I am with you. I tried a lot of grips and eventually ended with RevGrips. The first set I bought had thinner rubber and I hated them. They felt so hard in your hand even with the vibration damping. I contacted the company to return them and, instead, they sent me their fattest grip - for free. Been loving them ever since.
Switch to carbon fiber handle bars. That will help the hands too. It really cuts down on the chatter from the trail. Add a good pair of grips to them and it's a winning combo. Also - maybe consider getting bars with a little more rise. That takes some weight off the hands and wrists and shifts it to your butt and legs. That provides additional relief.
I’m currently using the Deity Supracush 34mm on my Vertex and these are comfy but tend to wear a little quicker. Had Ergon GS2 on my Santa Cruz and hated them. Found my wrist would get numb. I do ride with glove that have a little padding but not the gel pad. Grips really do make a difference to how long you can ride.
I found that the XL PNW grips were just the ticket for my 75 year old (large) hands. I really had a painful hand problem at about 2 miles in on a single track. Now, my hands really feel good until about 5 miles in, which is about were I stop in the summer time anyway. (Florida)
What glove size do you use? I know you stated that you have small hands, but never gave a point of reference really. That would be a great help. I searched through the comments already. Thank you
Awesome video! I’ve been looking for such grips. Just ordered a set of gum color to match my max is minions on my Fuse! Love your down to earth and VERY informative reviews! Keep to going bro!! Thanks!!
Everyone assumes that jumbo grips are gonna be more comfortable. I find them painful and I have a large hand. “Esi racers edge” are the best ones I’ve found
@@FrankBrunke yes sir. Roasted the bars so they sweep back as much as possible. They are pretty straight. Also moved them to the top of the stack. I have also rearranged the cockpit a couple times for angles and frontal positions over the last year. I believe thicker grips and a more aggressively back swept bar will help a little. These will probably both be PNW. I wanted to give it a while with each change. Just to make sure I was not being prissy. Thicker PNW grips. And not sure which bars yet.
I don't think I'd go gloveless anytime soon. We ride in some deep woods with tons of brush. Lots of pricker bushes and that would really hurt after awhile. I'll have to check out those grips you mentioned. Thank you!
I had the Raceface grips on a bike before, but back then they had a Easton version, which is what I had, just called Easton MTB GRIP. I liked the Grip, and they seemed to be durable, but the one I had were too small I got rid of them. I need 34mm grips. But now Easton is road only, and Raceface is MTB. But years ago they made a Easton stem, Easton grips, mtb handlebars. Now all that is gone. Less confusion it makes sense. No point in having two brands, two names for each product. Only thing they did not do it with was the cranks.
I use 34mm Revgrips, the largest size they offer. I made a circle with my index finger and my thumb, measured the diameter, it gave me 34mm. I think this is a great way to find a grip size. But bike geometry, sizing, fit, cockpit setup is important too, having long enough reach, Hugh enough bar. I have a Geometron G1 so geometry, sizing is great, reach is long en, cockpit high enough, so my hands rest on the grips, brake levers are flat, my arms an fhanfs are relaxed. It reduces fatigue, armpump. But grip has to be the right size too, they should match the hand grip diameter of your hand. Bike has a reach of 515mm,buy effective reach is probably around 490. I have a 35mm bar, 10mm spacers under stem, apex35 33mm stem, have 165mm cranks. I have quite average arms and legs. This fits me well. And yes revgrips are expensive, but they work, but most noticible on gnarly and/or rough terrain, downhills, they allow the bike to move and hands don't get jerked around as much.
Thanks for your review. I currently ride with the Bontrager XR Endurance Elite Grip set w/ lite gloves. They are perfect without any discomfort but kinda bulky on each end of the handlebars. Recently I tried “ESI Extra Chunky” grips, which are less bulky but, my hands began to slightly ache and I went back to the Bontrager design. Although I like the spongy look and feel, for my hands I’m thinking I need them to be thicker. Just a thought.
Tried a bunch of grips. My small size hands really like the OneUp Components’ grips. They’re very soft and spongy. I did not like ODI and I certainly didn’t like PNW Components. The latter 2 were way too hard on my hands.
Like you, I wanted to love PNW grips because I use all their products from droppers to bars. I found the grips to be way too slim. I found Wolftooth FatPaws and haven't looked back. Even though they are not lock on grips, I found with a few blast of air from the compresser you can take them off if needed. Now that you tell me about the fat PNW grips, I may have to re-evaluate.
I had thinner Giant branded grips on one bike, hands went numb. Went to thick and tapered Ergons (not the ones you have there), hands went numb. Bought a bike with standard thickness WTB grips, numbness gone! So it's either the bars or the grip compound in my case. I need to put the WTBs on the bars I tried the other two grips on to be sure.
I think you told me about the Lizard Skins North Shore and as the grips wore out, I have them now on all my bikes except the single speed. (we could not find the right color to match the other components on the single speed.)
