pandorapi

Hello everyone! I have a vintage road bike I've been slowly fixing up for long Sunday rides (70km and up) and now for touring also. I have signed up for my first tour this May!

My bike currently has old school riser handlebars which I am not prepared to change yet as I am generally most comfortable with this type of handlebar. But I do need to change the grips as the current original grips are very hard and unforgiving. I have heard a lot of good reviews for Ergon grips, and they look quite good. However I am undecided on which ones to get. My first gut feeling is to choose the GE1 because of their simplicity - and I like simple things - and the fact they look the best and will spoil the vintage look of my bike the least. However Ergon is selling the GP1 as their touring grips. Not only am I not keen on the way they look, I have never tried wide grips like this before and the price is quite steep to try it out and see if I like it.

Has anyone tried either of these grips and has a review or recommendation? I should note that I will not be going on a tour longer than 7 days, we are not planning on going very fast and there will be more hills rather than mountains as we are going to Wales.

I would post a photo of my handlebars, but the forum won't let me.

alias5000

I have the GP3's which essentially are the ones you are looking at plus bar ends. Compared to a round grip, the GPs give you more wrist support. I fund it easier to just rest my hands on the handlebar, rather than balancing on a round bar, if that makes sense. I find that the GPs give me a little less of a sense of control and abilities to hold on to the bike, but keep my wrists nicely straight without a lot of muscle power involved. That makes them prefect for commuting and touring where you spend long hours in a similar position, but probably not for technical riding (MTB,....).

I would get GPs again any time over round grips for my commuter/tourer.

fietsbob

Agree GP .. have a broad paddle support shape, more of a tossup is GP vs GS..@ +$10

I too have the GP3 on 2 bikes, now..

on my bikes I bought the short ones and added round grip to fill in the difference, 2 grip shifts..

2, 3, 4 , & 5 - shorter to longer, offer different lengths of integrated bar ends which offer a climbing grip.



...

surak

I use GP1s and they make a huge difference in comfort, however if you really are worried, why not buy them from somewhere with a return policy?

seeker333

Velo Orange has some parts suitable for vintage bikes:

https://velo-orange.com/collections/grips-wraps

veganbikes

I like all the grips in the GP line and have used GP1s, GC1s(for sweptback bars) and GP5s and will be putting some GP3s on a bike I am building. They are super comfortable and wouldn't use anything else for a flat bar set up (well the GX1s are my go to for MTB but generally it is GPs for everything else). I love vintage bikes and keeping them close to original is cool, really cool but only if you are going to be comfortable riding it. If you aren't going to be as comfortable and aren't going to ride it as much then forget what it looks like. Be comfortable and ride the heck out of the bike. I personally prefer the Bio-Cork versions because they look really nice especially if you want that vintage vibe or need some brown when you go to town but both are very comfortable.

I have a co-worker that bought ergonomic grips because I insisted (and he resisted heavily) and he mentions how comfortable they are quite frequently and I always say "I told you so". All of my customers who have bought Ergon grips from me, have always come back with positive feedback because they are just simply the best ergonomic grips on the market, it is in the company name and something they live by. I tell them, "sure they cost money but not much if you are going to be more comfortable and ride the bike more"

J.Higgins 

I have the GC1 grips on my Troll, using Jones Loop 2.5 bars. I like them a alot. In fact, I'm planning on replacing the ESI Chunky grips on my ECR with them.

djb

hi there NC, thats neat that they came out with a "riser" version of the Loop bars, and also to hear that you like the angled GC1 grips.
Its too bad you live so far away, it would be interesting to do a ride swap and try each others Trolls. I took the Jones bars off my wifes Troll last summer and one day would like to change my troll to a backpacking type setup, but as Ive mentioned before, realistically I wont ever do it until a possibility of doing that sort of trip would come up, ie the divide ride or whatever.

I do know though that one has to live with a bars/grips setup and tweaking for a while to really know how it is for day after day after day riding. This is one of the reasons I did the troll in dropbars as I knew that it works fine for me with extended riding for the types of riding the troll was setup for.

J.Higgins 

I'll be honest with you, DJ. I've been seriously considering a conversion to dropbars for the Troll, but the price for the complete conversion that I want to do is rather steep. I'm still having concerns with my gearing. Right now its a 1x11, but I'm considering a 3x10 or even a 3x9. Mixing and matching MTB with road components is a dodgy bodge these days. In order for it all to work, I'd probably have to go old-school, and if I have to go old-school, then perhaps the $$ spent would be better spent on an old-school touring bike. The lines are blurred between my Troll and my ECR right now, and that's rather my prime dilemma.

ETA: I'm easy. I can ride drops or flats. My ECR is 80% road, and 20% pavement. The Troll is just the opposite. I'd rather ride flats on unpaved roads and singletrack rather than drops.

djb

well, as Im sure you have seen my comments over the last two years on my dropbar troll, it works flawlessly as a dropbar bike, and the slightly flared out salsa cowbells are really nice to have the extra leverage--and I have ridden that bike now on a two month trip, a 6 week trip, and a month trip--so Ive spent a looooot of time riding it and it really works great, from the fit (with a very short stem) to how it handles (I actually consider it the best handling touring bike Ive ridden as I like the steering feel and how competent it feels with 4 panniers + on it.)

But I completely get not wanting drops if your troll is the opposite of the ecr. This is exactly why I keep the jones bars, and the 9 spd xt trigger shifters, so if I were ever to do a more predominantly off road trip, I'd do the switcheroo--but other than replacing probably some housings and cables, and maybe a diff stem, it would really just cost me a bit of time.
Its just that I am so happy with the troll as it is, and even with drops, I wouldnt hesitate to take it just about anywhere in the world if roads are involved that arent absolutely horrible and steep and rough with much much lower speeds and whatnot--thats where I see the wider stance of even trekking bars and stuff like jones bars or whatever to be a real help in riding on those surfaces---but I readily admit that I havent done a predominantly off road trip yet, despite having reasonable experience riding on this sort of stuff to an extent, just not on a trip much and not with gear on the bike that much.

stardognine

I'm pretty sure I have the GP1s, bought them used but like new up in Colorado Springs. They're super comfy, and add wrist support where I didn't even realize I needed it. 👍 I use mine with riser bars & XT 9-speed.

pandorapi

Thanks everyone for their useful replies! I'm still pondering the question. I will have to ask around and see what kind of return policies my town's bike shops have. Especially since I have to put them on my bike and use them to really know if they work for me.

BlarneyHammer

The Ergon GA grips look like they could be a decent compromise. Small wing for comfort, not too pronounced.