Hot Grips- DO NOT BUY!!!

[mille44]

Okay, I hate to do this but I think others should know about Hot Grips products, their customer service and the longevity of their products. As you can tell I am NOT very happy about how I was handled as a customer and wanted to let you guys know about it.

In April/ May of 2007 I bought a pair of Hot Grips before I boarded the Tiger for a 24 hour journey called the Iron Butt Association Saddle Sore 1000. My goal was to be as comfortable as possible while riding throughout a California and Nevada springtime night. Needless to say I was very happy to have them at the time.

Anyway, less than one year later and 8000 miles on the Tiger, I noticed substantial wear on the left grip to where the wire element is exposed. I assumed that this must be a manufacture defect to only last 8000 miles, and the funny thing is that the right grip had/ has no wear whatsoever. I contacted Jim from Hot Grips (www.hotgrips.com) and he agreed that it was unusual wear and if I sent him $8.00 for S&H he would replace the grip.

Now here is the kicker, I replaced the left Hot Grips in May 2008 and already it is showing serious signs of having the same problematic wear. After 4 months of riding the Hot Grips are about to fail again. I emailed Jim back and he said that it must be my riding style or the type of gloves that I wear that is wearing out the grips so fast. I sent him pictures of the two types of riding gloves that I wear, a pair or waterproof Racing gloves and a pair of Alpine Stars for the summer; neither of which are abrasive. Jim said to return the Hot Grips to him for replacement. I informed him that I did not think that was the answer to my problem and hated to replace another grip on the Tiger, which actually takes a fair amount of time because you have to actually cut them off of the handlebars; let alone rewiring the new grips to the bike. Needless to say it's a pain in the ass to do every 4- 5 months.

During the long period of email communication I told him that I have had a pair of grips on a 2002 Aprilia with 24,000 miles and have never replaced them (they don't even show any wear). He assured me that he would either contact Aprilia and talk to them about the rubber compound or order a pair and determine the rubber compound himself. Since they use an injection molding process, I assumed that they were preparing to test for a harder rubber compound; and it seemed that Jim was willing to work with me and get me a product that would actually work long term. Throughout this process I thought I was probably doing him a lot of good by giving him feedback regarding one of his products. Boy was I misguided....

I did not hear from Jim for a few weeks, so I decided today to check in with him as I am concerned about the Hot Grips revealing the elements again. This is where it gets a bit ugly.

Here are the direct quotes from today's emails with Jim of Hot Grips:

Me:    Hi Jim, I haven't heard from you, what do you think we can do about these grips?

Jim:       Let me understand the situation correctly.  You purchased a set of Hot Grips, found too much wear on one of the grips and we replaced it.  Then the second grip resulted in the same complaint.  Now you want us to refund you the original purchase price?

Me:    Jim, No, if it sounds fair to you, refund me half of the purchase price and I will try the other set that has a harder compound rubber. I will send them to you once I get them off the bike.
If not, tell me what is fair? As I have stated before, I am very satisfied with the grips, except for the failure of the rubber. I like the diameter and the heat output, just not the compound of the rubber. I have recommended your grips to several of my friends and I would like to help you make your product better.
Have you had any luck with the Aprilia grips?

Jim:    You did not buy the product from me, you bought it from a company in Connecticut that is no longer in business.  HG- Direct of Hamden, CT.
HG Direct was handling all retail sales for a 4.5 year period ending in late Feb. 2008.  We only sold wholesale during that time period.  We then took over retail sales.
 
I doubt that Mr. Thompson will give you a 50% refund after 1.5 years but his number is 203-407-1744.

Me:    Are you saying that it's not a customer service concern of yours?

Jim:    There is no product in this price category that you could use for 18 months and expect to get a refund because you were "satisfied with the product", but it did not give you the service life you would have liked.  I've purchased BF Goodrich tires - a set of four) that did not give satisfactory service life and they cost me $105. each.  It is the nature of rubber products, there is a wear element, how they were used, the way you ride, in any case taking care of your needs for 18 months leaves my conscience clear.  It is inappropriate of you to even bring the matter up after we had replaced the grip 6 months ago.

I notified Jim 4 months after installing the new grip of the existence of the same wear pattern. Its just taken him two months to say F@#$- OFF!

Am I expecting too much from Hot Grips to stand behind their product?

Thanks,
Eric

[Mustang]

Am I expecting too much from Hot Grips to stand behind their product?

Thanks,
Eric

yes from what you said they sorta went above and beyond I think you are plain expecting too much from a pair of hand grips .heated or not

[REGULATOR]

grips and such wear out,  I was shocked to hear you got a replacement set after 8,000 miles...

