Ergon Grip Disaster Fixed

Finally a sunny Saturday in Syracuse! Riding to just enjoy the sun and early Spring, I poked around the city taking photos. I'll post some in my next post.

While stopping to talk to some fishermen who had caught a 40 pound carp (where's the photo of that? duh... no photo... ), I parked my Brompton. Then it fell over. One of the fisherman was kind enough to point out that I had lost a piece. Sigh...

When my Brompton fell over, it hit on the bar end of the left hand grip. This cracked the plastic ring on end of the grip on which fastens the bar end of the Ergon grip. On the Ergon grips the bar end tightens down on the plastic ring on the grip and holds the whole assembly in place. This crack meant that the grip needed to be replaced.

Actually, I had been considering removing the Biocork grips to shorten them slightly. When I had installed the grips, I had used the full length. This moved the brake levers and shifters in toward the center of the handelbar. Everything worked, and I was happy. A few months later I shifted the handlebars a little farther away from the saddle. this meant that the brake cable pressed more firmly against the front fork. Because of where I had moved the brake lever, where the cable exits the lever was very close to the fork, causing the cable to kink more than I liked. Since the grips were longer than I needed, I thought I would cut about 3/4 of an inch (2 cm) from the grip to move the brake levers out farther and avoid the kink. So... this ended up being a good time. And I had a second pair of Ergon grips in my basement. I'd been meaning to put them on the S2E-X, but hadn't gotten to it.

These grips are the GP2 grips. The bar end is a little shorter than the GP3 Biocork bar end. The grips are the same length, only made of black rubber/plastic material instead of the Biocork. Here you can see where I cut the 2 cm from the end of the bar. After shortening the grip, I used a two grades of sandpaper to smooth the ends and round over the edge just a little before installing them.

Everything reinstalled and shifted slightly to the outside. I reinstalled the longer bar ends from the GP3 and tucked the shorter GP2 bar ends away, just in case. One of my common hand positions is to reach out farther and hold just the bar ends.

On another note, you can see where I have installed the Brompton cross bar on the M handlebars. This gives me a place to mount the bright CREE XML headlight when I'm cycling at night.

There's a lesson here. Park the bike more carefully or lean it against something more stable! I hate to hear my Brompton fall!

First Mod: Ergon Grips and Tektro Levers

October 6, 2012

After a hundred or so miles on the stock Brompton grips, I knew that I could not keep them. The tingling in my palms warned me of some significant problems ahead. Actually, I had planned ahead for this when I knew the bike was coming. I had ordered the Ergon GP3 BioKork grips through Amazon. The chatter on the Brompton Talk forum had made it clear that the grips would not fit on the M bars with the Brompton brake levers, so at the same time, I ordered the Tektro Eclipse brake levers. These levers take up significantly less space on the bar than the Brompton stock levers.

I had read that when installing the full size GP series grips, they would need to be trimmed in order to fit. I did not find that to be necessary. Trimming the grips seems to be only necessary when keeping the stock Brompton brake levers. 

I've found it a little fiddly to get the grips and bar ends adjusted evenly from side to side. And I love the way they provide support and options for 3 or 4 different hand positions. 

In these two pictures you can see the lever adjustment set screw protruding from above where the cable enters the brake housing. Since taking these photos I've adjusted the set screw, so the levers are within easy reach for two fingers when hands are on the grips. 

I had to replace the brake cables, probably because I was not careful enough when I cut off the ferrule to get the stock levers off.

And these grips do not interfere with the fold! This was my biggest concern because of the size. I think if I did not have the EZ wheels and the rack, with M bars, the left hand grip would hit the floor.  And because I have this set up, it raises the bars far enough off the floor, that these larger grips do not get in the way.

Woot!

PS You may want to read about my Ergon grip disaster where I had to replace these grips and how I did it. :)