I live in northern Mississippi, which allows me to ride all year long; however, during the winter it will still be in the twenties or thirties during my morning ride. This year I decided that I didn't want to have cold, achy hands in the mornings so I looked into heated grips and handlebar warmers. I decided to go with the handlebar warmers since I am still on a quest for the perfect grips, and I want something that will work with the grips I end up liking the best.

I saw the “Heat Demons” handlebar warmers online and I really liked the way that the controls attach to the standard Harley controls and look like original equipment. I ordered a pair and recently put them on my bike. The instructions that come with the kit are pretty good, and the installation went fairly smoothly. At one point, you drill a hole in the bottom of the handle bar and then insert a grommet, after which you have to feed 5 or 6 wires through the grommet and out the handlebar (grips have to be removed from both sides). This was really the only part that gave me problems. I found it difficult to feed the wires through the grommet and push them out through the handle bars. After the first wire or two, the remaining wires were not stiff enough to push very far into the handle bar and tended to just collapse or coil up inside the bar. If I was doing it all over again, I think I would slide the grommet over the wires first, feed the wires through the hole, then fit the grommet in the hole. Otherwise, though, things went well. During the test, before I put the grips back on, the warmers heated the handle bar to a point that you couldn't hold it within about 30 to 45 seconds. With the grips back on, it took a minute or two for the bars to start heating up and they are pretty warm by 4 or 5 minutes.

The day after I put the handlebar heaters on, I went on a weekend trip to Memphis. A cold front came through and it was pretty chilly. I was disappointed with the performance of the heaters on the trip. Even at high setting, I couldn't really feel any warmth through the grips with my gloves on. After I got back, I decided that perhaps I needed to change my hand grips. I have large diameter metal grips, and they have a smaller plastic collar inside and air space between the outside metal of the grip and the plastic collar. I thought the dead space might be preventing them from transferring the heat from the bars as they should, so I ordered some Avon Coke Bottle Grips and put those on today. The difference was amazing! Whereas before, I could ride with the heat level all the way up (4) and no gloves, with the smaller, better fitting grips, even with gloves on, the grips were almost uncomfortably hot at the lowest setting. Since it is 65 degrees today, I'm sure that at colder temperatures they wont feel too hot. At high setting, on a 65 degree day, I can't hold them for long even with gloves on.

Overall impression: these things are awesome, but they didn't work well with my large diameter Harley metal grips. You will probably need grips without dead space. The controls look completely original equipment. The LEDs are bright enough to see very well during the day time, and dim for night time riding. Installation is straightforward and the product is well made. I would buy them again in a heartbeat and have recommended them to several of my riding buddies, with the caveat that they work better with some grips than others.

Disclaimer: I do not work for the company that makes these, for any company the sells them, and I do not in anyway benefit from the sale of this product.

 

Looks cool or should I say hot! Very nice thread

 

Hmm, living in PA and doing my dammedest to ride year round should have me looking into these. Glad to hear they wound up working.

 

Very clean looking. As stated, almost factory looking. How much were they?

 

They are about $120 to $150, depending on where you get them. They are available with either left side or right side controls.

 

Thanks! Now I know what I want for Christmas!

 

I have them on the Ultra with large metal (chrome) and I am finding the same thing looks like I will be putting the Iron Braid Grips back on in the morning.
Was able to find another controller in chrome Someone didn't route the wires right and cut the wires as he put it together so now the controller matches the rest of my controls Black Housing with Chrome buttons

 

I installed Heat Demons about four years ago on my Ultra Glide. They work great and I’ve had no problems with them. When installing, be sure you wire them to a circuit after your ignition switch or to an axillary loop. You do not want them staying on after turning off the bike.

FYI – The Harley Davidsons heated grips are known for poor reliability and cost much more … that is why I installed the Heat Demons.