Heated Grip Repair

[wily_coyote]

I've been slowly working around my new-to-me 2010RT and the one remaining job was a dead RH heated grip. Searching the interweb wasn't all that revealing - so I decided to get stuck in.

It's not a difficult job, and with a replacement grip costing over £100, it's certainly worthwhile. First thing to establish is whether or not you have 12v heading toward the grip. I'd also invested in a HEX gs911 which was brilliant for checking for faults and resetting the service light and this showed that the RH grip was 'open circuit'. However, if you don't have access to a diagnostic tool, once you've exposed the connector plug (which lurks inside of the RH switch cluster) you can split this and test for 12v 'in' and see if there's continuity through the grip. The engine needs to be running for 12v to be present.

Not knowing where the connector was when I started the job, I cut the wires at the back of the grip so that I could remove it once the throttle cable were removed. This needed an additional repair which is unnecessary - hindsight is an exact science.... read on.

First job is to remove the RH switch cluster. For this you'll need a T7 Torx screwdriver - the first screw is deep into the switch and accessed from a small hole in the bottom of the casing to the rear. Once this is removed, separate the casing and gently roll the bottom section forward and up (there's a retaining lip on the front). There's a second retaining screw hidden by the lower casing (T7) which is to the front of the handlebar and accessed from between the throttle cables. The grip connector is tucked inside of the bottom casing

Next, remove the top cover of the twist grip. This gives you access to the throttle cables. Slacken the adjusters and then remove the throttle cables from the grip. Finally, undo the screw that holds the throttle cable housing to the handlebar. Only once you've dropped this down can you slide the grip off the handlebar.

The rubber grip will be stuck on with an adhesive and you'll have to carefully cut it off by making a single cut from one end to the other, gently peeling it back as you go. Cut at the bottom of the grip and you can get away with not fitting a new one. On these models, there is a single heating filament wire which is crimped to the +/- feed. This is where one of my wires had fractured, but I also managed to cut through the filament when removing the grip. I did manage to find a post which suggested that the owner had measured the electrical resistance of one grip was around 7 ohms. I measured the length of filament at around 700mm and ordered some 24AWG Kanthal wire from Amazon which I reckoned would be OK. It's a straightforward job to rewind the filament and re-crimp it to the existing wires. I use masking tape to stop it from unwinding while I crimped the ends.

If you haven't destroyed the old grip, you can wrap it round the filament and repair the cut with a polyurethane mastic. I managed to do this OK, closing the joint and holding everything in place by binding tightly with masking tape. Once cured, fitting the grip is the reverse process. Take careful note of how the wires wrap around the end of the twist grip, the location of the two cable restraints and the thin plastic cover that all protect the wires as the grip rotates.

I finished the job off with a pair of Grip Puppies and I'll be interested to see how/if they improve the ride.