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Written by Wally Wallace
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Tuesday, 26 September 2006 |
If you haven't already upgraded to a set of lock-on grips you may be still struggling with installing and especially removing your mountain bike grips. In the shop we often use our air compressor to aid in the removal of grips. With the appropriate air chuck you can direct compressed air under the grips and quickly push the grips off. No sweat... So you don't have access to an air compressor... Well here are a few simple tricks that can help you make quick work of this potentially frustrating job.
Installation: For this procedure you will need a bottle of hair spray (non-aerosol if you can, save the ozone right). Clean off the ends of you handlebars and spray with a light mist of hair spray. Also spray one squirt into the end of your grip. Now your grips will slide on smooth. Here is the catch... you need to let the hair spray dry / evaporate before use. The reason we like hair spray is that it dries sticky and that will help hold the grips in place. The key is to not use too much hair spray, as you will be waiting a bit for it to dry. Some of my fellow riders, back in the day, also used WD40, as it would evaporate quickly leaving your grips stuck in place.
If you are having trouble with your grips slipping you can also try wiring the grips down. This is an old motocross trick where you actually use a piece of copper at each end of the grip. The wire is wrapped once around the grip and the ends are brought together and wound up until the wire is pinching the grip to the bar. You have to be careful to clip the ends of the wire and make sure there are no sharp ends that will puncture your hand. A good trick but really if you go through that trouble you really should look at some Lock-On Grips.
Removal: You have three options here. The easy route to remove old grips is to get out a razor knife and cut them off. Simple and hey a nice pair of grips is only $6.95 so it might be worth it.
If you are using thin grips you may be able to roll the grips off. Start at the end of the grip near the brake lever and start to fold it back and keep rolling them back until you end up with a grip that is almost inverted. I have successfully rolled off Oury grips and these are fairly thick. The drawback here is that you can stretch the grips out and they may not stay tight after you reinstall them.
The last option involves your trusty bottle of hair spray again. Take a screwdriver and use it to pry open the end of the grip near the brake lever. With this open spray in some hair spray. Remove the screwdriver and start to twist the grip at the end. You may need to spray in some more hair spray but eventually the grip will work it's way off.
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