New Grip Day - How to change your Bike Grips!
Updating your grips is a fast, easy, and cheap way to give your ride a new look (and give your hands some fresh padding). In today’s post, we’ll show you how to slide off the old and slide on the new; let’s get swappy!
Remove Old Grips
If your grips are just dirty, you can clean them with some light dish soap and water and save yourself the whole swap, but where’s the fun in that?
When it comes to removing grips, there are two options. If your old grips are destined for the bin, feel free to just cut ‘em off. Be careful with your blade not to damage the bars, make a long shallow cut, and then just peel the grips away!
But, if you plan on saving them for a project bike, giving them to a friend, etc… you’ll want a less destructive removal process. To slide your grips off in one piece you’ll need a long, thin screwdriver and some compressed air or cleaner/degreaser. You can use hairspray, hand sanitizer, or anything else that’ll evaporate quickly as well. Just don’t overdo it, and never use lubricant, grease, or a product that won’t evaporate and will leave your bars and grips all slippery.
Use your screwdriver to create some separation between the bars and the grips, and then blast your compressed air or liquid of choice between the two. Compressed air should create a nice pillow of air all around the grips so you can just wiggle them right off. The liquid solutions will need to be manually spread around, so give the grips a good twist once you’ve squirted some in there and really get the inside of the grip coated. It may take a couple applications of spray, but eventually the grip will slide right off and you can pop it into your parts bin!
Install New Grips
And installing the new grips is even easier! First, pop a nickel into each grip. This is a weird step, but it'll keep your grips from being torn where they cover the ends of the bars (because you know how fun it is to poke that spot and feel the grips give, until your finger goes all the way through and then you feel bad). With a nickel in there you can poke to your heart's content!
Next, apply a super light spritz of your cleaner/product of choice and then wiggle the bars into place. Don't overdo it on the spray because the last thing you want is grips slippery enough that they move while you're riding. Spray a bit, shake out the excess, and then try to twist them into place. You can always add more spray as necessary, but it's nearly impossible to un-lube (without just waiting for them to dry), so do it a bit at a time. If you're using compressed air, just blast the air under the edge of the grip as you twist it into place and you'll have 'em on in no time too!
And now you're good to go! The grips shouldn't budge at all once they're on there, but if you overdid it spray-wise, you might need to give them some time to dry. Just be sure everything's snug before you hit the road, and you'll be mittin' those new grips in no time!
Congrats, you did it! Now ride those new grips into the weekend and celebrate your success! We'll see you (and your now-happy hands) out there.
