Roger Greendeck
8th March 2005, 08:58
I recently purchased a set of HD 'Contour Chrome and Rubber Heated Hand Grips' (56512-02A) and thought people might be interested in my experiences.
Firstly price. They can retail for over US$220. I bought mine from M&M Cycles (http://www.mandmcycles.com) for $184. (For the Aussies Frasers wanted AU$562 for them!).
Quality. A set of grips that sell for around the $200 mark do not fit into the cheap catagorie as far as I am concerned. For that reason I have been disappointed with the quality of the product. The chrome on the end cap discoloured within a day of them being installed and the chrome ring on the inner end of the left grip is free to rotate which will wear through the electrical cable in short order. I have written to HD and will post their response in due coarse.
Fit and Function. Despite the quality problems the fit and function is excellent. The cable from the right grip runs through handlebar tube to the left grip and there is one cable from the left grip that runs along the outside of the bar and then with the rest of the wires from the front to the back. They are more than toasty enough and have an 'infinite' temp range so you can set them just right.
Instruction. Here is where you can save yourself lots of time and heartache. The instructions call for you to remove the fuel tank. This is not neccessary as the wires can be run with the exisiting loom by some careful feeding. Other than that the instructions are pretty good.
Conclusion. I am happy with them at the moment but if HD do not replace the left grip I will be pretty annoyed. If they wire does wear though then the grip will require extensive work to rewire it and on a product that is only a couple of weeks old I think that is unacceptable.
Firstly price. They can retail for over US$220. I bought mine from M&M Cycles (http://www.mandmcycles.com) for $184. (For the Aussies Frasers wanted AU$562 for them!).
Quality. A set of grips that sell for around the $200 mark do not fit into the cheap catagorie as far as I am concerned. For that reason I have been disappointed with the quality of the product. The chrome on the end cap discoloured within a day of them being installed and the chrome ring on the inner end of the left grip is free to rotate which will wear through the electrical cable in short order. I have written to HD and will post their response in due coarse.
Fit and Function. Despite the quality problems the fit and function is excellent. The cable from the right grip runs through handlebar tube to the left grip and there is one cable from the left grip that runs along the outside of the bar and then with the rest of the wires from the front to the back. They are more than toasty enough and have an 'infinite' temp range so you can set them just right.
Instruction. Here is where you can save yourself lots of time and heartache. The instructions call for you to remove the fuel tank. This is not neccessary as the wires can be run with the exisiting loom by some careful feeding. Other than that the instructions are pretty good.
Conclusion. I am happy with them at the moment but if HD do not replace the left grip I will be pretty annoyed. If they wire does wear though then the grip will require extensive work to rewire it and on a product that is only a couple of weeks old I think that is unacceptable.