I’ve put heated handgrips on the last few of my bikes, and they have moved from a luxury to a necessity. It’s cold in the mornings and evenings at the beginning and end of our riding season, and even during the summer on occasion if riding in bad weather or in the mountains. Heated grips not only feel wonderful, they prevent hands from getting numb in the cold.
I installed a set of HotGrips heated grips on the KLR. With the 2004 KLR’s standard handlebars, HotGrips part number 475-875 fits. This is the grips for 7/8″ bars, with the grip end closed, not bored out.
Oops. I forgot to take photos of the physical installation of the grips, but the process (remove old grips, clean bars, glue new grips in place) is identical to when I installed grips on my ZX-6R, so you can see the photos here for the physical install.
For wiring, I decided to go for something more sophisticated, and made a dashboard and instrument panel for the KLR. For the heated grips, this gives me on-off and variable heat control. Here is a description of the construction, wiring, and installation of the dashboard.
