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Corking your hand warmers

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frontierfire

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I did this to my 12 and now on my 13, the pro use aluminum bars and the heat from your hand warmers will get sucked up especially when it is cold out, I thought mine were not working but after I corked them it was night and day and now they get toasty. First remove hand grips use air hose with pistol grip roll up the edge of grip shoot air underneath and the grip will come right off, remove the hand warmers from bars, just roll up the edge and peel them off they are pretty tough but just be careful. I purchased the cork in a package from NAPA the is only one sheet in the batch that works, it is the 1/16 in cork the complete package was only 9 bucks, the sheet is enough to do a couple sets of bars. Use a razor knife and cut the cork, I cut it 4 inches wide, use 3m spray glue and shoot the back side of cork and shoot the bars, make sure you mask off your sled as to keep the spray glue off your sled, let the glue tack up then just roll the cork over the bars cut a seem line using your razor knife. Now spray the inside of hand warmer with 3m glue and the outside of cork let it tack up then install the warmer on top of the cork. Now put your grips back on shoot the inside of grips with a little lubricant and use the air trick again roll the edge of the grip on and hit it with air on the inside of grip while pushing and twisting at the same time, when you get it on far enough you can hit it with air on the outside pushing and twisting at the same time once you get the hang of it they go on easy.

grip air out side.jpg roll back edge warmer.jpg warmer removed.jpg cork.jpg glue.jpg cutting.jpg gluing cork.jpg applying cork.jpg cork on bar.jpg cork finished.jpg Hand grip air inside.jpg warmer installed.jpg
 
That's an interesting idea! I filled my bars with expanding spray foam insulation and I did notice a positive difference. Filling the bars with foam insulation takes about 5 minutes but may not be as good a solution, as using cork.
 
Yea filling with foam still lets the warmers transfer the heat if you cork them it is night and day.
 
That's awesome, I also like my grips a little thicker, this looks perfect. Thanks for sharing.
 
Just did mine and cut 1/2" off both ends of the bar... Amazing how different it feels in the garage. Tomorrow I'll put it to the test.
 
Do the Carbon Fiber Wrapped Bars insulate nearly as well?

I don't want to derail this thread, but had a quick question along these lines. Does the carbon fiber wrapped Aluminum bars provide enough insulation to be similar as corking or do you still need to cork those bars also? PM me if you want to answer and retain thread continuity.
 
Great post and great pics.

Not trying to be critical.. only a discussion as this is an awesome thread!

Only problem I've had with doing this in the past was if the cork can sometimes not be thin enough.

On the pros.. I've seen too thick of grips cause problems with the full travel of the throttle flipper.

Too thick and it limits the full throttle opening as the thumb-flipper can bottom out on the grip before reaching full travel... No real way to adjust for this.

FCR and Fronteirfire: Can you check if your throttle plates go all the way open when you hold the flipper to the bars with the 1/8" ?

I'm curious and want to make sure that I'm not completely off base here.

I've used the thin 1/32" stuff (compared to the 1/8" thick)... #94545K17 from McMaster Carr (mcmaster.com) ... I do a spiral wrap with this that has a sticky back. ... just a 2nd way to do it.






.
 
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When I install grips using this method, I have a large fender washer that fits over the tip of the blow gun. With only about 10 psi in the compressor I can push the whole washer up against the end of the grip and work it on slowly. You don't want to make a large bubble in the grip, just enough to walk it up the bar.

Does NAPA have the 1/32" cork as well? I need to do mine.
 
Worked like a champ, about 10-15 degrees and snowing and blowing like a banshee.

No issues with the flipper 8250rpm in the POW!
I was going to change to some aftermarket thicker grips but ended up reinstalling the stockers over the cork.
I used a little spray glue as lube inside the grips to get them back on. Didn't really need to use the air for installation this way, just a lot of pushing and twisting. Also wrapped the first 1/2" of the bar end with a layer of cellophane tape to protect the cork from peeling off while I was working the grip over it.
Finished last night and they never moved today.
Really happy with it, my low works about the same as high did before doing this, and high was keeping my hands warm doing 70 down the trail with powerxross gloves and no brush/wind guards. Now if I can figure out how to get the thumb that warm I'll be wearing mechanic's gloves the rest of the year:face-icon-small-win
 
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Rubber is more durable but once you have the grips on I don't think it matters. Insulation from the heat sinking into the bars is what we're after and I believe cork does this part better.
 
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When I install grips using this method, I have a large fender washer that fits over the tip of the blow gun. With only about 10 psi in the compressor I can push the whole washer up against the end of the grip and work it on slowly. You don't want to make a large bubble in the grip, just enough to walk it up the bar.

Does NAPA have the 1/32" cork as well? I need to do mine.

:)

here you go :)


Cork-Rubber Part ###'s in BOLD

10" X 26"

3018- 1/16"
3026- 3/32"
3019 - 1/8"




18" X 36"

3005 - 1/16"
3006 - 3/32"
3007 - 1/8"
3008 - 1/4"
 
FCR... Thanks for that and for frontierfire for the thread!

The ones that concern me are not the stock grips... those are pretty thin to start with... The thicker ones like the RSI/ODI...Not sure if those will give any full-throttle problems??
 
The odi grips do interfere with the throttle.But you can trim that edge off of them so they work and dont hit the throttle.
 
I used the 1/16 cork from the kit I pictured above it does contact but I never had a problem with rpms on my 12 last year and never a problem with durability, and skido sells a cork kit for your hand warmers there's might be thinner not sure.
 
I used the same thing frontierfire.

Glad to share, hope it helps.
On the fatter grip note...

ODI OURY lock on grips will NOT fit over the bars and the handwarmers!
They have a solid sleeve underneath the soft rubber outer grip that will likely destroy your handwarmers if you try to make it work.
 
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