Interchangeable Twist Throttle Grips?

[Ralph]

Have you ever noticed that some electric bikes have what appear to be nicer grips than others? I have some really nice hand sewn leather ones on my Electra Townie, non electric. Easy enough, you just slip them off the handlebars and slip new ones on.

Is it possible or advisable to change grips on an electric bike that has a twist throttle? My dealers mentioned that everything just slips on so it is no big deal I just wonder if he is right. Does anyone have experience with swapping handlebars or grips?

 

[Court]

Great question Ralph, I've often wondered this because I prefer ergonomic grips (since I type a lot and have some injuries from gymnastics when I was younger). For basic grips, you could always just cut the right one in half to make it fit and then slide on like your dealer said but I think that actually securing the grip and keeping it straight is a big deal.

I love the newer grips that actually clamp down at the bar end to keep the rubber facing the right direction. One brand I've actually used and enjoy is Ergon and they come in lots of different shapes and sizes. I thought they actually had a set that was specifically designed for ebikes, where the right grip was shorter, but I couldn't find it. You could always just get a regular set and then use a hack saw to shorten the grip so it would fit flush with the twist throttle and not stick out.



These grips are especially nice because they have a hard plastic cylinder under the rubber exterior. This keeps the entire length of the grip from twisting, not just the end where the clamp is. I also like the ones with the bar ends for changing your hand position sometimes on longer rides

 

[James]

Hey Court,

Those are the grips I was thinking of using for my bike! I was thinking of the cork version though....



Have you heard about their longevity though? I was concerned because of palm sweat on the natural product. They sure look cool though

 

[Court]

Great call James, I actually had these Ergon GP1 Biokork grips in the back of my mind when I was posting the generic rubber Ergon GP1 grips. I think the cork would hold up just fine and I actually think it's like a cork, glue rubber combo.

I feel like I've seen these in shops and poked at them a bit, they don't feel like actual cork, more durable. This kind of makes me wonder how environmentally friendly they are but I guess there's a break even for using rubber/glue vs. replacing pure cork several times?

I also think that any product using cork helps to keep the niche industry alive in Europe. I've read that it has been suffering with the advent of twist tops, foam and rubber stoppers for wine bottles so these grips might help keep it going

 

[James]

Interesting. My stock grips are great so far, so I'm not looking to change quite yet, but when I do I'll go cork and let ya know how they ride!

 

[Ralph]

Thanks guys. My dealer said " how do you think they got the stuff on there in the first place" dah! I guess he is right. Still no bike so I have a ways to go before I try to trick it out.

 

[FitzChivalry]

I, too, may need to look into replacing grips. I did my first work commute (21 miles each way) on Monday, and my hands were really having to grip hard. I think that'll change as I get more accustomed to how the bike rides, but if it doesn't, I'll need to find something that works better. I'd be sad to lose the leather grips on my City Commuter, though, 'cuz they look pretty cool.

 

[Ralph]

They are nice grips but if not comfortable may need a change. How do you like the Commuter Fritz?

 

[FitzChivalry]

I'll be posting a review of my first ride later today or tomorrow. Look for it in the Pedego channel, where you can read about my unboxing/assembly experience.

 

[vincent]

Bringing this thread back to life

Want some high quality grips for my electric mountain bike with twist throttle

Maybe gel? Or open to suggestions

 

[FitzChivalry]

I ended up keeping the stock leather grips on my C.C.

As I got used to riding it, the grips issue ended up being less of an issue, as did the issue with grooved roads (http://electricbikereview.com/community/threads/recommendations-for-grooved-roads.142/#post-7528). I'm up to 3,650 miles on the bike, so I think I'll be sticking with those grips going forward.

 

[Lisa S]

Court mentioned that he couldn't find the Ergon grips with short right end for e-bikes. This looks like it
(variant: Rohloff® / Nexus®):
http://www.ergon-bike.com/en/product.html?a=griffe#gptouring-42410205

If you you have a shifter or throttle on each side you can get these that are short on both sides (variant: Gripshift®):
http://www.ergon-bike.com/en/product.html?a=griffe#gptouring-42410105

 

[RoyL]

Court mentioned that he couldn't find the Ergon grips with short right end for e-bikes. This looks like it
(variant: Rohloff® / Nexus®):
http://www.ergon-bike.com/en/product.html?a=griffe#gptouring-42410205

If you you have a shifter or throttle on each side you can get these that are short on both sides (variant: Gripshift®):
http://www.ergon-bike.com/en/product.html?a=griffe#gptouring-42410105

Yes, this is what i done on my latest BBS HD build...

Ergon GC-1 Rohloff/Nexus grips, had to cut a little off the right grip to accommodate everything..

 

[scrambler]

Not sure this thread ever actually answered the initial question and I have the same, so I will ask for clarifications
Can any of the Ergon grips like the GA3 or the GP actually be fitted on a full twist throttle (emphasis on Full).

A full twist throttle obviously has a wider diameter than the handlebar, and so I would assume that unless they would make a different version for it the answer would be no (unless they can actually stretch enough to fit on the throttle tube). Motorcycle grips for example come in two versions one with the diameter of the handlebar, and one with the diameter of the throttle tube.

Anyone knows for sure?

 

[RunForTheHills]

I don't see how that would work. The diameter of the throttle will be larger than the Ergon grips are designed for even if you strip the rubber grip off as you stated. I have the GP1 grips and they won't stretch like that. There is a metal clamp on the end that designed to secure the grip to a 22.2 mm bar.

 

[tpilk]

sorry to bring back an older thread, but thought I might be able to provide some info/clarification here. As far as half-grip throttles go, it seems like this has been put to bed, but full-grip throttles are a different animal.

I ordered a set on amazon (here's the link, if anyone is interested) intending to swap motocross grips on to them, as I assumed a throttle is a throttle is a throttle.
Rubber motocross grips are 22 mm / 1" ID on the left (non-throttle) side to fit directly on to the handlebar, and 28.5 mm / 1 1/8" ID on the right (throttle) side, designed to slide over the throttle tube.

But when I cut the grip off the throttle I purchased, it looked like this:

The very end of this is even slightly bigger than 28.5 mm, so it's not like I could push the throttle grip over that section and then just get stuck at the fluted parts.
The way this is designed, you can't even dremel off the fins to make a 28.5 mm length all the way down, unless you destroy the retainer clips that attach the hall sensor internals to the throttle tube. I tried this anyway and it was a pain to do as these are pretty fragile. So I basically junked a brand new throttle trying to figure this out.

What's more, this particular throttle is just over 4" long, so too short for motocross grips. There are longer ebike-specific throttles available around this price, but I'm probably not going to eat more $ just trying them all. Seems safer to assume that all of these cheap twist throttles are designed as above and won't accept a standard motocross grip. Regular bike grips would never work in the first place because of the diameter of the throttle tube.

Genuinely don't understand why they need to be made this way. If you're after a full-grip twist throttle for your ebike that will accept standard motocross grips, you're stuck with the Magura or the Domino, which are 3-4x more expensive than the ones we see all the time. You can also get a traditional, cable-actuated throttle and run it into an adapter, like this https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32954909008.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.fca92e0e8hLciI

But nothing out there that I have found is plug & play at the $20-ish price point unless you like the pretty crappy grips that come with them. If you want simple, replaceable motocross grips on your ebike it's a bit more work and expense.

Hope this saves someone some of the annoyance I went through to find all this out.