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Ergon GA2 Fat Grips - Black, Lock-On: Rider Review

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for.

Mountain bike grips play a large roll in your bikes handing and your body comfort, whether you have thought about it or not, its one of the main contact points where your body touches the bike. Ergon is a company dedicated to making the best and most comfortable bike products out there. The Ergon GA2 Fat grip takes the dedication Ergon puts into its products and makes it in a larger diameter for larger hands and to improve any hand pain or numbness that might occur from hard riding.

Scott's Ergon GA2 Fat Review:

Grips are such a small part of a bicycle and I feel they are often overlooked in their importance. There are five places your body is in contact with the bike and grips are two of those. In my early riding days, I don't remember having many options for lock-on grips and I didn't own any until the last 10 years or so. There were often rides where the grip would work its way off of the handlebar, and while I was riding, I would either be trying to push or pull the grip back into place. When there was inclement weather, the problem would be even worse. If fact there were many times when the grip would get so wet and loose that riding became really dangerous. I remember having to scale back my pace to keep my hand from sliding off of the handlebar.

With lock-on grips, that problem is a thing of the past. While they are a bit heavier than non-lock on grips, it's one of those advances that seems well worth the slight weight penalty. Think of disc brakes versus V-brakes, stiff through axles versus spindly old quick releases, dropper seat post versus non-dropper seat post, etc. The list goes on with items that are heavier now but make mountain biking much more enjoyable.

For many years, I rode with Oury grips because they were larger in diameter than other brands. I have large hands and these larger diameter grips really helped keep me more comfortable. As I've gotten older, hand comfort has become even greater importance to me. I find when riding with small-diameter grips, I occasionally develop numbness in my left hand. While Oury does make a lock-on grip, I wanted to stay with the Ergon brand as that was what came on my Yeti SB5.5 and I very much liked the feel of them. When I saw on Worldwide Cyclery that Ergon had a Fat Grip, the Ergon GA2 Fat I thought I should give them a try. The timing was great because while it's the middle of a snowy winter here in Santa Fe, NM, I was about to go on a short road trip and ride in Sedona, AZ and Las Vegas, NV. I ordered the Fat Grips and had them for the rides I did in on that trip.

Ride Impressions:

I would say that these grips are about the most comfortable I've tried to date. The larger diameter is nearly perfect for my large hands (I wear an XL glove size) and I almost never felt the numb feeling in my left hand that I was getting with regular diameter grips. An added bonus was that I put my nearly worn out Ergon regular diameter grips from my Yeti onto my fat bike. Since I wear thick winter gloves most of the time when I ride the fat bike, they work well for me there.