86751km

Disaster!

I tried the hotgrips for a couple of days now, and I could not get them above 40% without them turning off or going back to 30% on their own accord. This confused me, as they worked fine when I dry fitted them.

What now? Cut off? Bring back to store? Buy new? Check wires? And....
....

....

What is that smell? Is it burning plastic? Something smells... And it is comming from underneat my seat!!!
Time to fetch this:

I never found anything actually burning, but what the hell made that smell?

After further examination, I found the culprit! And boy did it scare me! I read stories of this on the xjbikes forum, but I thought I was good, since it seemed to be okay for 16 years...

Is that hole supposed to be there?

(Sorry! No pictures of the actual removal process. I was in a panic...)

And what is this?

 Evidence of past failures?

The main fuse was held in place by this... And no glass fuse in the original fuse box.

And by the looks of the rest of the fuse box, I was mistaken in thinking the fuse box was alright, and that it did not suffer from the apparent weakness of all the other boxes on this model =(

Just look at this:

 Melted plastic NOT FTW!

 The holder for the main fuse (left) was completely gone, and replaced by the above fuse holder. The fuse for the lighting system is second, and was melted completely through. It was a wonder the fuse didn't blow. The holders for the fuse was just melted off. And it appears that the original holders are made of chinese garbage metal and left over wires from pre Edisonian era...

The other two fuse holders were on the verge of dying too. Time to go SHOPPING!

Off to Biltema and Clas Ohlson for som shopping!

86704km

Bought heated grips from Motorport. I had some on my shadow, and I want the same on this bike.
The previous one was for custom bikes, this is a bit different!


I got the Oxford hotgrips for 595,- ($99). It was 695, but the nice guy gave me a better price.

The control unit is a bit strange. It has the option of 30%, 40%, 70% and 100% effect. My old one was analog in the controls. The control unit is for mounting on a flat surface or on the left hand side controls.
I tested them directly on to the battery before fitting, and they worked!

Time to mount! =)

Removing the old grips was easy! I used my trusty leatherman wave and cut them off. I cleaned off the surface underneat, and dry fitted both grips.

The cables were stripped onto existing cables, and the grips were super-glued on. They were a perfect fit, and are comfortable to hold.

The control unit is a bit harder. The mounting plate is designed for mounting on the left hand side controlers. I have no screws there..

Nowhere to mount =(

Now,what to do? I have no flat surface fit for the unit. The solution was careful mounting on the right hand side.

A tight fit!

There was just enough room and clearance to mount the unit. Only problem now, is operating the buttons with the left hand.

I also needed to mount the unit that dristibute and control power, and hook the grips up to power.

The unit fitted perfectly underneat the seat!

More superglue!

I didn't want the grips hooked up directly to the battery, because there are a lot of kids in the area, and they fiddle with my buttons! I don't want a drained battery if someone turn on my grips.

I needed ingnition power, and decided to hook into the lightsystem. It is both controled by a button, and by the ignition.

I tested, and they work perfectly! No more cold hands during rainy days and Norwegian "summer" =)