The first aftermarket upgrade most people do to their M, H or S bar Bromptons are to change out the underwhelming foam grips. The Ergon line of grips are the most popular by far, and for good reason. They are intelligently designed to be more comfortable.
After fondling a selection of Ergon grips at
Metrognome Music & Cycle to go, I decided to go with the GP2 small sized grips. These grips have a small bar end that will allow you to change hand positions during a ride. It's kinda hard to tell how these will feel without riding them... I hope I chose wisely!
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| Ergon GP2 grips (small size). |
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| Loosening 2-speed gear shifter with a 3mm hex key and moving it towards the center. |
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| Loosening the brake lever mounts with a 3mm hex key and moving them both to the center. |
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| I tried to remove the grips non-destructively, but ultimately I just cut them off with a box cutter. |
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| Use a razor blade to scrape off the old adhesive. |
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| Slide on the Ergon GP2 grips with the bar ends removed so that you can see when you reached the end. This is how I initially set it up (with the end of the grip is flush with the end of the handlebar) and Jeff from Ergon states in the comment below, THIS IS NOT HOW YOU WANT TO DO IT! |
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| The correct distance is used by this template included in the packaging. I used a permanent marker to mark the spot where the inner edge of the grip should be. |
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| THIS is how much the handlebar should stick out from the grip! |
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| Bar ends snapped on. They are a bit tough to get on... I used a rubber mallet to help get it in position. Use a 4mm hex key to tighten on the bar ends after adjusting to taste. Re-adjust the brake levers and gear shifter. |
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| The Ergon GP2 grips do not affect the fold. No cutting of the grips were necessary on a S-bar Brompton. |
In the last caption, I assume you mean no cutting of the Ergon Grips as you did have to cut the original foam grips. I do like the fact that having the S-bar means no alteration necessary of the Ergon Grips to make them fit, which I've been told and have read is not the case for the M-bar.
ReplyDeleteI believe I have the small GP2 as well. They allow multiple hand positions without being so big as to look ugly and interfere with the fold. I've been really pleased with them, and hope you like them, too!
P.S. One of the bar end caps popped off on a few occasions, and eventually I lost it on a ride. Thankfully, the packaging included an extra one, so I was able to replace it. Just wanted to warn you!
P.P.S. I once read about a trick, which entailed sticking a piece of paper with your contact information into the handlebar of your bike. Should your bike get stolen, you can prove that it's yours and/or a bike mechanic might discover it and contact you. I wish I had known about the trick prior to installing the Ergon Grips. Now I'm too lazy to fiddle with it to get the piece of paper into the handlebar.
Looking good Fernando! I was able to get my grips off without cutting by using coffee stir sticks. I have also heard of people using the little red straw coffee stirrers.The ergon gripshift grips fit perfectly on our M bars without any modifications. See you soon - Tabot
ReplyDeleteThanks for purchasing the GP2 and for sharing your installation process. Just want to confirm that you have the grips installed correctly. Based on the pictures that you posted, it appears that the grips are not on all the way. In image 6, the handlebar should be showing beyond the installed grip. The GP2 barend then fits over the handlebar and the edge of the grip before locking down to 5 Nm. Failure to install correctly will result in broken barend bolts, slipping grips, and the barend(s) can pop off as HT Chen described below. With correct installation, the grip and barend are very solid and will not move while riding or in the event of a crash/impact. Please refer to the instructions, the grip and barend combo needs 136mm of free handle bar space on each side to slide over in order to secure correctly. If you have further questions or concerns, please email me at jeffk at ergon hyphen bike dot com
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips HT and Jeff. Initially I was confused by the instructions, then I realized that it was more than one page (duh!). I updated this page to a hopefully show a more correct procedure.
DeleteThanks for the update! Your install looks spot on after the adjustment.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this, I managed to do this perfectly thanks to your fantastic instructions.
ReplyDeleteIt always brings me joy when others find the blog helpful. Thanks for reading.
DeleteIf you have an M bar you'll need to cut about 21 mm of the end of grip to get them to fit. This is with the 2013 brake levers. The old levers take a lot more space on the bar.
ReplyDeleteYou'll also need to have a rear rack! Without a rear rack and with Kojak tires there is about 1 mm clearance between the end of the Brompton foam grip and ground. The rack increases this to 22 mm. The clamp on the end of the Ergon grip extends several mm farther than the Brompton foam grip does and will hit the ground.
Thanks for the pictures. I did not find Ergon's instructions on how much of the bar to leave exposed clear enough. The video on their page is better. I had them installed incorrectly (same mistake you made), but now they are on right!
ReplyDeleteHi everybody, I have just fitted a pair of GP1 Gripshift on my Brompton M-type. They are shorter than the standard and there's no need to cut them. They are 9.50 cm long and very comfortable compared to the stock grips.
ReplyDeleteThe folding is not impacted at all, of course. I highly recommend them.
Hi, has anyone fitted Ergon grips to a Brompton H6R-X? The GP2-S look as if they would fit but might not clear the ground when folded. Thanks. Rob.
ReplyDelete