UKC

I have a Marin Bear Mountain ladies' MTB. In needs new handlebar grips because the current slide-on ones (and more often, slide-off) are shot. Trouble is the ends of the bars are very skinny - 19mm I think. Googling has failed me - any suggestions for something which will fit please?

In reply to Catriona:

A standard handlebar grip will fit, as they age they become looser and start to slip and this can sometimes polish the bar. Generally speaking new grips will stick, to make it easier you can spray some hair spray on the inside of the grips, this will help the grip to slide on the bar and when the hairspray evaporates the grip will stick, if they still slip which is generally on wet days you sometimes need to rough the bar with grit paper to give some more friction. I use lock on grips with small Allen keys on both ends so I don't have this problem.

In reply to Catriona:

Try building up the diameter of the bars with gaffer tape or similar. That should help the grips stay in place

In reply to Catriona:
19 mm is quite narrow, I just had a look at my bikes and the bars are ~22 mm thick at the ends. If your measurements are correct then I doubt most of the lock on type grips would be of much use as the ones I've had don't give you that much adjustment.
A good way to get your grips to stay in place is to twist some wire around the ends with pliers. Some grips actually have grooves at the ends for wire to sit in.

In reply to gethin_allen:


I tried this once and the wire cut through the grips - cable ties are better.

In reply to Catriona:


If all else fails, you could use road bike bar tape

In reply to Catriona:

Unless your hands are fine on the skinny bars you might be better off ditching them and getting standard diameter bars. My wife's bike had similar bars - the well known rider who lent her name to the bike apparently has very small hands. Fine for her but useless for anyone closer to normal.

Measure the diameter at the stem clamp and go from there. You can get reasonable bars for not much money and it's a quick job to move everything over.

In reply to LastBoyScout:

Jubilee clip would work also

In reply to John Simpson:


Thanks. I tried the narrowest they had at the LBS but they were still too loose.

In reply to gethin_allen:


Cheers. I was just about to measure when I noticed that it is etched on the bars - 19.1mm

In reply to LastBoyScout:

What wire did you use? I've used plastic coated fencing wire in the past and not had any trouble.

In reply to Catriona:

That makes a simple job into a chore then. Maybe the grips on children's bikes would fit.

In reply to Bob:


This might be the way to go thanks.

In reply to Catriona:

They sell them on eBay, can't post the link as forum wants payment, I found them by searching google with 19mm handlebar grips

Happy trails y'all

In reply to Catriona:

I don't know the width of your existing bars but a lot of MTB bars are pretty wide these days - you can cut them down and there's markings to help you but it's something to be aware of. A (very) quick check on Wiggle shows bars starting at around £18

In reply to gethin_allen:


Uncoated stainless steel wire - wrapped round twice, but probably still a bit thin.
Didn't have anything thicker and wanted the twisted ends to be low profile anyway.