Soft well-padded handlebar grips

Nick Payne

My wife tends to get numb hand problems on longer rides. In the past I've installed some nice soft BBB grips with a considerable amount of give in the padding onto her bars, but BBB no longer seem to make that particular model of grip (their current ones are considerably harder), and I've gone around all the local bike shops and not found anything that they stock from any manufacturer that is of comparable softness to the old BBB stuff. Can anyone suggest a current model of grip that might be suitable?

The Rookie

Have a look at the Ritchey foam grips, soft, barrel shaped to support the middle of the hand and last pretty well as well.
Install with some hairspray and they don't go anywhere.
I use the WCS 'ergo', there are a few retailers in the UK.
https://us.ritcheylogic.com/us_en/mountain-bike/grips

steve_sordy

I used to have similar problems with numbness and pins & needles. I tried different types of grip as suggested above.

But the best one was the Ergon GP1 grip and I have been using them for nearly ten years now. I don't even think about an alternative any more.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ergon-gp1-handl ... 5360314958

They look weird, but they spread the load and put the hand at a better angle. It might take a while to get the correct angle for your wife, so take an Allen key with you on the first few trips. The angle for each hand may be slightly different and small adjustments can make a big difference.

Be aware that they make two types gripshift and standard, and two sizes, large and small. In my opinion small is for kids.

Used ones sell well on eBay, so try there if you are wary of spending the money.

JBA

After suffering from the odd bout of hand numbness and a scary incident of ‘Cyclist’s Palsy’ on my last visit to BPW I have recently changed to Ergon GA3 grips.
They are similar to the grips steve sordy uses but with a shorter ‘wing’. I have only used them for about 100 miles but so far so good.