RevGrips RG5 Ergonomic Grips Review

The Revolution Suspension Grips is an innovative system that isolates your hand’s and upper body from the shock and vibration propagated through the handlebars from the trail. This design helps decrease fatigue, repetitive injury, and arm pump. The all-new RG5 grip still uses their amazing Shock Absorbing Grip platform but adds an ergonomic grip design for improved control and comfort.

“There are many different grip shapes and sizes designed to achieve that perfect, ergonomic fit with hopes of minimizing arm pump and hand fatigue. These grips were made for anyone who has ever suffered from hand fatigue, numbing, blistering, or arm pump. If you suffer from any hand or wrist problems, such as carpal tunnel, arthritis, or other injuries, their grips will help alleviate the pain.”

Features

The RevGrips system features a two-collar lock-on design, an inner plastic sleeve that is 1/8-inch larger than the handlebar and floats within the shock-absorbing inserts or dampers in the collars, and finally, a nubbed rubber grip. The lock-on system doesn’t allow the grips to spin entirely, but there is a minute amount of circumferential rotation, which is only 3-4mm of movement.

It comes in two versions, the tuneable Pro Series Shock Absorbing Grip System for $89.95 (tested) and the fixed Race Series Shock Absorbing Grip System for $59.95. The Pro version comes with tuning washers that provide an adjustable feel from firm to soft, and it comes in various grip and lock-on clamp color options. The fixed tuned Race version offers a medium-soft feel, comes in a Black only color option. Both versions come in five grip styles/diameters, Small (31mm), Half-Waffle (31mm), RG5, Medium (32.5mm), and Large (34mm).

I tested the new ergonomic Pro Series RG5 Grip System, which comes in Black, Graphite, Neon Orange, Turquoise, Red, and Gum grip colors, and Black, Dark Gray, Red, Blue, Bright Green, Gold, Purple, and Bright Orange clamp colors. 

The RG5 Grip Sleeves are compatible with ALL previous grip sets and components.

• Complete RG5 Pro Grip System $89.95
• Complete RG5 Race Grip System $59.95
• RG5 Rebuild Kit $34.95
• Replacement RG5 Sleeve Set $24.95

The grips are available through local bike shops as well as online through www.revgrips.com.

RG5 Design

The RG5 grip utilizes their Super Soft compound combined with a high-traction, subtle, ergonomic design that supports your hand where it’s needed. The top section has a curved profile to cup and hold the hand and features wide comfortable nubs. The bottom section features ribbed nubs, which help improve traction and grip. The RG5 diameter measures between their Medium and Large size grips, coming in at 32.5 to 33mm.

RG5 Pro Kit

The Pro Series RG5 Grip System comes with the RG5 grips, four lock-on clamps, a set of thin and thick tuning washers for each side, four shock-absorbing insert rings, and finally, a bar end plug. For ease of installation, it comes with 2.5mm and 3mm hex keys.

Kit Contents

• 2 RG5 grips.
• 4 rubber inserts rings.
• Two hex keys – 2.5 and 3mm.
• Four lock-on clamps w/ bolts.
• Four thin tuning washers – 0.01″ (white plastic).
• Four thick tuning washers – 0.02″ (black metal).
• Handlebar plug.

Installation

You can tune the grips’ feel from firm to soft by altering the thickness and number of washers used on the grips. The tuning washers are installed between the grip sleeves and suspension inserts to soften or stiffen the feel.

• Firm – No washers.
• Medium/Firm – One thin washer on one side of the grip.
• Medium – One thin washer on each side of the grip.
• Medium/Soft – One thin washer on one side and a thick on the other of each grip.
• Soft – One thick washer on each side of the grip.

It’s a good idea to make a rough assembly with just the grip and lock-on clamps on the bar to get the proper fit width before getting everything put together.

If you are using washers, like I was doing, the initial step is to slide the desired washer onto the grips’ end. Next, add the rubber shock-absorbing inserts rings onto each of the four teeth of the grips. They used to have the inserts separated instead of on a ring, and the newer ring design makes installation much quicker and easier. Lastly, add the lock-on clamps with the bolt side pointing opposite to the embossed RG5 on the grips flange end.

