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Heated seat and grips...what a joke.

4K views 33 replies 31 participants last post by  Carlspeed 
#1 ·
Overall the wing is a great bike, but the heated seat and grips sure leave a lot to be desired. Mine quit working on my 2016 at around 10 or 11 thousand miles. I had my 08 in for the same thing at least 3 times and right now since the warranty ended I won't fix them on my dime, so I am doing without on that bike. I wasn't going to take the 2016 in and was just going to use my heated gloves. But we got this snow event and the shop was slow so I took it in. After all the testing on an over complicated system, it turns out that the right grip is bad. Usually it's the left one that goes, but not usually with such low miles. Anyway, one would think that over the last 15 yrs, they could get a system that is more reliable than this piece of crap set up. That's all just a little vent, RIDE ON!
 
#2 ·
Mine is 11 years old. Works fine. I guess I'm lucky.
 
#3 ·
Heated seat and grips

On my 05 I've used a Corbin Heated seat for the last 3 winters. Works great. I've never liked the heated grips due to them being too small. I've always put the larger chrome section over them and that kills any use of the heat. With the thinner grip my hands cramp. I have larger hands.
 
#6 ·
Say, Shinhopples !

On my 05 I've used a Corbin Heated seat for the last 3 winters. Works great. I've never liked the heated grips due to them being too small. I've always put the larger chrome section over them and that kills any use of the heat. With the thinner grip my hands cramp. I have larger hands.
Get in touch with Shinhopples on this board vendors. They have grip puppies. They slide on to stock grips, increase the size of the grip by a lot and best of all the heat comes right through them. Been using them for years now! :grin2:
 
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#11 · (Edited)
You are very welcome to your opinion but You don't realize what your missing ! After my first bike with heated grips I sure wouldn't want to be without them, in my opinion heated gloves are just to much extra hassle that's why I don't own any and I ride in a lot more cold weather than most folks. I like the heated seat but could get along just fine without it. Whoever came up with the idea to design the Honda heated seat and grips so that if one of them failed the other wouldn't work sure messed things up.
 
#13 ·
My 02 is 15 years old and the Corbin seat and grips sure work great.

Probably something simple to fix.
 
#14 ·
MY 08 I PUT PIPE FOAM INSULATION (GRAY TUBE TYPE) OVER STOCK GRIP AND HEAT GOES THRU IT FINE. GRIP PUPPIES NOT BIG ENOUGH FOR MY HAND PAIN. FOAM IS $4. A 6 FOOT PIECE . LOVE THE HEAT :grin2::grin2:
 
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#18 ·
My 2010 with 114,000 miles on it with the heated grips and seat went out last year. I spent many hours troubleshooting the problem without finding the problem. I finally took it in to the dealer to get fixed since It was still under warranty. It took them 2 weeks to find the problem. It turned out to be a connector down by the battery that was corroded.
 
#23 ·
My wife loves that heated seat.

I never turn on my section of the seat - but I do use those heated grips.
My wife is an enthusiast - and she loves road trips. We have been known to ride in the teens and 20's. Heated stuff sure makes it more enjoyable.

So far on two GL1800's - we've not had a problem - except (like someone else said) when that plug under the seat gets disconnected.
 
#25 ·
If it is the seat with the broken wire, the break will most likely be on the outer edge "winglets" before it tapers into the "nose". I had no luck with warranty replacement as I did not feel that I had to front several hundred before a dealer would even consider looking at it. They would not even consider a ripped seat and that actually made it worse as one wanted me to replace the seat on my $ first because of it. So, I found a replacement cover and while I had it apart, I found and repaired the break. Sometime later, the other side broke. I did a peel back to fix that side. But I messed up the repair not removing all of the charred wire. That caused resistance in that one spot bad enough it melted the solder. The last peel back, I removed all of the charred wire. Now, for a reasonable explanation of why that area breaks wire. We have sponge that is very flexible , stretchable, compressible with non-flexible wire totally glued in place onto that flexible material. Those "winglets" take the most flexing in many directions stressing that wire. When I did each wire repair, I pulled some of the wire out of the glue so it could move just enough to let the foam do what foam does when you sit on it and not pull the wire apart. I also have a Gerbing controller giving me heat for the seat and grips. The OEM "Rub Goldberg" style system is just crap.
 
#26 ·
The wire broke in the same spot on my seat. While seat cover was off for the repair I reshaped the seat foam to better fit me. Moved the seating area back and down about one inch. Made the bike a lot more comfortable for me. I have heated clothing but still appreciate the heated seat and grips when riding in cold rain.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Well... Unless Honda has changed their factory Warranty Period, your bike is STILL UNDER WARRANTY. 3 years unlimited miles. Near as I can figure a 2016 would meet this criteria.
Take it in and make them fix it on their dime... Oops! My bad, reread your post and though you were talking about your 16 model... Glad you got it fixed
 
#28 ·
what has motorcycling come to

last year my A/C quit working just when it got real hot. Then I couldn't roll down the power windows and there weren't crank handles either. then the rear window defroster quit working>:)
If this is the way cycling is I might just buy a car:grin2:
 
#29 ·
As stated in my original post, my 08 was taken to the dealer at least 3 times for the heated grips and seat. It is now past the warranty so I'm just running without it and won't fix it on my dime. Now my 16 has been at the shop for a week. It has been determined that it is the right grip, which is unusual at only 14,000 miles. Yes its under warranty which is great, but here I am without one of my bikes because of a piece of crap poorly designed system. For those that know me, know I ride a lot. So being without my bike pisses me off. I'm not sure what we get charged for the system, but there should be an option to buy the bike without it. If that were the case I wouldn't have it. Like others stated above, I spent a lot of money on a bike, I'd like it to work. I'm really glad others haven't had an issue, but I have not been so fortunate. RIDE ON.
 
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