Video: Joe Barnes' Guide to Make Your Own Heated Grips

Apr 21, 2022 at 4:36
by Joe Barnes  

How to build a cold weather bar set up like in this video. No more cold hands....EVER.

It's an easy trick that costs around £45 for the electronics. Ideally, you'll put your heated grips on a spare set of bars so you can keep them built up and swap them out for multiple winters.

A total game changer for racing in the alps when the weather turns or just keeping the fingers alive for a cold lap round the local.

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Member since Jan 14, 2019
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69 Comments
  • 128 6
 Ah, perfectly timed for summer. Nice one.
  • 11 1
 UK Summer - will do nicely Wink

Anyone tried heated gloves? Always look too bulky for riding
  • 6 3
 That would depend where in the world you are
  • 4 1
 @pen9-wy: I have the heated Sealskinz cycling gloves. They are pretty good and I also use them for cross country skiing. In terms of dexterity they're obviously not awesome but I tend to pare back the difficulty when it's 3c and raining.
  • 3 47
flag carlwheezer69 (Apr 23, 2022 at 11:30) (Below Threshold)
 Hold up? is that a British flag? nah not here pal. #StayWokePal
  • 5 1
 NZ winter is coming
  • 4 1
 anyone ever tried sliding one of those disposable heat packs onto the backside of your hand and then a larger glove on? maybe that's the lazy approach, but i might try that first.
  • 1 0
 @threesixtykickflip: Do you guys have to hum the theme song to GOT backwards in the southern hemisphere? I hear toilets swirl the wrong way, too. Wink
  • 1 1
 @shredddr: I have. My hands actually hurt very much when really cold. The heat-packs worked 'ok' but not great, or at least not nearly as well as I had hoped.
I tried them on hands under gloves, couldn't get them very stable, I even tried taping 2 on each grip with hockey tape. The heat didn't transfer too well BUT it did sort of help a little bit--very minimal.

I don't like riding with bulky gloves but I tried these (link below) and they were not TOO heavy to ride with and they indeed kept my hands/fingers very warm.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07X1HYVWF

~JSV
  • 2 0
 @shredddr: i have, paired with 100% brisker gloves. you put the pouch on the backside of your palm and it heats the blood that circulate your hands, works mint.
  • 1 0
 @whitebullit: nice - and just size up with the glove a bit I guess? or are they stretchy enough to not have to think about it.
  • 1 0
 @shredddr: should be fine in your normal size glove
  • 61 4
 Harry: I can't feel my hands anymore, Lloyd. T-th-they're numb!
Lloyd: Here, maybe you should wear these extra gloves... my hands are getting kinda sweaty!
Harry: Extra gloves? You've had...this pair...of extra gloves...this whole time?!?!
Lloyd: Yeah! We're in the Rockies!
Harry: I'm gonna kill you.
Lloyd: ...What?
Harry: I'm gonna KILL YOU!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU, LLOYD!
[Harry grabs Lloyd and starts strangling him]:
Lloyd: EEEK! HARRY! YOUR HANDS ARE FREEZING!
  • 6 62
flag zthomas103 (Apr 23, 2022 at 11:38) (Below Threshold)
 lame
  • 21 2
 Did this years ago, nice to see others have tried the same. My fingers just seem to freeze while riding in the winter even with thick gloves so I needed something better.

This setup is cheap and works well other than the lack of thermal control, but a small PWM controller adds adjustment. Bought the AME grips for the built in thermal control instead, plus the heating element has some plastic insulation between it, and the bars... improving the efficiency a lot, as the aluminum bars wick out a lot of heat in -20c.

You can also get some small circular heating foil elements of the same design, and put them on your levers. Luxurious, and helps the coldest finger.

After a few winters with that setup I tried some heated armored moto gloves made by Five. Even better, as my fingers stay warm while hiking the bike and faffing around on summits in frigid conditions. Plus they work across different bikes.

Maybe I'm weaksauce for "needing" this stuff, but tech is fun and it's improved my winter riding enjoyment greatly in the chilly Rockies.
  • 12 3
 Just plug Em into your ebike
  • 2 2
 @KK11: good job kyle!
  • 3 2
 @kyle201 good job kyle
  • 2 5
 @KK11: yes, my ebike has heated grips and levers as well
  • 24 1
 Tin foil hat to keep the secrets in !
  • 23 3
 surprised it's not been done by a grip company already. Surely eeb'ers are frothing for another cable to wire into their batteries.
  • 6 1
 Another thing that I find just as bad as hands are my feet freeze, well, toes. It is just the fact that they literally are stationary so hardly any movement so turn into blocks of ice I tried heated socks but those do not work that well.
  • 2 1
 Depends on the socks. I used to run the normal ones with just the heat under the foot and that did not heat my toes but Lenz with a heated toecap works much better.
  • 2 1
 Layer up those toes with the cheap neoprene toe protectors if you use cleats.

