Heated Grip Installation 2006 Triumph Sprint ST

Updated 14Apr2011 - but only a little. I actually read some of this and had to fix some of the atrocious spelling and grammatical errors. Maybe it'll be a little clearer, too. Hard to say.

I installed Hot Grips heated grips on my 2006 Triumph Sprint ST with a Heat-Troller controller. The Hot Grips kit includes a switch for off-med-high, a resistor to burn off extra power for the medium setting, some wire and instructions. Not included in the kit but required for installation is some high temperature epoxy. I used JB Weld that I had on hand. The grips were the 4.75" version with the ends bored out. They are the same length and slightly thicker than the stock grips. They are just as "sticky" as the stock grips in terms of feel.

The Heat-Troller kit came with the controller including the remote control (a rheostat with 'off' detente full counter-clockwise) and indicator LED. There is plenty of wire for locating the controller and the switch on different parts of the bike and lots of wire for between the controller and the grips themselves. Also included is a hook and loop set for mounting the controller and an extra sleeve nut for the remote control in case some extra thickness is encountered in your mounting location. If you want the grips to turn on and off with the ignition switch (a really good idea), you need to get a simple 12v relay. I got one from Radio Shack (cat number 275-226) for $6.50 and this is a standard stocking item (as of 2011, anyway). Any self-respecting Radio Shack will have one. The advantage of the controller over the included off-med-high switch is more precise temperature control and power savings. In the case of the two-position switch, excess power is wasted heating a resistor while the Heat-Troller cycles power to the grips thus saving power. This might be important if you have a bunch of other electrical equipment vying for limited power on the bike.

To install the grips, first I removed the existing grips. I was able to get them off without cutting them but it was a struggle. Cutting them would have been a lot easier but then I would have been stuck if I had a problem getting the HOT Grips on. The stock grips are not glued or otherwise held in place with anything other than their own grippy selves.

I started with the throttle side and dry-fit the grip to see what I needed to do to make it work. The throttle tube is ribbed and has ridges on the end. To get the Hot Grip on you have to remove the end ridges and at least half of the ribs that run the length of the bar. This was pretty easy to do with a Dremel rotary tool with a course sanding drum.

I only took off half of the length-wise ribs from one side of the tube and the grip fit nicely. I don't notice any effects from the eccentricity error.

I also found that the Hot Grip itself needed to have a small amount of material removed from the bar-weight end to fit on the tube. It was a simple task to just grind out some of the grip (using the Dremel again - you gotta have on of these things and this a good excuse to get one if you don't).

The left grip went on without any adjustments needed except for the outside end which, like the other side, did need a little material removed to fit easily. They warn you not to try to stretch the grips to make them fit as this will likely damage the heat elements.

Following the Hot Grip instructions (which are quite good), the next step is to determine where the cable should come out of the grip. This is especially important on the throttle side since there has to be some free play of the cable to allow the throttle to move. The Sprint's throttle covers 90 degrees from fully closed to fully open. I have them marked in the photo. Use these marks to make sure the grip goes on in the right place once you have the epoxy on the throttle tube.

Note that in the picture the grip is not all the way on the throttle tube - this was before I cleaned out the grip end a little more so it would fit easily all the way up the tube. Once I had done that the grip was flush with the end of the bar and throttle tube.

Once I had the grips dry fit on the tubes I mixed up the epoxy and put the grips on. I like to mix epoxy on a small pad of paper (if it isn't too viscous - JB Weld is perfect this way) because you can just remove the top sheet and you have fresh mixing surface. I also write down the location where I am using the mixed epoxy if I am doing multiple batches. That way, if a mix doesn't set properly or has some other problem, I know where to look for trouble on my project. The epoxy left on the mixing surface is allowed to cure and then I test it to make sure it did what it was supposed to. It also gives me a handy indication of when it has cured.

The photo above right is the left bar with the JB Weld already in place. The throttle side was just as easy. I left a half inch or so uncovered on the inside of the bar so that epoxy could be pushed up and not make a mess between the grip and the control housing. This is especially important on the throttle side.

The only thing left to do for the physical installation is to wait for the epoxy to cure and route the cables from the grips to where the controller will be. I had some thin black cable ties that I used to secure the throttle side cable to the bar close to the throttle control housing. On the other side a single cable tie was all I needed to make the cable lie neatly under the switch housing. From there, both wires followed existing cables down into the bowels of the bike.

With the grips installed, I moved on to the electrical installation which is on the next page....