been in this group of motorcyclists for 16 years since leaving
school. Despite having fairings or screens fitted and wearing loads of clothes,
my fingers (like everyone else's) have always ended up like icicles when
temperatures fall below 5 degrees C. On short journeys it is bearable, but
when I started riding each day up to London, 37 miles away, I decided
it was doing me no good at all.
It was only when I joined the MZRC two years ago that I seriously started
thinking about fitting some sort of heaters. Each issue I would see the Warmfit
advert telling me how I could have warm hands for just £20.00. To tell
you the truth, I thought anything that cheap wouldn't be of any use. The
alternatives, heated grips, were more expensive £45+, and obviously
meant changing the grips. The procedure for doing this was well documented
by Brian Anderson in issue no. 98. Messing about with different sizes of
grips put me off though and I wanted to keep my MuZ as standard as possible.
It was not until the price of the Warmfit heaters went up to £25.00
that I decided to act. I bombarded Mr. Newcombe of Warmfit Limited (Tel:
01275 847570) with numerous questions on specification and fitment of the
heaters so that I knew what I would be letting myself in for.
My main concern was messing about with the wiring on the MuZ, as there
are no spare connectors that could be used. Mr. Newcombe was very helpful,
and in September '95 I parted with £25.00. Apart from a brief inspection
of the parts on arrival, they sat on top of the kitchen cupboards until late
December. A stupid thing to do I know, but that's life.
Fitting the heaters. My doubts in my ability to fit the heaters
was grossly unfounded. First of all I put tape on the bars to show where
I would drill the holes required, before completely removing the handlebars
and all switches and levers attached thereto. Luckily I could suspend the
brake cylinder from my fairing. Time taken approximately half an hour.
So as not to spoil the appearance, I removed the left hand grip by
plunging it into hot water. The alternative method is to cut the end out
of the grip and reseal it after sliding the heater in. Two drill bits are
required 3 mm & 9.5 mm to drill pilot holes and the slanted holes
respectively for the wires to pass through. The bars obviously need to be
held very firmly whilst doing this to avoid damaging anything, especially
fingers. If need be, refit the bars to the bike. Use a file to remove any
sharp edges. The holes will need to slant (when looking from the outside)
from the centre to the ends of the bars, in order to feed the wires through
easily and prevent kinking. Time taken approximately three quarters of an
hour.
At this point I took the opportunity to paint the bars as the black
paint easily scratches off the chrome underneath. Sliding a heater in either
end and feeding the wires through the holes takes five minutes.
The bars were refitted to the bike and all the switches, etc. refitted.
The heater switch, which has high, low and off positions, was fitted on the
left side. All the wires from the heaters and switch are colour coded with
bullet connectors and easily connected up leaving just two wires which were
the earth and power wires. Time taken approximately three quarters of an
hour.
At this point my nerve bottled again, and it was to be another two
weeks before I plucked up the courage to connect the wires to the electrical
system.
Eventually, I connected the earth wire to an indicator earth wire
in the fairing using a double bullet connector. This meant first cutting the
existing earth wire and fitting a male bullet terminal to each end of the
cut wire and then plugging the three wires in to the connector.
I decided the power supply, which should run via the ignition switch,
would come from the front brake light switch feed. On the Saxon Tour this
meant cutting away some of the plastic sheath which surrounds both the brake
light switch wires. The bullet terminal on the wire from the heaters was
cut off and connected to the feed wire using a scotch connector supplied
with the kit. I took the precaution of putting insulating tape all around
the joins to keep water out.
Then the big moment. With a pocket full of fuses, just in case, turn
on the ignition, put the heater switch on high setting. Check all the electrics
for operation. O.K. Start MuZ. O.K. A few minutes later the grips were nicely
warm. Five minutes later and the grips were very hot to touch with bare hands
so time to switch to the low setting. Fitting completed. Connecting the wiring
took approximately three quarters of an hour.
Total fitting time 3 hours approximately. However, I believe
if a positive attitude was taken the heaters could be fitted in less time
than this, especially if all the drilling is done in situ and the left grip
is cut then patched.
Over the past 4 months the grips have worked perfectly with no side
effects, like falling electrolyte levels or flat battery, which is not surprising
as they only use 19.2 watts on the high setting and 9.6 watts on the low
setting.
How well do they work? They will do exactly what they were designed
to do. I believe they were originally designed for New Zealand sheep farmers
for use on ATCs which one would assume would be generally fitted with handlebar
muffs. Consequently they would normally have bare hands or thin gloves, and
of course wouldn't be travelling very fast. I would therefore recommend them
to anyone who uses handlebar muffs or a full screen or fairing. Hands which
are open to the elements or covered by thick gloves may not get the full
benefit.
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