Strange Hands

One of the many stock lines that mountain bike testers like to use is, "grips are a personal preference." It's true.  With the exception of those who have signed a contract to ride certain grips in return for race results, every mountain bike rider has a staunch opinion about the grips that they run.  Asking someone about their choice of rubbers will almost certainly yield the line "and I can't ride anything else."  

Said every Blenki fan ever

The grip market is driven by the unwavering loyalty that bikers exhibit.  A grip company's goal isn't to make a grip that everyone likes.  They have to aim for a grip style that is so different from all the other options, that by the time a rider is forced to get used to the weird grips, they are unable to ride a bike without installing the same kind of grips.

Crankbrothers is a design driven bike company that has a unsullied reputation for making attractive parts that look very different from the competition and have absolutely no reliability issues whatsoever. Oops, take out the word 'issues' from the previous statement.  These new grips display the type of individuality that sells grips.  In addition to being strange, they also solve the age-old problem of fitting a locking clamp into collars the same diameter as the grip!  Noone's ever figured that one out *ahem* ODI did it twenty years ago *ahem*.  

The new grips from crankbrahs are well-placed to become the chinese foot wrapping method of bike grips.  Are your fingers too wide for cultural taste?  Try fitting them into the miniscule gripping area that these grips offer.  Besides, who needs to use the outside centimeter of the handlebars?  It's not as if width means anything in the cockpit department.  

Heinous as these are, they look practically normal next to the flagship weird grip:  Ergon.

Who needs something round when you can rest your hands on little benches!  Remember folks, if something looks different its probably bad.