Ergon GE1 Evo Factory Grips [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.

Ergon has dedicated themselves to creating to most performance optimized grips money can buy and a lot of us think that they have succeeded. The GE1 Grips are some of our favorites with their tapered design, durable material and incredible selection of colors. Our buddy Daniel recently purchased a pair, lets see what he thought:

Daniel's Review

The Ergon GE1 Evo Factory Lock-On Grips come in three colors, stealth, moss, and orange, and are typically priced around $40. The moss colorway comes with an oil slick inner aluminum clamp and this is also an option with the stealth colorway. While there are a huge variety of mountain bike grips on the market, I wanted to write this review to share my experiences with one of the brands I have spent significant time using.

Features

The Ergon brand is all about designing products that form comfortably with the natural shapes created by the human body. Ergon markets this grip towards Enduro type riders who seek greater comfort while maintaining a precise grip. The intention is to reduce the amount of strain it takes to control the bars and decrease the likelihood of arm pump experienced during sustained descending.

The Factory version of the GE1 Evo series is made with Factory Custom Rubber as opposed to the GravityControl Rubber used on the $5 less expensive standard version of the GE1 Evo series grips. The Factory rubber is stated to have increased durability, grip-ability, and texture layout. Although I have not personally used the standard GE1 Evo grip, the layout appears to be the same as the Factory version.

These grips weigh in at 105 grams and are 135 mm in length. It is important to ensure the grip is fully seated onto the end of the bar and to note that there is right and left specific orientation. The inner clamp is tightened with a 3 mm Allen screw and has a recommended torque spec of 3 Nm or 2.2 ft-lb. With carbon bars it is advisable to first apply carbon paste.

Anticipated Results

Based on the shape of these form-fitting grips, I was expecting them to be comfortable and hopeful that they would dampen the vibrations felt through the bar during long downhills. They felt reasonably tacky and I was encouraged by how that sticky feel would aid in controlling the bike. Although, I was concerned about the texture wearing out quickly based on how soft the silicone-based rubber compound felt.

Realized Results

I found the GE1 Evo Factory Grips to be very pleasant. They gave me a feeling of control and it felt as though the ergonomic shape really made a difference in preventing hand fatigue. I enjoyed using them for quite a while without the texture wearing out much at all. I was impressed in the durability of the palm area.

Unfortunately, I found my biggest dissatisfaction with these grips came from the soft bar ends. After laying the bike down a few times they do get really chewed up as there is no second lock-on clamp by the bar end. I even had two separate pairs become unusable after the inner core snapped from the result of relatively tame crashes. Each of those pairs had only been in use for a short time. I was disappointed in how easily the rotation at the end of the bar would cause the plastic inner core to break. Once the inner core is broken, the grips rotate and wiggle and become virtually unusable. After two of these experiences, I opted for a more durable grip with two lock-on clamps on each grip to prevent them from breaking from minor crashes.

Final Thoughts

"Overall, I enjoyed riding with these grips but wasn't ready to continue to replace them when the inner core would break; especially when there are so many other enticing and well-reviewed grips on the market. If Ergon made an enduro series grip with two lock-on clamps I would be willing to try them again. If you are a rider who seldom crashes then you may not worry about this feature and would be able to run with these grips for years." - Daniel