| Nowadays it seems as though every component of your mountain bike can be customized to improve your riding performance and many people like to fine tune their setup to make their bike and themselves perform at the highest level. Whether you buy a new or used bike it's most likely going to come with grips and many people seem to use the ones that come with the bike and get used to them or adjust their feel with the type of gloves they use rather than look at finding the right grip for themselves. |
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ODI has been making bike grips for years and one of their more popular models is called the Rouge. The Rouge is a thicker grip made for riders who like a little more padding in their grips or for people who don't like to wear gloves. By using their special compound and making the pads thicker you get better shock absorption on those bumps and jumps and we all know how those rocky trails can make your hands go numb when they keep going and going. The deep grooves in the grips are designed to channel away dirt keeping it from getting underneath your hands. The Rouge grips also offer lock on clamps so you don't have to worry about them coming loose and spinning at the wrong time on the trail. Most grips come with locking clamps these days unless you go really cheap and you will most likely regret doing so.
We have been using these grips for years and they are not anything new to the mountain bike parts market but we figured they are worth mentioning since they perform so well. Many thinner grips don't offer the needed shock protection when things get rough and we find thinner grips harder to keep a "grip" on as well. The Rouge grips will feel kind of on the hard side at first but it only takes a few rides before they soften up and start to feel tacky. Some people say the tackiness attracts dirt but we haven't had any problems like that with these grips so far. If you don't wear gloves the tacky factor may even work better for you because it keeps your hands from slipping off the grips. If you are into thin grips then obviously these may not be for you.
As for how long they last that will depend on your riding style. We can get a couple of years or so out of a set and as they wear down they still perform very well. You don't need to replace them until the tread pattern starts to look more like a bald tire and even at that stage they still might be working just fine for you. Overall the ODI Rouge grips are one of the most comfortable grips we have ever used.
The ODI Rouge grips come in black and bright green with a variety of clamp colors such as black, sliver, green, orange, purple, red, blue, grey, gold and white. And for a few bucks more you can get the caps laser etched with up to 15 characters. Why you would want to do this we don't know but that's pretty cheap for a custom touch! And for $30 for a set of grips that will keep you going for years it's a deal you can't afford to pass up.
