Running an 05 XL883C, but really am having a hard time keeping my hands from freezing on the ride to work in 30 degree cold. Does the charging system put out enough to run heated grips? Thanks for the input!

 

Yeah, you'll be fine.

 

Just an FYI - heated grips work best on bikes with a fairing (baggers) that blocks the wind from hitting your fingers/hands.
Unless you have a fairing or wind guards, you might want to consider heated gloves, like these from Gerbing.

 

Ive got the motocross style hand guards there for the winter. But a batwing my be in my future as well. I just hate to let it sit for 3 months a year

 

I agree on the heated gloves. They will keep your hands warm better than the grips IMO. I hope you also have a shield for your Custom for riding in the cold.

 

You have nothing to worry about.

 

Set on order from JP. I do run a shield, and have added the motocross style hand guards. The snowmobile suit is great so far for a 15 mile ride to work at 30 degrees, but the hands are frozen... Thanks all for the input

 

What kind of gloves do you wear? I ride to work year round, as long as the roads are clear. I ride 12 miles to work, and don't have a windshield or hand guards. I have a good pair of Dakine snowboard gloves, and they keep my hands warm at 75 mph at 25 degrees. I'd just get some good gloves, maybe heated gloves like mentioned before

 

I ride every winter. Three of the bikes that I have used had heated grips. For the others I use heated gloves. The heated grips have out performed the gloves every time. The issue with no fairing so that the wind will cool the grips. Really? With your hands around them the wind does not get to the grips however it will cool the heated gloves.

It was in the mid thirties and raining in the Canadian Rockies on the Alaskan trip that I did. I only was wearing thin mechanics gloves. The bike was a Buell Ulysses XT. The heated grips had two settings of high and low. I had them on low and periodically had to turn them off as they got too hot. I laugh every time I hear a comment that the tops of your hands will get cold. Who evers says that does not understand that the blood that gets heated by the grips circulates through the entire hand. They did a great job on that trip.

With the heated gloves that I use on the Sportster from the mid thirties down can not keep up with the cooling by the wind. I carry some large plastic rain mittens to pull over them to keep the temperature up.

I also have wind breakers for the grips that I got at a snowmobile store. Here is a picture of them on a bike. They attach with velcro straps so I can move them from bike to bike. But in the twenties I still need to cover the heated gloves or add heat packs.

I save money on the bikes without heated grips by just using an adaptor that connects to the tender lead and the other end is the RCA connector to the gloves instead of adding a glove RCA connector to each bike.

From my years of experience heated grips are the best.

 

I have BMW winter gloves for riding in colder weather. Best of all they are black with orange linings - very Harley! While heated grips or gloves will improve comfort, start with really good gloves.