BMX grips on a MTB? D'oh, why hadn't we all thought of that before? It was an obvious thing to do. But no one had thought about it. Until Oury did it. Then of course everyone else copied, but no one else quite got it as right. For mountain bikes most (including Oury) eventually dropped the flanges cus riders just cut them away anyway so they could get at their shifters, but no one else really got their grips to feel like an Oury. They all tried lots of fancy patterns, and different thicknesses, and fancy rubber compounds, but none felt quite the same. No idea why. Oury Grips were hardly hi-tech in appearance: Big thick slabs of rubber with a basic box pattern and erm that's it, no obvious fancy hi-tech gimmicks, just grips, that work.
In the UK at least they were the grip of choice for those in the know for all of the mid 90's, then they just kinda disappeared, then the lockon came along and every other grip seemed to die a death over night. Lockons changed everything, they are easy to get on and off, don't slip are pretty lightweight too. So why the hell would anyone want to go back to using old fashion grips then?
Cus Oury's are back that's why!
I guess it's fair to say they never actually went away, we just all went a bit lockon bonkers, and it's fair to say that when it was suggested to me that I should maybe try a pair of good old fashion Oury Grips I was kinda at a loss as to understand why, and I told the guy trying to sell me some as much. Then the next day a pair of limited edition Khaki Brown's turn up in the post, on the very same day I was getting a new bike sorted for myself to take away on a riding trip to Donegal so I thought what the heck, lets get all retro and give them a try.
First thing was remembering just how much fun it was to install retro grips, no nipping up a few tiny bolts and away, oh no, you gotta glue these puppies in place. An old trick that we all used to do was give the inside of the grip a good coating of hairspray, it's nice and slippy when wet but dries real sticky, perfect for old style grips. Thing is, who the hell uses hairspray in this day and age? Thank god for the blue rinse brigade hairdressers next door. Two mins later and the grips were on, albeit with an interesting smell. A few hours later they were stuck fast.Happy days. Off riding.
How the hell can such a tiny thing like two bits of rubber bring back so many memories? After five minutes on the bike I was no longer a old, heavier, balding, mortgage ridden 40 something, I was transported back to the early 90's, when I was lots younger, lots faster and lots fitter. I love these grips.
But it's not just cus they made me feel younger (ya, OK, artistic license applied for!) they are actually better than all the lockons I've got used to using over the last 5 years. First off they are fatter, so if you've big hands they're a much better fit. And they are softer, not squidgy soft, but comfy soft. I suffer a lot from numb hands after a while riding, this was not entirely alleviated with Ourys but it was much improved. Best of all though, they come in loads and loads of colours, and just make you smile.
What more could you want? Lockons? OK, they make them too, just not in the funky colours.
All the coloured "retro" grips are now in store, with the locks on following soon. Come on, join in the revolution, go retrogriptastic.
