7 Best Motorcycle Grips

While riding a bike might be the ideal way of owning your rebellious persona, maintaining prime control of your ride is very vital. While it is perceived that tires and breaks offer you the control of your ride when in all practicality, it is the motorcycle grips. 

The handgrips are the synthesized rubber grips that foster better control to maneuver your ride along with other added benefits. Thus the reason why we have assembled a guide for you that offers the “all you need to know” information about the item in question. 

Grip

Sure the bike grips are for gripping purposes, but the grip should be strong despite the rain to ensure that your bike doesn’t maneuver out of control. Most bike grips employ synthetic thermoplastic rubber material to ensure a shock-resistant and non-slip throttle. 

The synthetic materials manage moisture by repelling it, i.e., not absorbing it, unlike the natural and foam materials, which tend to absorb heaps of moisture. While the rubber and rubber-like grips offer varying degrees of stickiness and softness. If the material is softer, it will wear out sooner than harder, less sticky rubber synthesized grips.

Patterned Grips

The grip patterns are designed to keep comfort and enhanced control service in mind. Bike grips with patterns often serve as indicators as to when the grips should be replaced. Over time, the grips start losing their gripping compatibility as the surface begins to worn out. 

With the worn-out surfaces easy to locate than the smoother areas, the patterned grips ensure a no-slip performance besides updating the gripping power.

Comfort 

Designed to provide vibration damping and padding, the bike grips keep your handles comfortable on all terrain types, even on extremely bumpy rides. A good grip ensures that the chances of hand cramps are reduced by a good tenfold. 

Shape and Size

Padding comes in varying contrasts ranging from cork, leather to gel grip. So do our hands. Outer grip diameters range from about 27mm up to 35mm, so the riders belonging to the large hands community should choose grips with larger diameter while the smaller hand coven of riders should go for smaller outer grip diameters. 

If a grip is too large, it will result in poor control and slipping of the hands, consequently exercising the bike out of control and lead up to an accident. Whereas if the grip is too small, it could cause increased pain, particularly in the palm area, which would cause cramping and fatigue, consequently relegating the rider’s performance and leading up to an accident.

Price 

Usually, paying over 20 dollars on a handle seems stupid and not worth it. However, knowing how vital this little thing is, you would prefer to buy a premium quality handlebar grip instead. While the higher the numbers in dollars the handlebar unit charges up to, the longer it would last and the nicer it would serve and feel.

Pay once, cry once. Surely paying enough at once instead of going for cheaper options and then paying one repair after another before ultimately replacing them with new ones sure seems inconvenient and not so smart. So take your pick from the list we have put forth, for we stand true to our word about their durability and service alike.

Lock Grips or Friction Grips

The two rather basic ways that the bike grips can be attached to the handlebars are either friction or lock grips. 

The friction grips are usually solid or, more often, forced onto the bars and held hostage in place by the friction present between the grip interior and the handlebar itself. However, these grips are never completely secured and tend to rotate during rainy days or in wet conditions or when a lot of torque is applied onto them during a ride.

Whereas the lock-on grips are popular amongst mountain bikers since they eliminate the rotation and twisting associated with the friction grips. The grips are fully secured to the handlebars with a single clamp or, more often, clamps on either or both ends of the grips. Employing a bolt to release and tighten the clamps makes the removal and installation easier than the friction grips.

Protecting the handlebar ends

Besides grip, comfort, control, and protection, the grips also offer protection to the handlebars’ ends. The bikes are more often being laid by tree trunks and rocks or across the jagged grounds on their sides, consequently causing grinding away from the ends, which can relegate your bikes’ performance. 

Grips that come with thick, solid ends protect the bars, particularly carbon bars, which are more susceptible to damage and wearing out. 

Grips greatly vary in their weights, which is added up by the amount of padding, ergonomic profile, and clamp configuration. The lightest grips are usually friction-styled foam grips, while the lock-on ergonomic grips hold significant weight.