Found great grips for my Silverwing

Well, after my posted question of a few weeks back, I proceded to try different things to improve the grip situation with my Silverwing. I found out that I did have some sort of Grip puppies installed, but they appeared to be worn out and provided inadequate grip, being somewhat slippery. This of course gave me a little feeling of uncertainty and this is why I posted the first thread.

When I discovered that these were a cover to the actual hand grips, I tried removing them. The ones below seemed to be the original Honda ones and they were pretty good, not slippery at all. However they had little padding and they are on the thin side providing almost no isolation from vibrations. Since I have larger hands then normal I needed something thicker which would also provide nice isolation from the vibrations which while not bad, are present ever so little.

I opted for a ProGrip model that I used to have on one of my earlier bikes, these are a little thicker but very soft and the rubber is super grippy. I have been using these for the past 3 weeks now and I have to say that they are the best thing compared to the two other options. No comparison in terms of gripping power, no slippage, nice softness but certainty. At not times I felt any vagueness of handling and the hold is both comfortable and secure. In short I am happy. Here are a couple of shots of them on the bike.







And since I went to the Observatory again, here are a couple of shots of the hazy weather always present in Los Angeles in the past few weeks...

Regards the grip problem. Surely a decent pair of gloves may have cured the grip problem.

Several of my gloves have a rubberised covering on the palm and I achieve good grip on the kinda stock grips. I say 'Kinda Stock' as they are the Honda heated grips!

CarloSW: the grips look good. I'm with you on not ever being satisified with stock grips. I always change them out for something larger, even tho I have small hands. On my Can Am, which came with heated grips, I simply put on some grip puppies; dense foam that you silde over OEM's.
Works well but I can see that over time they will wear and get slick.

Waspie wrote:

Regards the grip problem. Surely a decent pair of gloves may have cured the grip problem.

Several of my gloves have a rubberised covering on the palm and I achieve good grip on the kinda stock grips. I say 'Kinda Stock' as they are the Honda heated grips!

I find Honda heated grips have a really good non slip pattern, and for me fitting Grip Puppies only cramped my right hand and seriously reduced the warmth getting through to my hands. Removing them solved those problems.

Got a vibration problem, there's plenty of gloves now have gel palms. Cold hands, there's an insulated winter glove that has a lighter insulated layer in the palms to let you get the benefit of heated grips. Good gloves are always an investment and you'll probably still be wearing them long after you've got rid of your SW with a pair of those ridiculous fat chrome and rubber grips fitted.

I've never had heated grips before the Can Am, but even on low it cranks all about all I can stand even with the grip puppies. Maybe the fact it was made in Canada accounts for the good output.

I also used Gerbing gloves when needed, as well as Hippo Hands if it really gets cold. Been playing with the HH's on the Can Am and with the heat on low I can ride in moderately cool days without gloves. Am now thinking of moving them to the SW, at least to see how I like them.

Unlike Meldrew, I find Grip Puppies ideal for me.
One good thing is that if they don't suit you you can bin them without worrying about having spent a fortune on something which is just not right.

MikeO wrote:

Unlike Meldrew, I find Grip Puppies ideal for me.
One good thing is that if they don't suit you you can bin them without worrying about having spent a fortune on something which is just not right.

I agree, they were inexpensive and I took great pleasure in removing and binning mine. Just between you and me, I'm not that impressed with the mirror extenders I fitted either.

Just exactly what is the topic about?

KurtPerthWA wrote:

Just exactly what is the topic about?

Are you having trouble getting to grips with it?

Thanks everyone for their views. I am sure that there are even more since every body is different one from the other.

I personally never liked the feel of the closed foam grips, that's my personal preference based on my riding style and feedback I expect.

I never tried the heated grips but I live in Los Angeles where temperature is pretty moderate. I also have some heated gloves but since the temperature is never that low, I used them without the battery a few times and they provided perfect heat already.

At this time I am riding during the day when temperatures are still around 70-80 degrees and use an un-insulated deer skin gloves that are a wonder. Since I don't really do much of freeway riding, the vibrations are mostly a little annoyance rather then a comfort point, but I have to say that these Progrips provide the best quality grip and vibration dumping I have seen on any hand grip that I tried.

But that's me and it's my hands. I just wanted to provide the data and share my experience with others and give my recommendations.

Which mirror extender have you got, Meldrew?

I have Honda ones but fancy a pair of Burgman 400 mirrors instead.

The advantage of the Burgman mirrors is that they can be rotated through 90 degrees when it gets a tad tight!!

That and the fact if your colour coordinated they come in Silver!!!!!

