Mountain Biking Resources .com

What MTB Riders Want – When & Where They Want It

Ergon GP2 Grip Review

0

Hi,

A quick introduction, my names Stuart McGregor and I’ve fairly recently got into cycling/Mountain Biking (Later summer 2011) Initially I borrowed a mates Cove Stiffee, he wouldn’t sell it for £200 (!) so I bought an old but decent condition Mongoose Rockadile, this did me fine until I actually started going properly off road, so I managed to pick up a lovely condition old Orange Sub (Pro) 5 in Feb last year, this is my current steed. I can mostly be found on Twitter @StuartMc1 or Google+

As is often the case with new riders you find things hurt, my backside did but I was told by experienced riders I’d get used to it- I did! but my wrists and hands were another problem….

I have a pin in one wrist from a motorbike accident and struggle a bit generally with things such as riding the bike, e.g: I can’t ride a sports motorbike due to all the weight being on your wrists.

So, I did some investigating and decided the Ergon GP2 Grips would be worth a try, they seems to be well liked and decent quality, the price was certainly on the high side compared to others but I figured get something decent or don’t bother.

I went for the GP2 with the mini bar ends as I thought they would give me an alternative option, It turned out I was right, I use the bar end bits for out of the saddle climbing, just seems more comfortable and natural holding the bars there.

So, fitting was very easy, I just sliced off the old rubber grips and followed the instructions, basically just slide the new ones on! The grips are adjustable and locked off with a 5mm allen key, so you can move the grip around to adjust the angle of the palm pad part (The main grip) and you can also independently adjust the angle of the mini bar end part, nice.

The only ‘issue’ was actually getting the angle just right, but I just made sure I had a decent allen key with me and adjusted them on the fly, after about a week I was happy and have left them alone since (Mid summer 2012).

“What are they like?” you cry…Good! After I’d settled with the adjustments and I guess got used to them I’ve not noticed my wrists or hands causing any issues at all, so that is a good a compliment that I can make I guess! I do plenty of miles, a few rides around 50 miles and over 300 a month in the summer so I’m pretty impressed to be honest as I’d expect my knackered hands and wrists to cry foul at me for doing those miles.

Would I recommend them? Yes,They are well built, easy to use and I’ve found no deterioration at all in the quality in 8 months of decent use, plus  if you are finding you get numb hands or similar it just ruins your time on the bike, these grips may help alleviate that, it’s got to be worth a go.

Mine came from Chain reaction cycles for around £30.

So, what do you think ?