Tuesday, July 17 2018 [8,398 miles]

Because it is the middle of summer I ordered heated grips and a throttle tube for the DR650. The goal is to get them on the bike before I need them. The Motion Pro throttle tube means I won’t have to wire brush the factory grip from the factory tube.

Wednesday, July 18 2018 [8,398 miles]

I’m waiting for paint to dry. I finished milling an adapter for my camera and need 10 minutes betweet coats of paint. Instead of doing nothing I took the handlebar mount from the heated grip kit and decided where I wanted it to go. I found a spot I liked and attached the mount to the bike.

I had to remove the cowling/windshield to better access the screws that hold the mount to the handlebars. That exposed the wiring bundle above the headlight. I removed the SAE pigtail I added to the switched power connector in that bundle almost 4 years ago. I’ve never used the pigtail. I’ll use that connector for the heated grips, instead. I have two another socket on the bike should I need power, one switched and one wired directly to the battery.

Good thing I had one more of the needed Hitachi connectors that I ordered when I installed the SAE pigtail. I wired it up to the heated grip switch.

I hooked up the grip switch wiring and turned on the ignition. The LEDs on the switch came on for a second or two as documented. I went through the settings using the button. All seems OK.

I used the double sided tape that the instructions call “velcro” (not!) to attach the switch to the handlebar mount. The above was interrupted every 10-15 mintues to add another coat of paint to the part I was painting. That part is now ready to dry over night. That’s all for today.

Thursday, July 19 2018 [8,398 miles]

This afternoon I spent some time in the garage finishing the installation of heated grips on the DR 650.

I started with the clutch side. The stock grips were glued to the bars. I found Kroil plus some poking with a small screwdriver loosened the glue enough to remove the grip. Some Goo Gone got rid of the residue.

I read several suggestions to put some tape down on the clutch side to help insulate the grips from the bars. I tried. Several times. The fit of the heated grip was so tight it would grab the tape, causing it to bunch up. I finally gave up and remove the tape. The grips were a tight fit on clean bars. No glue needed.

The right side would be easier as I’m replacing the the throttle tube. That was my thinking. I thought wrong. The bottom screw holding the throttle cable housing did not want to come lose. I broke out my almost 50 year old impact driver. That did the trick, but with some (minor) damage to the head of the screw. Sometimes a JIS driver is not enough.

The second issue is the ridge on the inboard side of the Motion Pro replacement throttle tube I bought. It stopped the heated grip from fully seating on the tube. I stuck the tube in my lathe and removed the ridge.

With the ridge removed the grip went on the new tube all the way, but a little too easily. I used the super glue that came with the grips to bond it to the tube. If I ever need to replace grips I’ll order a new throttle tube.

It took several tries to get the wiring to fit under the cowling. I did have to use a larger cable tie in place of the smaller re-usable tie that came with the bike. I thought about removing the excess wiring from the harness that came with the grips. It wasn’t necessary.

I re-installed the cowling/windshield once the wiring was neatly (?) bundled.

Do they work? Dunno. The lights on the control switch do what they are documented to do. I didn’t wait for the grips to heat up. It’s too warm for that. I’ll find out next early morning or evening ride.