Ergonomic Grips for your Bicycle

By Smokey Dymny from the Quadra Bike School

For a long time handlebar grips were just tape on a tube, then there
were sleeves of rubber compound on a tube.

This all seemed good because we all figure we can grip a rubber covered
bar in comfort. At least for a while.

The longer you ride though the more the lack of variety for your hands will cause your hands to start to hurt.

Roadies can shift positions from the tops of their bar to the hoods and to
the drops. But flat bar riders, that is mostly mountain bike bikers, have only
one way to hold their handlebar.

Riding a long time in that solitary position causes the weight to stress
the wrist. Your hand starts to bend at the wrist more and more as you
ride longer or bounce harder.

Then along came some inventive Germans with an ergonomic grip which has an extra pad of rubber sticking out toward the rider near the end of the grip. It fits exactly under the heel of your hand and supports the weight normally stressing your wrist. You set this pad at a 45 degree angle downward and it gives the heel of your hand something to rest on.

The original German patent must have been copied or broken because now, instead of $90 a pair, you can find these in many different brand names for $20 or less. And they work. Whether you use the plain one with just the support pad or the trickier one with a bar-end grip built in they work. They work so well that a friend of mine had a pair stolen off her bike in Victoria B.C. when the bike was locked to her car rack.

Try them BEFORE your wrists develop sore spots. You’ll like 'em!