All to often I find myself whining about product.  Things that are too expensive, poorly made, or just not up to the task of withstanding the abuse that my 180 lb frame and penchant for sloppy downhill lines deliver.  But it’s too easy to focus on what doesn’t work.  Time to focus in on what does work.

Ergon Grips.  Ergon Grips work.  I can’t exactly make any claims about the grips making me a faster or stronger rider.  I’m sure there are lighter grips out there.  But the feel of riding on those grips for any length of time, from a short commute within the city to an endurance race across a mountain range is superior to just about anything else I’ve tried.

The experience recently came when my body decided to raise a complaint against mountain biking.  The complaint came in the form of sore tendons running across my hand.  After a weekend of mountain biking, it hurt to grip drawer handles, use a pencil or pen, and a myriad of other minor daily tasks.  That was on traditional grips.

I’ve recently put Ergon’s on all my bikes, and haven’t had a day of pain since.

Now lets talk about more things that work.  Like bar ends.  My first mountain bike, back in ’99 was an old schwinn homegrown with some generic bullhorn barends.  I loved those things.  Every time I tried to race my friends up a hill in Wilder Ranch, my hands would go straight to that vertical position, pumping away and allowing me to motor on up the hill.

Then I got riser bars, and my senior colleagues at Sprockets Bicycle Shop told me, ” Oh, dude, you can’t POSSIBLY run bar ends and riser bars.  That’s totally lame.” I didn’t know enough then to question, as I was still learning how to adjust a rear deraileur.  So off they came.  Only with Ergons have they come back, and since, I’ve sat waiting at the top of Miwok trail, waiting for my bar-end-less friends, wondering why I waited so long to put them back on.

Let function create the fashion. I challenge anyone who likes to ride a bike distances, and occasionally feels the need to beat their friend to the top of the hill to try out bar ends again.  Ergons are likely some of the best looking.  I think the old fellas already know what I’m talking about, but its us silly young bucks that have wandered astray.  Barends+Riser Bars – somebody might laugh at you – but just get rad, fly your ergons high, and laugh right back.  Here’s to antlers, or any other goofy arangement, just so long as it works for you.

Unless it gets you mentioned in a certain reputable blog.