I had a set of oxford brand cheapo heated grips practically melt off and fry the electric controller...

     put a coupe thou on the triumph heated grips, still look new.

[TigerTrax]

I always heard good things about Hot Grips... this sounds corny.

One grip wears at 4 months: That's 50% of costs after 4 months.

Write a letter to the president of the company and simply ask why the rubber compound is completely worn after 4 months use? Then state that the first set lasted about one year, is that normal?
( If they say YES that is normal... send a copy of the letter to every publication that sells motorcycle stuff and say.... at $105 does this make sense?)
My Triumph heated grips..... ( One of the best OEM things Triumph has )15,000 miles, 2½ years... used alot.....I'm a puss when it comes to cold!

[bahtiger]

My Triumph heated grips: nearly 5 years, over 31,000 miles, still going strong. Rubber shows signs of wear, but nothing you wouldn't expect after 5 years of use. I've also had good luck with the heated element type that go under a regular slip-on type grip.

You've convinced me to avoid Hot Grips.

[aeronca]

it sounds like you got  moday or friday grips. i think they wanted to help at first, but lost interest. i admire you for keeping on them, i would have gave up after the first set and bought another brand. it's to bad, keep up the good fight :D

[mille44]

My Triumph heated grips: nearly 5 years, over 31,000 miles, still going strong. Rubber shows signs of wear, but nothing you wouldn't expect after 5 years of use. I've also had good luck with the heated element type that go under a regular slip-on type grip.

You've convinced me to avoid Hot Grips.

Gonna go with the Triumph grips this time. Hope to have better luck.

-maybe its just me, but I thought a set of grips, for anything, should last longer than a year or 8000 miles.

Just using you guys as a sounding board. Thanks again.

it sounds like you got  moday or friday grips.

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[bahtiger]

-maybe its just me, but I thought a set of grips, for anything, should last longer than a year or 8000 miles.

Couldn't agree with you more.

Like I said, I've had good luck with the el cheapo filament type that go under slip-on rubber grips. The set that are on my ZZR1200 are 4 or 5 years old now and holding up just fine. That bike has 35,000 miles on it. The grips only cost about $30 (versus somewhere close to $200 for the Triumph factory grips) and are fairly easy to install. To install on your Tiger, though, I guess you'd have to change grip type, which would mean installing a regular throttle tube.

Good luck.

[mille44]

-maybe its just me, but I thought a set of grips, for anything, should last longer than a year or 8000 miles.

Couldn't agree with you more.

Like I said, I've had good luck with the el cheapo filament type that go under slip-on rubber grips. The set that are on my ZZR1200 are 4 or 5 years old now and holding up just fine. That bike has 35,000 miles on it. The grips only cost about $30 (versus somewhere close to $200 for the Triumph factory grips) and are fairly easy to install. To install on your Tiger, though, I guess you'd have to change grip type, which would mean installing a regular throttle tube.

Good luck.

That was the cool thing about the Hot Grips; there is no modification to the bike, except to wire the grips, install the switch and epoxy the left side onto the bar. The concept is great, I just wish they were made out of a better rubber material.

[HappyMan]

Unfortunately our society does not respect good customer service as much as we would like to believe.  My company is built on it and we will always stand by our customer but I'm appalled at the number of customers that will tell me price is the most important thing.  Then they come back to me after wasting their money on someone else's product and want my service but that is another diatribe....  Hot Grips did themselves a disservice by working with you and then dumping you.  They should either take care of you or not even bother.  If they had told you to jump in the lake right away you probably would have just moved on but by working with you and then telling you to F-off they will now have actually harmed their reputation.  Many of my competitors could care less about their customers.  They sell things cheap and don't even answer customer complaint calls.  They make very good revenue this way.  If they dealt with the complaints it would cost too much to deal with for the mark up of the product.  Bad reputation doesn't seem to hurt them much if at all since they are cheap.  It's just a way of doing business and good business at that.....I just don't believe in screwing the customer over.  I believe in integrity.  

I'll get off my soap box now.......

[Bruincounselor]

Dual Star are my heat of choice:

http://www.dual-star.com/index2/Rider/heated_grip_kit2.htm

I've had a set for 5 years. Dual element means no resistor, low current draw, and I get to use grips of my choice.

All for only $30. 8)

[aeronca]

+1  happyman. could'nt agree more.

[blacktiger]

I think this thread is all about "you get what you pay for". My Triumph OE heated grips have been on the bike for 6 years and 50000 miles and are still working fine.