XB9 heated grips

[josephthreedogs]

Is the XB9 prewired for factory heated grips, or will I have to tap into the stock wiring harness?

[Bob F]

FWIW They lasted 40,000 on my old E-Glide and I did replace them. They were nice on mild days but didn't do much when it was cold. My 2¢.

[firebrick43]

While not positive, I pretty sure an xb9 is not prewired for heated grips. Please forgive me if I am incorrect about this but my experience is more towards sporsters. The best way to wire grips takes some work but will pay divideds down the way in less maintenence. There should be an unused fuse space on the fuse block. Some will have the hot side installed while others will not have any thing installed. Go to the buell dealer and ask for the fuse block terminals, they should be under 5 bucks for a couple of them. Unmounted the fuse block so you can reach the back side. Take a 14 gauge wire of decent quality and crimp/solder the terminal to the wire and insert it into the fuse across from one that has the hot side. If no live terminals are in the spare slots you might have to run a wire to the battery. If your back there its better to wire up all the spare terminals to just in case you want to add more farkles later.

Now run the wire up to the a small on/off/on micro switch somewhere in the inside fairing or mounted in an accessory switch housing if buell offers such a beast.

You have 3 options from here. You can buy the factory grips for big bucks and the performance is not that great. You can buy dual star grips heaters http://www.dual-star.com/index2/Ride...d_grip_kit.htm , performance is better and you can use any grip you want but eventually, like the factory heated grips, the wire that feed the throttle grip will fail. These first two are the best options however if you are running aluminum handle bars as aluminum is such a good conductor of heat. The third option is what I have, and that is polly heaters. They work wonderful in steel bars, much better than the first two options, and they are installed inside the bars so they wont have wiring problems later on down the road from wire movement. It takes more time to install but they are inexpensive. I have the snowmobile model which is very effective down to 20 degrees with out any hand wind protection and decent gloves. Below that you palms stay warm(hot, hot, hot on high) but even with really good gloves the back of my hand gets cold.

The wires on these heaters is the best quality I have seen, as good as milspec aircraft wiring. The switch however is horrible, get their upgraded switch or one from radio shack. Its a family business and are wonderful to work with. A couple of years ago when I purchased mine, they didn't take credit cards, but sent me the heaters with an invoice, letting me send a check after receipt of the goods, a throw back to the old days.

[chopperdave]

Originally Posted by firebrick43

While not positive, I pretty sure an xb9 is not prewired for heated grips. Please forgive me if I am incorrect about this but my experience is more towards sporsters. The best way to wire grips takes some work but will pay divideds down the way in less maintenence. There should be an unused fuse space on the fuse block. Some will have the hot side installed while others will not have any thing installed. Go to the buell dealer and ask for the fuse block terminals, they should be under 5 bucks for a couple of them. Unmounted the fuse block so you can reach the back side. Take a 14 gauge wire of decent quality and crimp/solder the terminal to the wire and insert it into the fuse across from one that has the hot side. If no live terminals are in the spare slots you might have to run a wire to the battery. If your back there its better to wire up all the spare terminals to just in case you want to add more farkles later.

Now run the wire up to the a small on/off/on micro switch somewhere in the inside fairing or mounted in an accessory switch housing if buell offers such a beast.

You have 3 options from here. You can buy the factory grips for big bucks and the performance is not that great. You can buy dual star grips heaters http://www.dual-star.com/index2/Ride...d_grip_kit.htm , performance is better and you can use any grip you want but eventually, like the factory heated grips, the wire that feed the throttle grip will fail. These first two are the best options however if you are running aluminum handle bars as aluminum is such a good conductor of heat. The third option is what I have, and that is polly heaters. They work wonderful in steel bars, much better than the first two options, and they are installed inside the bars so they wont have wiring problems later on down the road from wire movement. It takes more time to install but they are inexpensive. I have the snowmobile model which is very effective down to 20 degrees with out any hand wind protection and decent gloves. Below that you palms stay warm(hot, hot, hot on high) but even with really good gloves the back of my hand gets cold.

The wires on these heaters is the best quality I have seen, as good as milspec aircraft wiring. The switch however is horrible, get their upgraded switch or one from radio shack. Its a family business and are wonderful to work with. A couple of years ago when I purchased mine, they didn't take credit cards, but sent me the heaters with an invoice, letting me send a check after receipt of the goods, a throw back to the old days.

hi,the 3rd,( polly heaters)do they have a web,or e-mail, or snail mail?

thanks
Chopp

[josephthreedogs]

Thanks for the info, my Buell mechanic at the local dealer didn't know if the bike was pre-wired or not. I'll just do it myself now.

[xl1200r]

It depends on what year the Buell is. All Buells, 2008 and newer, are prewired from the factory for heated grips. There is an accesory plug that you use (you can also build your own plugs to plug in a GPS or some other accessory).

If you are 2007 or older, you'll need to tap in.

[LifesHarlequin]

Has anyone actually had their 07 or older Buell tapped for the stock heated grips? Its getting down to 10deg at night here, and despite needing better gloves, I'm tempted to get the oft reviewed "hot/too hot" stock grips put on. Plus I wanna keep the stock look. I'd prefer to just do it myself, and can't anyone on the net that's posted an install of a 07 or older lightning.