MikeO wrote:

Which mirror extender have you got, Meldrew?

I have Honda ones but fancy a pair of Burgman 400 mirrors instead.

I bought the ones on eBay from gas-cap dude, there's nothing wrong with the quality, I just don't like the fact they work loose at the slightest knock. Also the right hand side extender has to adjusted to be out of the way of my Go Cruise throttle control.

Like Grip Puppies, the mirror extenders are another example of buying stuff I think I needed. The home made front mudflap I fitted has proved to be more useful than either.

One of the reasons I have resisted temptation of fitting nif-naf and trivia to my machine. When I see something cool I sit back and have a discussion with myself regards do I really need it.

Usually ends up in me talking myself out of everything!!!! Hence my machine is pretty much stock apart from a couple of useful mods. Pax seat back, heated grips etc.

carlosw wrote:

... I have to say that these Progrips provide the best quality grip and vibration dumping I have seen on any hand grip that I tried.

But that's me and it's my hands. I just wanted to provide the data and share my experience with others and give my recommendations.

Carlos, do you have a link as to where the Progrips you got can be purchased from?

Very nice. I need some new ones for my baby. Where can we buy them?

Google 'pro grips handlebar grips'
Lots of links.

I got them from e-bay but if you google progrip 714 you can find several places that have them. Even Amazon. I paid $17 with shipping etc. from Race Tools Inc. but I see you can find them for less...

Once again after checking Google for all the many different kinds, Carlosw has picked out the ones I like the best and for less. Thank you Carlos

are these each or for the pair?

Grips come in pairs, they seem to be sized differently specifically for the right (throttle) and left sides.

Hay Carlow. A little help here please.
I tried installing the Progrips yesterday and had no problem on the left side but the right side was binding and acted like a cruz control. I removed it and tried installing some grease on just the end piece but no I can't get the dang thing off.
I had to put a small cut on the end of the grip so as to let the air escape.
How did you install yours?

Over all I really like the large size and the way they feel.

Thank you and I am not sure I understand the problem here but what I did was the following:

1. The grips came to me longer than the original ones. To make them shorter I cut out the extra parts on both sides of the grip. See photo at the beginning of the thread to understand what I mean.

2. Put a little alchool inside the grip and slid the grip on. It was perfect on both sides.

If it binds it is either too long or pushed in too much or too little.

If this does not help can you post photos of what you have so that I can tell what is happening?

Do these grips replace the original grips? or fit over them?

These are replacement grips, meaning one has to remove the original ones to install these ones.

Oh GREAT. Now I know what happened. I tried installing them on top of the originals. As I said, the left side fit like a glove. Today I cut off the very end of the right one so if I have to, after re installing it, I can lube it or cut off a little more.
I really don't want to remove the originals.
When you did remove them Carlo, were they ruined?

What I did was I removed the end bar weight, then with a siriinge and alchool in it I inserted some alchool between the metal and the inside of the grip, pushed the alchool toward the middle of the grip and slid off the old grip without problem and without damaging anything.

The new ones went on easily too, putting a little alchool on the inside of the grip and sliding it on before it drys out. When dry the grips sticks to the handle perfectly.

Hallelujah. Now the hole song and dance is coming together. Thank you for "the rest of the story" Ha ha

Hey John, great. Glad I can be of help.

If anyone in England wants these grips, they have them at M&P(see google).I have ordered a pair.£8 approx. £ 11:48 incudes p&p.

Fitted my Pro-Grips today.Thanks to Carlosw, your pictures showed me how much to trim off before fitting. The only difference, i found it, was easier to put a long bladed screwdriver inside the original grips and run it around to ease them off after warming the grips first. Instead of Alcohol i used Methelated spirits to clean the bars of old ahdesive.

Hey that's Great! how do you like these grips?

I found them really nice in terms of no slipping and great size, not to big nor too small at least for my hands. Also they seem to dump vibrations more then the other set up with the grip puppy or the original grips.

Not had a chance to try them out yet, Saturday 60mph winds and showers and, only just fitted. They do advise 24hr to dry out before riding.Today Persistant rain and strong winds all day.

I had the Grip Puppies for a year and they started to wear out. When I first bought the scooter I bought a pair of elk skin gloves. These things are built proof and very comfortable but I really like Carlos idea.
Instead of removing the original grips in order to install the Progrips, i installed the them on top of the originals.
Tight fit and big, but people say I have mans hand I do like the over size and feel. I did have to cut off part of the accelerator side so that it would not act like a Cruz control because it was binding on the very end weight.