Renthal Lock-On Grip

I had heard a lot of good things about Renthal's ultra tacky compound and wanted to give them a try, but didn't want to commit to using the push-ons with glue. So decided to give their lock on version a test. I got the black Ultra Tacky compound, half expecting them to last about 2 months before falling apart.

However, I've been proved wrong. The grips are now coming on to a year of use and they are no were near as worn as you would expect. I would easily guess they have another year of use in them maybe more.

But the best thing about the grips is that because they are so soft, they have fantastic damping properties. I noticed in the months after fitting the grips that my forearms were becoming less fatigued on the same descents without changing anything on my suspension or tyre pressure. Due to the softness of compound your hands have this small cushion they can basically float on. But it's nothing like throttle grip, it's way more subtle than that because they feel exactly like a normal grip and at the same time they don't. Just on this alone I would recommend them to anyone who is having this issue but has their suspension and tyre pressures set just so!

The grips do have a few issues though, first riding gloveless isn't great in these because they are just so soft. Firstly your fingers and palms stick to the grip once you're holding on. So you have to unwrap your hand at the end of any descent to un-stick your fingers. 

The second issue I've found is the outside collar. Basically because the compound is so much softer than other grips your hand sits a bit lower when the grips are pressurised by your weight, so you can feel the collar more than you'd like in some situations. But with most of my gloves on I don't feel this anymore have just learned to make sure my hand is actually in the middle of the grip.

Overall these are great grips and tend to keep them until they start to fall apart and replace with the same ones. If Renthal could come out with these grips with no outside collar and just grip (like DMR deathgrips) they would be perfect and I hope it's coming for the future!