getting a handle on it

For years I dealt with the original grips on my Trek's handbar. They were in good shape, they looked decent, and they did a well enough job at keeping down vibration. What they were not good at was being comfortable. I worked towards that by adding barends to the handbar in an attempt to give me more varied places to put by hands, but not matter what: by the end of a ride my hands were sore.

Eventually I lost one of the plastic caps off of one of the ends and that was that, time for a change. Out went the old, on when some new grips with built in ends by Ergon. Their GP5 model not only has a flattened out grip to cushion the palms, but the integrated bar ends are easily adjustable to suit my needs when riding. I only have a few miles on them so far, but I love them.

​First the old:

Functional, but hardly stylish or comfy.

​And now the new:

They made quite the difference in looks and feel to this old bike.