Just installed some Oxford grips

Hi all. As the title suggests I've just finished installing a set of the latest Oxford Premium Touring grips. I won't go over every single step as others have already (very adequately) done that but I thought a few comments on one or two points might help the cause.

Firstly I didn't need to take off the screen fixing cover, just the handlebar covers, the lower skirt on the nearside and also the footrest housing on the same side. I must say though some of the plastic lugs and fixings are incredibly fragile and can so easily snap when removing the panels. I snapped off two without even knowing until re-assembly but was lucky to find them on the garage floor (thank the Force for super glue).

Secondly some of the steel fixing screws were so badly corroded that I thought it a good idea to replace them with stainless ones when I re-assembled.

Thirdly the wiring harness STILL isn't quite long enough for both Live and Earth (Ground or Negative) to reach the battery. I just managed to get the Live connected OK but the Earth I had to fix to a nearby frame lug. I could have taken the trouble to lengthen the cables but the end result was neat enough.

Threading the cables from the bottom of the tupperware up to the handlebars was achieved by using an old metal coat hanger which I carefully pushed down and then attached the new wiring loom to one end and pulled the loom up from the bottom to the top.

Oh and the latest 'intelligent' controller doesn't need a relay as it can sense when the battery has no traffic and will shut down all by itself if you forget to turn it off. The plus side of this is that if you just stop for a minute or two it 'remembers' its previous setting and resumes where it left off (with a relay you'd have to switch on again).

I did have one piece of really bad luck though. Having finished the job the battery decided to die on me at the precise same time. So I spent around two hours trying to figure out what I'd done wrong! A new battery finally had everything working again.

That's all folks. I've not tried them on the the road yet but will give a report as soon as.

Cheers all

Riggers.

Thank You for the nice write up, but I have to ask which side is the nearside?

Lol! I guess that's something we don't think about this side of the pond and it must make for problems!
Seeing as Riggers is in Hull UK, I would expect his near side to mean the left side of the bike, unless he has some very dangerous riding habits!

This was me having a very senior moment

'Nearside' means 'near the kerb (sidewalk) and 'Offside' means away from the kerb.

But of course this means the exact opposite if your country drives on the right!

As Hornblower said I meant the left side panel (when seated on the bike).

Thank you. Here we say the drivers side, which is also on the(our)left, when sitting in a car or bike(here).