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Face it. Grips don’t last very long. It’s their nature. They’re made of
soft rubber or vinyl, and whenever the bike falls down, the grip takes a lot of
punishment. Or let’s say you just want to change bars and save a pair of grips. How
do you get them off without ruining them?
Surprisingly, lots of riders don’t know how to take grips off or install new ones
properly.
Worse. Many riders don’t know how to mount them to where they’ll stay on.
Want a cheap thrill? Hit a jump in third gear and have the grip come off in your hand!
Here, we have the final word on grip technology. Read this stuff, memorize it and
proceed to dazzle your friends the next time you’re hanging around the garage or
shop.
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| (1) Naturally,
if the grip is wasted, you can just cut it off with a razor blade - But
that’s the easy way. |
(2) Often, a
grip can simply be pulled off, if it’s done in this manner. |
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| (3) If
you attempt to grab the grip like this, then you’re making a rubber
version of the Chinese finger trap, and get nowhere fast. |
(4) If you have an air hose handy, merely have a friend
plug up the other end of the bars and insert the hose in the hole in the end of the grip.
Blast some air in and the grip will balloon up and almost jump off. Neat. |
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| (5) More
often than not, you’ll have to
resort to the time-proven method of inserting a slender screwdriver under the grip, then
squirt in some chain lube. Once a lubricant is between the grip and the steel, it almost
falls off. Don’t forget to clean both the grips and the bar ends if
they are to be used again. Any trace of oil will prevent proper seating. |
(6) We like to use contact cleaner for installing
grips. Saturate the bar well and the inside of the grip, it should slip easily in place,
then when the solvent evaporates, the grip locks in place tightly. |
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| (7) If you don’t have any contact cleaner handy, many
other common solutions will do the job, among them are lacquer thinner and alcohol.
Don’t use straight gas or mix, as that leaves an oily film. |
(8) In stubborn cases, tape should be
wrapped around the bar like so before the solvent Is drenched over the surfaces. Be
careful though; some synthetics are attacked by common chemical solutions. |
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| (9) Drench the inside of the grip thoroughly, and the end
of the bars... |
(10) … then quickly slide the ‘grip
into place. Ordinary old fashion friction tape works best for this,
but masking tape can be used in a pinch. |
(11) One sure-fire method to
keep the grips on, is to spray the end of the bars with spray lacquer paint. When this
stuff finally dries, the grip is never going anywhere. Even heavy water conditions will
not let the grip slip off. You will have to cut the grip off, though, when you want to
remove it. |
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