Review: AME Heated Grips – Do These Electric Grips Warm Our Heart?
Simply put, being stuck in the cold sucks. If we we’re more partial frigid temps, you’d probably be reading Snowmobile Connection and be sporting heavy beards and knit hats. But even then, the occasional cold weather romp or driveway in need of ATV-plow snow removal yanks us from the warmth and security of our laptops.
It’s moments like these that we’re grateful for companies like AME who clearly understand how to help us shake the icy sting of Old Man Winter’s bite. We picked up a set of their 1.3 Tri Clamp-On ATV Heated Grips and installed them one rainy afternoon in late fall. Just after the New Year, a few inches of fresh powder has lured us from our cozy computer enclave and into the night for “testing”. Here’s what we discovered.
Installation
The installation took us about 45-minutes start to finish. Most of that time we spent getting the stockers off and the new grips into place. AME’s grips use clamps for tension, so there’s no need to wriggle grips over the bars using hairspray and messy grip glue. We did have to connect the grips to the machine’s battery by running the wiring through our ATV’s plastic. The difficulty of this depends heavily on the placement of your quad’s battery, but step-by-step instructions are included the help you along.
Operation
The grips are connected to the ATV’s ignition switch so there is no fiddling to get your hands good and toasty- the process is almost entirely automated. Sensors inside the grip monitor your quad’s battery to ensure that the grips are never responsible for killing it (they kick off if the voltage dips below 12.8 for an extended period of time).
A small button on the grip (with LED light confirmation) allows the operator to select from 6-various heat settings to compensate for the temperature/ thickness of gloves.
We never found the need to go higher than the 4th setting in our testing, but we imagine the top-two ranges must be there for those extremely bitter and cold rides or for the rider sporting Isotoners.
Odds and Ends
These grips are constructed from Vulcathane (a material apparently not found only on the Starship Enterprise) and are surprisingly tacky without being overly stiff. It’s pretty unlikely you’ll find yourself glove-less long enough to appreciate the material in the dead of winter. Still, they are good enough to keep on year round (albeit disconnected from the battery.)
The nicest thing about these grips is that they won’t over-drain the ATV’s battery. Turning them on while you gear-up and then mounting up to nice pre-heated grips is not a problem and useful convenience.
Conclusion
$129 isn’t exactly chump change for grips in this economy, but street bikers and snowmobilers have been aware of the benefits of having toasty mitts for ages. Once you’ve been spoiled by heated grips, it’s pretty darn tough to ride in the winter without them. They’re that good!
Cold weather riders take note. Whats your opinion on heated grips: indispensable or unnecessary? Let us know!