Heated grips indicator
The heated handlebar grips are on, and at which level.
Check your bike's manual — makers differ.
How urgent is it? What each maker says
- Symbol shown: Information only. Triumph (Tiger 1200): “The heated grips will only heat when the engine is running.” If a low voltage is detected the grips switch off and do not power back on by themselves; the rider must switch them on again.
- Icon with a level: Information only. BMW Motorrad (R 1250 GS Adventure): Two levels; the heated grips “can only be activated when the engine is running”, and if the battery is inadequately charged they are switched off to keep the bike able to start.
- Level 1 to 10: Information only. Yamaha (MT-09, 2021): “Be sure to wear gloves when using the grip warmers. Do not use the grip warmers in warm weather.” If a grip becomes worn or damaged, stop using the grip warmers and replace the grips.
What it is for
It shows the grips are heating and at what level, so you can turn them down once warm: Triumph’s handbook suggests starting on high and then pressing again for a low setting once the grips have warmed up; BMW’s says to use the high level for fast heat-up and then switch back to the first level.
These pages report what each maker’s owner’s manual says, and quote it wherever safety is involved. They are not a diagnosis and add no riding advice of our own; your own bike’s manual is the authority for your model.
- What it looks like
- A handlebar grip with wavy heat lines rising from it, with the heat level shown next to it as a number or by the symbol’s colour.
- Colour
- On the Triumph Tiger 1200 the colour is the level: “Low heat symbol (yellow)”, “Medium heat symbol (orange)”, “High heat symbol (red)”. Yamaha shows a number from 1 to 10 and BMW a level in front of the icon; here red does not mean a warning.
- Names makers use
- Grip warmer indicator (Yamaha); Heated grips symbol (Triumph); Heated grips icon (BMW Motorrad)
Where makes differ
Levels: 10 on the Yamaha MT-09 (optional grip warmers, set with the wheel switch), three colour-coded levels on the Triumph Tiger 1200, two on the BMW R 1250 GS Adventure. Both Triumph and BMW cut the grips on low voltage to protect the battery.
What it does not mean
A red heated-grip symbol on a Triumph Tiger 1200 does not mean a fault: it is the high heat setting. The symbol does not appear with the engine off, because the grips only heat with the engine running on all three bikes.
Sources
No standard we could read defines these motorcycle lamps — UN Regulation No. 60 and ISO 2575 cover motorcycle tell-tales, but neither could be read when we checked, so this meaning is taken from 3 makers’ own manuals and support pages, each fetched and read on the date shown:
- Yamaha: MTN890 (MT-09) Owner’s Manual, B7N-28199-E0 (Europe, 2021, PDF) — Grip warmer indicator (option), page 4-12: 10 temperature levels, usable when the engine is running; notice on gloves, warm weather and worn grips. Checked 2026-09-29.
- Triumph: Owner’s Handbook: Tiger 1200 XR, Tiger XC, Tiger 1200 Alpine and Tiger 1200 Desert (November 2019, PDF) — Heated Grips Switch, page 103: low, medium and high shown by a yellow, orange or red symbol; heats only with the engine running; Low Power Voltage Cut Off. Checked 2026-09-29.
- BMW Motorrad: R 1250 GS Adventure Rider’s Manual (US model, 2nd edition, March 2021, PDF) — Heating, pages 80-81: two heating levels shown in front of the heated grip icon; only with the engine running; switched off if the battery is inadequately charged. Checked 2026-09-29.
Written in our own words; quotations are the makers’ wording.