Review: PRO Atherton signature Grips...

This review starts all the way back in my BMX days... I grew accustom to having alot of room to move my hands around when things got hairy, or try and land your hands perfect every time during a bar spin- Long Grips Rule. I went thru the Grip-Shift 90's and hated the short bar/small grip deal- to which I tried to use full size grips. Not the best when things came up fast but then grip-shift weren't good for that anyway. So now we are in the time of 'Lock-Ons'. I love the easy on/easy off way about them and no more hairspray losing the battle when things turn wet. But my main compliant is that my hand rides on the outside so much that the heel of my palm is sore after a ride from hanging on to the outer lock-ring. Not many alternatives out there till I found the new Atherton grips by PRO (Shimano):

First off let me say I do NOT like the day-glo colour lock-rings that these come with- I gave the grip tabs a trim to fit the lock-rings from my old grips and now I am happy. Other then that these grips kick-ass! The inner plastic sleeve is way softer then ODI's and the outer grip area is super-duper soft. This added up to less hand fatigue and more control. I can really imagine the idea for these on the World Cup scene- just like way soft durometer tires for wet muddy conditions. In that sense these may not last as long as other grips- but for racing who cares? I would rather have something comfortable and have to replace it like a worn out tire.

Here's the deal- the inside uses a standard lock on ring for outside handlebar contact and the outside end uses an expanding elastomer to wedge against the inside of the handlebar. This expander makes fitting a little more time consuming. Once all is said and done these feel great.

My hands are less tired and I have a ton of room to move around with. One other thing to note is to be careful of the washer that pushes on the elastomer- it can grab the inside of the bar and not do its job. It worked fine on my old aluminum bars but I just got some new carbon handlebars and I had to grind the washer down to get things to tighten up. Bar review to come soon...