Get a Grip! The Complete Guide To Marin’s Grips

August 9, 2023

It's official, Marin's bike grips knock it out of the park. Here's a quick guide to all four of our grips and some advice on which one is your perfect match.

Get A Grip!

Got a bike? You need to get a grip. Actually, two of them.

Let’s start with the basics. What are grips?

Bicycle grips are those soft bits on your handlebar that you hold onto when riding your bike. The bits you wrap your paws around and hold on tight when cruising the means streets or ripping the trails.

They can be made out of foam, rubber, soft plastic or similar and chances are high that many of you rarely give them much thought. Let's try and change that.

Bicycle grips are one of just four contact points on your bike that you physically touch, alongside your two pedals and your saddle, so they’ve got to be good if you want your bike to feel good.

Remember - grips are only found on bikes with a ‘flat’ or ‘riser’ handlebar - that’s a handlebar that’s pretty much straight and pretty much flat. You know, like on a mountain bike, city bike or similar.

If you have those funny-shaped, curly bars, AKA drop bars, you’ll need grip tape which is something else altogether.

What Makes Great Grips?

Good grips need to get a few ingredients right.

They need to be comfortable in your hand with a soft, but not too soft, material. The boffins that design grips spend hours scratching their heads to find the perfect ‘durometer’, meaning the ‘hardness’ of the grip’s material.

Grips also need to be grippy, obviously. Grippy grips mean that your hands don’t move around, slip or spin when it’s rainy or you’re hot and sweaty. That’s partly down to the material and partly down to the pattern, with manufacturers creating all sorts of weird and wonderful lumps and bumps across their grips to add friction. Personal preference plays a big part here.

Grips also need to be durable so they won’t wear out too quickly or get damaged when you take a tumble. The material needs to be soft enough to be comfy, but long-lasting enough to stay undamaged and not wear out, even after miles and miles in the saddle.

Last but not least, they’ve got to be the right size and shape to fit your hands. They can’t be too fat or too thin and they need to be the right length for your hands, neither too big nor too small. Get the wrong fit and you'll get sore hands, achy forearms and have a sucky time on two wheels.

There’s a lot to get right!

How to pick the right bicycle grips for you.

Picking your ideal bicycle grips comes down to picking the right thing for you and the right thing for your riding style.

Then, it comes down to personal preference.

As always, we’d recommend visiting a good old-fashioned bike shop and getting some expert advice in-store, then trying a few pairs for yourself. You can find your local Marin dealer here.

Don’t be afraid to visit a store, grab ‘em off the peg, get your hands on and give them a feel in-store. Don’t just settle for the first thing you see, really try a few pairs on for size.

Go on, don’t be shy, grab a grip!

What’s wrong with standard grips?

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the grips that come supplied on your bike… If you’re riding a Marin. Our ‘stock’ grips are kick-ass and have been designed from the ground up to look, feel and ride way beyond what you’d expect from ‘standard’ grips.

But many other grips can be just a bit meh. They’re cheap, they’re made with hard plastic. They’re uncomfortable. They’re made to cut costs, not boost stoke. Meh.

We’re on a mission to give you the best possible experience on your bike, right down to the grips. We’ve designed four of the greatest grips ever, to give you the best ride experience ever.

If you’re riding a Marin, you probably have these fitted already. If you’re not, you can always upgrade to them, transforming the comfort of your bike with one low-cost, easy-to-install, low-hassle upgrade.

Yay.

Which Marin Grips are Right For You?

We've created a collection of four grips that, between them, are perfect for every type of rider and riding style out there.

Here's the complete collection:

Marin County Single Density Grip

The Marin County Single Density Grip is a big old comfy bear hug of a grip. Designed to be familiar, affordable and low hassle. Soft on the hands and soft on the wallet. Just the right amount of engineering where it matters, without anything expensive or over the top.

The County is a one-size-fits-all, designed to fit hands of all shapes and sizes. It’s available in black and tan colors and has a natty ‘flange’ on the inside to help keep your hand in place. There’s no lockring on the County, simply slide it on to install and it’ll lock itself in place. It’s is chunky, soft and comfortable meaning it’s perfect for beginners or anyone that just wants to keep it chill.

Tech Notes: A grip’s ‘flange’ is a lip on the inside end, nearest your thumb. It’s adopted from motocross and BMX grips and designed to stop your hands slipping and help you ‘locate’ your preferred hand position quickly and easily. For installation, we recommend hairspray or WD-40. From our friends at Biltwell: "Counterintuitive though it might seem, aerosol WD-40 spray lubricant is our chemical of choice for installing Biltwell molded TPV grips. 'But it's oil!' you say. Yes, but WD-40's combination of aerosol propellant and organic-based lubricant is perfect for sliding tight grips onto clean metal tubes. A quick 1- or 2-second blast into the open end of the grip is all it takes. Once installed, WD-40's chemical compound melts the grip interior just enough to make it stick to the bar like glue, without the mess. IMPORTANT: Wait 24 hours after installation before riding to give grips sufficient time to set up on the bars. Immediately after installation you can add safety wire wraps to both ends of the grips; this old motocross trick works great to reduce grip slip on the bars and throttle tube."

