January 10, 2003

After doing a very thorough research on the net, read carefully the Service Manuals, but also asking my friendly local BMW dealer service personnel, I've come to a few conclusions as far as the R1100GS is concerned.

I also double checked the following information with both the Haynes Service Manual I have, and BMW's original Service Manual. Thus, so far all this is theory, which remain to be proven by some brave person, who will test all this on their bike - something I intend to do real soon, I promise! If it gets on fire, well, I will blame myself and noone else!!!



Above is the BMW kit which includes everything but the resistor! Now, notice this: NOT the resistor. And it's supposedly ready to install on (practically) every R-series bike there is, regardless of year. (I presume this applies to 1100-engined models, dated from 1993 to approx. 2000).

So, you undo the stock grips, and replace them with the ones supplied in the above kit, throw away the old bar-ends and inserts, and replace appropriately, and the same goes for the switch blank, which will ne replaced by the supplied switch. Checking on the bike's electrics will show that there is already a 4A fuse waiting for the grips, too.

Isn't it all nice and easy? Of course it is! What else do we need?

We need somewhere to plug all these plugs. My bike's wiring is already preset for these:

The switch will be plugged in a waiting plug, right below its own cluster.
The grips will be plugged in a waiting plug located somewhere under the gas tank, which, as I read is a bit tricky to locate, but, ultimately, it is under there.

Even my bar-ends and inserts have the appropriate cutaways, though these are needed only when you intend to use the original BMW heated grips, with the inboard wires. All other brands of heated grips come with outside wires.

So, the question remains: Why would one wish to pay BMW for the grips and all paraphernalia the $220 or whatever they ask, and not install HotGrips or something similar, for example?

All that is needed is JUST a pair of heated grips and the original BMW switch. This means about $87 for the heated grips from Aerostich and about $30 for the BMW switch. Or even better $30 for the Dual-Star grips, which will be glued internally, inside the original grips. Not bad huh?

All this may sound like nit picking, after having spent $14000 on a bike, and wanting to spare $50. What bothers me is the excessive pricing policy!

And of course there is this discussion which solves a problem or two...


As for the KTM 200EXC, my friend Zax insists that the electrical system of the little KTM, even with its tiny battery will not be able to support BOTH the headlight and the grips. His reasoning is, well, reasonable: The grips will draw about 3-4A, or about 50W, while the headlight draws also about 55-60Watts. He does not believe that this practically offroad model's charging system will be enough for supporting both sources. More to it, I have been charging the battery of the KTM about once every 3-4 months, because this is how long it can live unattended! Of course I have to take into account that the bike spends lengthy periods of time in the garage, not operating at all. These periods vary from 2-3 days to maybe 3 weeks a time.

This one will be under a little more sort of conversation, because this is really the bike on which the heated grips are needed, on those cold and numb-thumbs rides in mud and rainy conditions!
And the KTM will surely need both the resistor and the switch supplied with aftermarket heated grips. Being satisfied with the softness of the original Domino grips, I tend towards the solution of internal heating elements, the ones like Enduro-Engineering;s or Dual-Stars.