Anybody tried these: Symtec Heat Demons http://67.199.24.130/HeatnbspDemons/tabid/103/Default.aspx Nice looking control plus the heater goes in the bar. Kind of interesting, dunno how well it works.
Never tried them. It seems to me, they would be great at heating up your handlebars, if they are supplied with enough electricity for a long amount of time. IMO, you are better off with heaters that heat your handgrips rather than the handlebars.
When installing traditional heated grips you want to insulate the heating element from the handlebar. That way the energy isn't wasted in heating up the handlebar, which on a cold day will act as a heat sink. The throttle tube insulates the right grip pretty well but you want to wrap the left side of the handlebar with something so the heating element is not directly on the metal. So "in theory" those Symtec Heat Demons look like they would heat the bars but not the grip, which is where you want the heat. OR they must draw an awful lot of electricity to radiate heat through all that.
Fitted some to my Speed Triple. They work great. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132051
Looks like they use heat elements like the "Polly" heaters, which I have and those work great. It looks like these come with their version of a heat troller. Looks like a great set-up.
They actually work too well sometimes - I have to turn them down. I think it helps that (as per my thread from when I fitted them) the elements are touching the bars since they are so big and so they heat up pretty good.
i use the polly heaters on my bike and love them. go to e-bay and paste in this item # Item number: 150209450755
I think your theory started out okay, but it overlooked a couple of points: - A little bit of foil isn't enough to tell the little Btu's in traditional heated grip pads to go out to the grip and not in to the bar as well. So most regular grip heaters probably do heat the bar as well as your hand anyway. - A designer has a lot more real estate to build a heater within the confines of a handlebar end, as opposed to what must be a wafer thin element. All that said, it still doesn't mean these things work at all. Thus the appeal to the collective mind for real world experiences. As an aside, I probably wouldn't have paid them any mind except for that bitchin cool control switch.