SV650 Mod: Heated Grip Kit and Gel Grips

Humble heated grips,
why did it take so long to
add you to my life?

This post documents the installation of an SPI grip heater kit on an SV650. The SPI kit includes two heating elements, all the necessary wires, and a three position switch.

8/27/2010: This post has been updated for clarity and to better reflect some of the things I’ve learned and changed since the original installation.

The gel grips are Progrip 699 superbike grips, and they are indeed very squishy.

The first step is to remove the existing grips. For step-by-step instructions, see How to Remove Motorcycle Grips Without Destroying Them

Once the grips were off, I scraped away the old glue residue and cleaned the bars with surface cleaner. I wanted to make absolutely sure the bars were clean and oil free so I cleaned them with Goo Gone.

Then it was time to apply the heater elements. The elements consist of electrical traces sandwiched between thin plastic film, with one side of the film being adhesive. I did a couple practice wraps to make sure the wires coming off the element would end up in a good location. This is particularly important on the throttle hand side, as the wires must be placed so that they don’t impede the twisting throttle tube.

Here’s the clutch side:

And the throttle side:

The adhesive on the elements did not want to stay down along the “seams” so I wrapped the edges with electrical tape.

Once the heating elements were on, it was time to wire them up. I followed the wiring diagram that came with the kit, and used test leads to connect the heater wires to the switch and distribution block. My crazy test rig wasn’t pretty, but it sure was a nice feeling when I flipped the switch and the elements started heating up.

The test gave me a good idea of how the wiring needed to be run around the bike. The wires from the throttle side heater were the ones with the most potential for trouble, as they require plenty of slack to accommodate twisting throttle motions in addition to movement of the handlebar from side to side. I wanted to make the wiring as clean as I could, so I took my time measuring, moving the bars around, measuring again, and then finally making the final route.

The SV650 is nice to work with because there’s precious little body work. I only had to remove the headlight assembly to reveal most of the factory control switch wiring. A clean wiring job meant cutting some of the heater element and switch wires down before making the final splices. There was also the matter of the big ceramic resistor included with the kit. The resistor is supposed to be used for the HI-LOW temperature settings. Unfortunately, after a few weeks on the bike, the resistor broke apart: Motorcycle: 1, Ceramic Resistor: 0

I strongly suggest ditching the resistor and replacing it with a quality temperature controller such as the Gerbing’s Permanent Dual Temp Controller or the Dispatch 1 electrical accessory management system.

I routed the positive and ground wires down the right side of the bike and back to the area under the seat.

I’ve connected the positive and ground wires in different ways over the past few years:

• to the Dispatch 1 electrical accessory management system (highly recommended!)
• to a fuseblock: Eastern Beaver Power Center 8 (recommended)
• to a DIY distribution block and relay
• directly to the battery (not recommended!)

The fuseblock is the cleanest and most reliable option, but it’s more expensive. The DIY distribution block was an interesting project, but ultimately didn’t meet my requirements. I don’t recommend connecting directly to the battery because you will kill the battery if you forget to turn off the grips (and you will forget at least once, believe me.)

Installing the new grips was easy. I used a tiny bit of Windex as lubricant and slid them up the bars, taking care not to disturb the heater elements in place. The throttle tube has a small lip near the kill switch control assembly and the stock grip has a groove to match. The new grip didn’t have this groove so the Dremel came out once more and made short work of the protruding plastic.

Here’s the finished clutch side:

And the finished throttle side, showing the heater wires and the amount of slack required:

This was a fun project, and the heated grips are oh so nice on those chilly commutes to work in the morning. The heater kit can be found for around $30, and the gel grips were $10 more, so for $40 I feel like I got a tremendous amount of bang for my buck.