CBF Heated Grips Replacement

Heated grips are essential if you're going to ride through the Scottish winter (and spring & autumn, often) I fitted a pair when I bought the bike 5 years ago but they've given up the ghost so replacement was urgently needed. To be fair the old grips were £10 used from Ebay so they did ok.

Today I bought a set of "Dr Bike" heated grips from J&S Accessories, 272-4 Great Western Road, Glasgow. They seem to have risen from the ashes of Hein Gericke and have a large range of bike clothing & accessories.

The set consists of a pair of grips, a controller and the associated wiring. Fitting was easy. The kit has a tube of superglue to secure the grips. The left side was tight enough itself and I used fibre glass resin on the throttle grip. Superglue sets almost instantly but the resin gives you a few minutes to get the grip into the right position.

The controller has a single knob that is pushed to switch on and rotated for power. I measured the current at between 0.6 to 2.4 amps thus 7 to 29 watts. The controller is intended to be stuck onto a flat surface with some double sided sticky foam. The CBF doesn't have anything suitable so I made up a plate riveted to a jubilee clip.

Featured Bikes - Matchless Model X Reloaded & Bienville Legacy

Here's a couple of exotic bikes you're not likely to see down at your local dealers. 

Firstly the Matchless name has been resurrected with the Model X Reloaded. The bike uses a 1,900cc S&S V twin engine. Its produced by the Malenotti family who are notable for making the Belstaff brand fashionable - a feat I'd have though impossible. The original Model X was produced in the 1930's, also with a V twin engine.

The original Model X

Over to New Orleans for the Bienville Legacy. This crazy looking creation is possibly the ugliest bike I've ever seen but is interesting in that it uses the V four 1,650cc Motus engine from the long awaited MST sports tourer. In the Legecy it has been supercharge to produce over 300 bhp! The front & rear suspension consists of a single composite material leaf spring.