New Grips

 Today I fitted new grips to the touring bike. Not the most exciting of changes I know. But it's worth paying attention to the small things too and I'd decided that I hated the old grips. They'd been installed by my local bike shop as part of a service (back in the days when I paid someone else to service my bikes) and I hadn't been specific and just let them choose what grips to fit. Now I don't expect much from the grips at the end of my handlebars but one thing I absolutely need from them is..... drum roll..... comfort! And these grips were not comfortable. Even wearing fingerless gloves, on a short ride my hands would soon start to feel uncomfortable. On a longer ride they'd start to feel sore. So, why put up with that? No reason. Time for a change.

Getting grips off and new ones on can be tricky. But there are a couple of tips that can make the process very straightforward. So here's the process:

Getting the Old Grips Off

I have bar ends on my bike so I can change my hand position occasionally which helps avoid getting aching wrists on long rides. So the first step is to remove the bar ends. First, the bar end plugs were prised off with a screwdriver and then the bar ends were loosened with an allen key.

The bar end then slipped off easily.

There are what I can only describe as spacers (I have no idea what they're called!) either side of the old grips and due to the design of the old grips, at one end they actually wrap over the end of the grip and hold it in place with a small bolt used to tighten the spacer thing. These needed to be removed.

Next came the potentially tricky part. Getting the old grip off. You might be lucky and find yours can simply be worked back and forth with a twisting motion until they slowly come off. Usually it's a bit harder than this though. The technique I used was to insert the end of a screw driver and use leverage to open a small gap between the grip and the handlebar and then spray disk brake degreaser into the gap. The degreaser provides temporary lubrication and makes it easier to move the grip over the surface of the bar. At intervals I sprayed more degreaser between grip and bar and was eventually able to get the grip off without too much difficulty.

But why use disk brake degreaser? Why not an actual lubricant like WD40? The answer is that the degreaser evaporates quickly and so does not leave a long-lasting film like a lubricant would. You really don't want your grips to move once they're on, so avoid using a lubricant and use something which evaporates instead. I've heard it said that deodorant and hairspray can work but since I already have degreaser for the disk brakes, this was ideal for me.

Installing the New Grips

Installing the new grips more or less involves reversing the steps taken to remove the old ones. The new grips had no edge around which to wrap the spacers and I wanted to put the spacers back (they look good and provide a barrier that limits any lateral movement of the grips). So to solve this problem, I cut a few rings off an old inner tube and placed them around the bars where the spacers needed to go. This increased the bar diameter at these points and provided a softer, grippy surface around which to place and tighten the spacers.

To make it easier to get the new grips on, I first sprayed the bare handlebar with degreaser and then proceeded to work the new grip on, rotating as I pushed. With the degreaser it slid on OK but did still need a bit of force. 

 

With the new grips in place and the spacers either side of them, all that was left was to reinstall the bar ends and plugs.

The new grips are simple, made from a dense foam and have no raised features. First impressions are that they're good and comfortable. A long ride will hopefully confirm this!