The Perfect Partner:

The County grip’s perfect partner is a rider that keeps it fun and cruisey. The rider that doesn’t need to be worrying about hardcore, rough and ready off-road.

They’ll be riding to work or the store, the bar or the park. They’ll be on the roads and the bike paths, enjoying the ride without anything too bumpy. They’ll enjoy the occasional wander into the wilderness, but they’ll stick to the smoother tracks and trails.

Learn More About The Marin County Single Density Grip And Buy Online Here.

Marin Bear Paw Locking Grip

The Bear Paw Locking Grip is a spicy number - perfect for singletrack, XC and trail riding and with heaps of neat details.

Our thinnest and lightest grip, the Bear Paw features a unique bear paw pattern and half-waffle design that’ll keep your mitts tightly in place, even in the wet or when your hands are sweaty. It’s 135mm long, has a 29.75mm diameter and is available in black, grey and blue.

The Bear Paw Locking Grip has a single locking alloy ring that keeps it locked in place and makes fitting and removal a cinch, just pop it on your bar and tighten up with a hex key. The lockring is perfect for anyone that rides in the wet, stopping it from spinning on your bar when everything gets soaked.

The Perfect Partner

The Bear Paw Locking Grip is a likeable beast that’ll partner nicely with a few different mates.

Its perfect pawtner might be a hardcore, featherweight XC racer that wants a super light, super simple grip.

It might also be a singletrack and trail mountain bike rider that wants a simple, affordable grip that’s great in all conditions but doesn’t need the bells and whistles of our top-spec Grizzly grip.

Or it might even be someone that’s tried the County grip and decided they want the added benefits of a lockring.

Learn More About The Marin Bear Paw Locking Grip And Buy Online Here.

Marin Bear Paw Wing Grip

Ever seen a bear fly? The Main Bear Paw Wing Grip takes our Bear Paw and gives it wings.

The Bear Paw Wing Grip is an ergonomic and super comfortable grip that uses wing-like extensions to add extra support for your hands, relieving pressure on longer rides. It’s great for bike packing, longer-distance touring or simply anyone that wants a bit more comfort on the roads and trails.

And just like the classic Bear Paw, it has a single lock ring to keep it clamped in place and a natty bear paw and waffle pattern to offer plenty of grip when you’re hanging on tight. At 113.5mm long, the Bear Paw Wing grip should fit hands of all shapes and sizes.

The Perfect Partner

The Bear Paw Wing Grip matches beautifully with folks that need to cover some distance. It’ll keep the pressure light on your hands, spreading it evenly across a larger area than ‘normal’ grips. That means it’s perfect for long-distance riders, bike packers or simply riders that stay sat in the saddle for long periods of time. It’s great if you suffer from achy, sore, numb or tingly hands when riding.

Learn More About The Marin Bear Paw Wing Grip And Buy Online Here.

Marin Grizzly Grip

The great grizzly bear of grips! The Marin Grizzly Grip is our best-of-the-best, top-of-the-tree grip, designed from absolute scratch to change the way the world looks at ‘stock’ grips.

We took everything we knew about grips (which is an absolute truckload), started from a blank sheet and made a grip that’s fully loaded with the best features you could ever need between your paws.

Bringing ‘big grip cush, without big grip feel’, the Grizzly is super soft and super comfy whilst staying crazy grippy and as tough as an old brown bear. We went full science to create a grip that twists and compresses just the right amount under pressure, meaning no arm pump and plenty of control. We created cushioning ‘pillows’ to absorb impacts add traction. We built in long, horizontal ribs for even more grip, especially in the wet. There’s a one-of-a-kind recess for your thumb, there’s a tiny flange, and there’s a limpet-secure lockring. There’s even a freakin' tree pattern as a tribute to our California roots - cool right?

In fact, the Marin Grizzly Grip is so good we wrote a whole story just about it, read it here.

The Perfect Partner

The Marin Grizzly Grip is the king of grips - and it’ll suit all styles of rides and riders. But, Griz is especially good for mountain bikers, flat-bar gravel riders and off-road adventurers.

It’s for anyone that needs perfect grip, comfort and control when they’re hanging on tight. Rough, nasty and gnarly off-road trails, epic descents, long punishing climbs, whatever and whenever. The Grizzly Grip is designed to go harder than a Grizzly chasing a picnic basket!

Learn More About The Marin Grizzly Grip And Buy Online Here.