Do handlebar grips differ significantly?

[swee'pea99]

On the home straight with my frankenstein hybrid - looking to get some grips. The cheapest seem to be around the £4 mark, and they look...like grips. I'm amazed by some of the prices tho' - they go up to £20 or more, which seems an awful lot for a couple of 4" rubber tubes. Is there any reason I shouldn't just buy the cheapest ones I can find? Is there anything I should look out for or be wary of?

 

[Fiona N]

IME there's a huge difference in grips - but whether it relates to price is another matter. I use some which look like (but I don't think are) Specialized Body Geometry grip which aren't tubular so much as flared - there's a sort of wide, soft flange where the heel of your hand can rest at the backside of the bar. Along with the bar extensions which fit neatly into them, I find they're really good for the type of riding I do on the mtb. I've ridden bikes with various sorts of rubber grips and mostly haven't got on with them, especially the hard rubber with molded grippy patterns - really bad even with gloves on. Firm, foam hexagonal grips were acceptable but the BG-type ones are by far the best for me. With the bar extensions they were about £25 - so probably about half that if you don't want the extensions. I think the real Specialized ones are rather dearer naturally

 

[Sittingduck]

I have seen the Spesh BG grips for about a tenner online Fiona. Can't remember which site though.

 

[Mr Pig]

To be honest, the gloves will make a bigger difference.

 

[Fiona N]

To be honest, the gloves will make a bigger difference.

That's true (perhaps) on road bikes with just bar tape but on mtb/hybrids, the greater possibilities for grips means these can have a much bigger difference than the small pads in gloves which provide limited coverage and shock absorption. Also the right grips can give you a bit of a change of hand position which, for straight handlebar bikes, can be a big bonus if you do more than a 5 minute commute. Road bike bars naturally allow you to move your hands around - using brake hood, tops, drops etc.

 

[Steve Austin]

Grips can be really very different, but never really found any to be truly horrid. Some of the really cheap 'plastic' grips are worth keeping away from.
Oury's are nice if you got big hands
Lizard skins make nice squishy grips
odi have always been good.
Considering its one of the contact points, I would spend as much as possible to get the best grips i can. Not to say that you need to spend lots of money as i'm currently using oury's from hubjub that cost £6!!