Otherwise, shoes that are roomy and sealskins socks + wool undersocks is a winning combination.

I've found that there is lots that can be done, generally by trying to keep as many dry layers as possible from the toes to the outside world.
  • 2 1
 @kajones: The endura waterproof socks are even better than the sealskins. Wore them all winter and they are class.
  • 1 1
 Tried about every tipe of sock from wool,cotton,double socks(it's like a sock inside a sock)...either feet get cold or get too hot, sweat then they freeze.Just accepted I generally can't get warm feet from October to around May.
  • 1 0
 @miguelcurto: I do a think sports sock under the enduras and tbh ive never had that issue. Its wet a lot here in scotland and cold and they have been class all winter.
  • 1 0
 I second the Lenz socks comment. They work awesome in cold weather.
  • 3 1
 I winter fatbike on my mtb trails. 45nrth makes some pretty well designed winter cycling gloves. I personally wear Klim snowmobile gloves. I ride down to -20c with gloves and then put poggies on with riding gloves. I run carbon bars with esi chunky grips and you dont feel the cold thru them. Aluminum bars and rubber with a plastic sleeve for clamp on feel like ice.
  • 1 1
 For those kind of temperatures I would be looking at snowmobile globes. Many years ago I had 1 pair for my motorbike and they were awesome. Best winter globes I had by far,I tired other motorbike brands and nothing was so bombproof like those one´s bellow -10ºc.
They were same thickness of any other globe. Some friends laugh at me but I had always warm hands at 6 AM in winter going to work,so it was a win for me.
  • 5 1
 I don't have too much trouble keeping my hands warm when riding, but if he can come up with heated pedals I'm all ears.
  • 16 2
 Sounds like you might be using your pedals wrong...
  • 8 2
 @Linkpin: I've got some interesting piercings
  • 2 1
 Cant tell if your kidding or serious, but there are heated socks out there for hikers.....
  • 1 1
 @offroad84chevy: And composite pedals also helps.
  • 5 0
 Science— w0t is it all about?
  • 3 0
 someone needs to shoe Joe some Lipo batteries, that NiMh brick could be replaced with something the size of a box of matches with more capacity.
  • 2 0
 You must rc
  • 1 1
 Nice idea. I do miss some info though. Brand of heating elements, where to buy them. What's the voltage and the current they operate at? And tied to that, battery weight and battery life. I was thinking this could be pretty nice to build running on one of my homemade battery packs for night ride LEDs, but I have no idea if they are compatible with those.
  • 3 1
 OK, so a quick search reveals that there are plenty of ready-made heated grips for motorcycles available on Amazon, they run on 12 V (duh). Those could be installed directly without filing and elbow grease. If you want to combine them with your favorite mtb grips you can still go this route of course. I found an example of a heating element that was 20W (12V, 7.2 Ohms). If you hook that up to a 2s2p 18650 Li-Ion battery pack made with high-quality cells (7.4V/6000+mAh), you would have approximately 8W of heat for 5 hrs. Another one claims it needs 3 amps at 12V, which would mean nearly double the power and half the time.
Personally I think I would go for a double layer of roadie handlebar tape, with the heater stuck in between. Easy to install and more of the heat goes to your hands instead of the bar.
  • 2 0
 This has a distinct groundhog day or glitch in the matrix feel... Was the story about Joe's heated grips published a good while (i.e. years) ago or am I hallucinating?
  • 1 0
 Would make more sense to have some grip guards (to reduce wind flow) and a good gloves. But a heated seat...that I could go for!
  • 3 4
 Legend. There’s just so much I love about Joe’s videos.

I bet that first frosty ride with toasty hands just feels well cheeky. Already wondering if I can bootleg those warmed under my inner soles too…
  • 2 0
 Move to Australia, and you won't have to worry about heating anything.....
  • 1 0
 Still not sure if this was real or just a huge piss take but eh it matters not.
  • 3 2
 I trust any man that wears an f91/105w without irony
  • 1 1
 Always nice tunes on the videos ,but what clamp are those in your brakes ,thanks .
  • 2 2
 Begins with g ends in loves, specifically warm ones.windproof and waterproof.
  • 1 0
 sweater drip, foil hat, crazy bike hacks....instant fan.
  • 1 0
 Nitrile gloves under any normal mtb gloves or winter gloves ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • 1 0
 I just wear handup cold weather gloves and I'm fine lol.
  • 1 1
 Cooled grips would be pretty awesome for the upcoming summer months.
  • 1 1
 It would be easy to make an ice block to fit inside the bar. Not saying it would do anything but create condensation and make the grip impossible but...
  • 1 1
 Heated Pogies would be the real solution.
  • 1 1
 Or just heated gloves…
  • 1 1
 Love it when Joe does science!
  • 1 0
 But why?
  • 1 3
 Always nice to talk about heated grips when its spring/summer in the UK lol thanks pink bike lol
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