Friday, Oct 18 2019 [2,236 miles]
Heated grip kit
With instructions – for a Duke
I called the dealer Thursday morning to check on the status of the back ordered heated grips for my KTM 790 Adventure. I was told that KTM finally had some and that the dealer would get them Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Imagine my surprise when the dealer called later in the afternoon saying my set had arrived. I picked them up Friday afternoon.
They come with step-by-step instructions plus pictures in several languages – for the KTM 790 Duke! Still, instructions for a similar bike is better than no instructions at all.
Saturday, Oct 19 2019 [2,236 miles]
Remove spoiler
Oops!
Remove headlight/mask
I’m going to remove the entire headlight/mask assembly because it looks to be easier than pulling the headlight apart. I started by pulling off the spoilers to get access to the mask brace. Oops. One of the spoiler screws was so tight the threaded brass insert came out. I couldn’t break the screw lose from the insert, so it is going back together the way it came out. I removed the 6 screws that holds the front mask and moved it out of the way. You can see where only one side has the brass insert in the last picture, above.
Headlight/mask connections
Power leads
With the mask on the bench I removed the wiring access panel and dug out the power leads hidden in the headlight cavity. The red/black and brown pair are switched power. Those will supply power to the grips. Brown is ground.
Loosen handguard
Clamping screw access
Grips
Clamping screw detail
After loosening the ends of the handguards I started with the clutch side in swapping out the grips. The clamping screw is a torx – maybe a T20? My T20 driver worked but it was a very tight fit. There are some ribs on the inside of the outer ends of the grip that grab the bar for a friction fit in addition to the clamping ring at the inner end of the grip.
Handlebar end
Heated grip installed
Throttle housing cap removed
Heated throtte side installed
Sometimes I’m slow. It took me forever to get the throttle side correctly mounted because I kept trying to mount the wiring wrong. I knew it was wrong because there was tension on the wiring at full throttle. Eventually I got it right. After I did it was so obvious I wondered what the hell I’d been trying to do for the previous 30 minutes.
Heated grip control
Wires routed
I mounted the control perch and used the two-sided stickum to attach the control. With all the handlebar parts mounted I routed the wiring where the various parts can interconnect to each connect to the power leads. Mostly I followed the existing wiring bundles, using the existing rubber wire ties. I did add a few cable ties, too.
Headlight/mask connected
Power lead access
Buttoned up
Holding the headlight/mask assembly with one hand only leaves the other for connecting wiring. It can be done with judicious use of belly and knees. Plus, once the wiring harness connectors are attached you can support the mask on the front fendor to give you two hands to connect the power leads.
I made sure the power leads were moved to the bottom of the access panel. Future access might not require as much disassembly. Before everything was buttoned up I tested the grips. Crap! No lights. No heat. What could be wrong.
Test connections. Everything is OK. Could I have a bad grip controller? Read instructions again. Oh… Hold button for 3 seconds to turn grips on. Yeah. The grips seem to work fine. Wow, even a “quick heat” mode when first turned on.
Tomorrow morning they’ll get their first real test on the way to breakfast.
Monday, Oct 21 2019 [2,358 miles]
Grips work well. It wasn’t that cold (49~51 °F). The second setting of 4 was enough to keep my hands from getting cold.