Now, with the taller flange pointing inward, slide the entire assembled piece onto the handlebars and hold everything in place and insert the handlebar plug and tighten it snugly down. Twist the grip so that the embossed RGS on the inner flange points upward and tighten all of the lock-on clamps to 1.7 Nm.

Impressions

I installed the Pro Series RG5 Grip System on my carbon Ibis Ripmo V2, which has 147mm of rear travel and 150mm of front travel. It isolates your hands and upper body from the shock and vibration that comes through the handlebars and grips, which provides decreased fatigue, injury prevention, and greater control.

As you ride along, the grips rotate back and forth over the top of the handlebars, most of the time, your hands move with the grips, and other times it seems as though the bike rotates under you while the hands stay static. Regardless, the system takes the edge out of impacts and hits, terrain chatter (especially at high-speed), square-edged obstacles and braking bumps, roots, rock gardens, and pretty much anything that causes harsh blows propagated back to the bike and its occupant. There is a minute amount of rotational play and a little vertical movement during use, and the latter soon is hardly noticeable.

As you ride along with the grips, they rotate subtlety back and forth, but it’s never enough to feel like you’re over-rotating on the bars. And with the design of the grip’s hard inner shell, they continued to work no matter how hard or tightly I squeezed the grips. Once you get up to speed, you hardly felt them moving, and I still had a direct connection to the bars with plenty of control. At more normal speeds or when poking along on a trail, the rotation action was more noticeable, though still not overly sloppy or squishy.

I started with the tuning in the Medium setting and preferred the Softest setting, which provided me with a better overall ride due to improved shock and vibration absorption. It significantly helped with my troublesome thumb arthritis. It’s amazing how much difference altering the tuning of the grips makes in how they perform on the trail, and having the advantage of setting the feel from Firm to Soft makes them ideal for a cross-spectrum of riders and terrain. However, I personally think they’re at their best in the softer modes.

The new ergonomic design of the RG5 grip offers improved control and comfort. The super-tacky and soft rubber compound combined with the grip pattern wicks away sweat and moisture and provides the ultimate grip and traction. The top half of the RG5 has a subtle upward curved profile that supports and cradles the palm of your hand, offering greater comfort and relaxation so you don’t feel like you’re clutching onto the bars. It has flat nubs with a trapezoid shape that provides a smooth and comfortable surface when pressing your weight down onto the grips. The bottom half of the grips continues with the curved profile but adds prominent, soft elongated spined ribs. These raised ribbed nubs are thin and flexible and offer up increased traction and grip. The ribs sort of act like tiny pry bars on the bottom of the grips for your fingers, so you can subtly lift the front end, apply leverage as needed, and control the bike’s steering with more precision.

Bottom Line

The RevGrips design offers outstanding energy absorption characteristics by providing a subtle grip rotation that alleviates hand and wrist problems. It takes the edge off of impacts, hits, and chatter, preventing unwanted blowbacks from propagating back to the rider.

The ergonomic RG5 grip with its curved raised center section, tacky rubber compound, and dual nobby pattern take their already excellent shock-absorbing system to the next level. The top section’s curved shape cradles and holds the palm of your hand for improved comfort and relaxation, allowing an easy-to-hold body without having to overgrip. The bottom section’s soft and pliable ribs increase finger dexterity and traction and offer the ability to pry and lever off the bars for precise control and some subtle lifting power.

The RevGrips system is somewhat pricey, with the tunable Pro Series RG5 Grip costing $89.95 and the fixed tune Race version at $59.95. To me, the decreased fatigue, impact absorption, injury prevention, comfort, and greater control offered by their system more than offsets the increased cost. I am now spoiled, and it’s tough to go back to using standard grips. I prefer to alter the tune of the grip for a personalized feel (from firm to soft), so I liked the Pro version, though the Race version with its fixed medium-soft feel is quite adequate.