off-road.cc

As one of the longest-running and well-renowned grip manufacturers, you’d expect these lock-on grips from ODI to perform. Part of the Elite range, these Motion versions are designed to be super slim with a low profile knurl pattern and they work flawlessly.

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Low profile grips aren’t everyone's cup of tea, but if you like a connected and immediate feel to your bike, or prefer smaller radius grips due to smaller hands, these are bang on.  They offer an off-set design that positions slightly more padding up to the palm, offering some vibration reduction and additional traction where it's required. 

At 30mm total diameter, they are the smallest that ODI offer in this series. The whole grip is pretty minimalist, but solidly constructed with a really high level of manufacturing - everything is neat and tidy, and the clamps work well despite being one-sided. I tried my best to get these to rotate but failed to get that happening. I suspect over a prolonged period they might, but in the months I rode them, I didn’t get this to happen. 

Most of the test period riding was trail based, I rode several long dry rocky and harder surface rides with them, and whilst I could feel a slight difference, with gloves on, they remained comfortable all day - there was a degree of pressure felt, but no more than you’d experience from most grips I’ve ridden.

I liked the width, which for larger hands is a positive - 130mm is plenty of space for most, without pushing shifters and brakes too far into the bar. With the end caps built in and reinforced, they feature a softer outer edge - so they don’t hurt as much in a crash, and stop that dreaded cookie cutter. 

They also provide a distinct and softer edge to know where the ends of the bars are, and I found I rested the outer edges of my hands against them - which due to the single inner bar clamp does away with the extra end of bar clamp that can be uncomfortable when riding on. This single clamp does a rock-solid job of stopping any rotation issues with them. The decent sized 3mm Allen head also makes tightening simple as opposed to smaller sizes where rounding keys is an issue.

Varying the thickness of the profile is effective, as I rotated the thicker area to my palm and there is a noticeable extra padding - especially for the thinner overall diameter. By using some small notches and numbers on the outer edge, you can tune in the angle you prefer, but with some general suggestions, you’d have to be quite a perfectionist to notice much difference.

The rubber used is a ‘Soft Pro Compound’ and is slightly tacky, but not a squidgy style - these are obviously not technical terms - there is no mention of specific thickness or durometer ratings. In use, they’ve been good in warm summer heat and wetter weather of late. I’ve used them with and without gloves, and the knurl style works well for me - I prefer the more immediate feel and less padding. The grips are available in Green, Cyan, Red/Black, Black, Fluro Orange.