It’s time to report back on the BBB ErgoFix and BBB ErgoSticks. Captain Bob and I have been riding these most of the summer. Here’s our combined final take on the grips and the matching bar ends that come with them.

My overall impression of the shape and size of the grip is that it is pretty nice for longer rides that are less technical. If you require a full grip around the bars, these might not be for you, as the grip is big. Its odd shape doesn’t allow for a really tight grip either, so I tended to stay away from technical stuff with mine and I went on longer gravel road rides and commuted on my pair for the most part. Captain Bob did much the same, but he did go off roading more than I did with them. Captain Bob says, “They ( ErgoFix grips) are really grippy and a tad squishy, but it has allowed me to not have to squeeze quite as tight. I never had the feeling that my hands would come off the bars due to the loose grip. That helped eliminate any numbness that would normally occur for me. I was also running a slightly higher handlebar height than on my other bikes so that may have helped too.”

We were both a bit concerned about the transition early on that the hard plastic ends of the grips would poke into our hands since the rubber part of the grip is way softer than the ends. Captain Bob comments, “Well, for a while now I have not noticed this being an issue but as of late it seems to be bothering me a bit. Mainly when I am really tired and seem to be putting more weight on my hands. The ends seem to sort of jab at my palms. I am not sure if the softer rubber is just getting softer with use or what else could be going on there. The good news is that there is not tearing, peeling or delamination to be seen. The soft rubber has a death grip on the plastic clamping area.”

We did run into a problem with the inside of the clamp. There is a sleeve of sorts that gets pressed into and around the hanelbar when the two set screws are tightened. We may have over torqued the screws or tightened them at uneven amounts, but whatever the issue might be, it broke that sleeve. Without the sleeve there is nothing that really clamps onto the bar. Just the two set screws. Captain Bob says, “I was able to stick the sleeves back in between the clamp and bar and they held just fine. That worked for over one month. We were both sent a new pair of grips to try. This time I payed special attention to getting the screws threaded in an equal manner. I tightened the grips a little and then tried to twist them. I tightened the screws until the grips didn’t move. I went on a few rides over the coarse of three weeks and took the grips off to inspect the clamps. They are still holding up. Not sure what caused the problem. It may have been me and my mounting techniques or a slight design flaw, or both. But, they are holding up well at the time.” My grips are doing okay as well. I had a problem after trying to mount mine on a carbon bar. Captain Bob will get to that in a minute: “Another problem I ran into with the clamp on the grips was when using a carbon bar. Even with the new pair of grips and lightly sanding the bar in the clamping area I was still not able to get them to hold tight. I might have been able to go tighter in the set screws but had to stop as the ends of the bars were ovalizing due to the two set screws and going tighter would have most likely cracked the bar.”

We both had some really good things to say about certain aspects of the ErgoFix grips and ErgoSticks bar ends. Nice, grippy surfaces, nicely shaped. Very comfortable on long, non-technical rides. However; there are certain issues that would need clearing up, or modification before we could recommend these as a high performance upgrade. Captain Bob muses, “In conclusion, it’s a mixed bag for me. The clamp part has me a little worried and I don’t think I should have to be quite so careful when mounting grips. Maybe a tougher sleeve that won’t crack might be the ticket. For those wanting to give them a try I would suggest being very observant when installing them and you shouldn’t have a problem. I would also add that a smaller size might be wise to add, and that the ErgoSticks should be adjustable, so that users of swept bars can dial in the correct position for riding them. As they are, a “broom stick” bar is all that really works with the ErgoSticks.

The clamping issue was the real downer for us. Not being able to use them on carbon bars, and having to really watch the over tightening on the tiny 2mm set screws seemed like major oversights to us. While you can get the grips to function once you get by the clamping stage, the issue is too serious to overlook. We would not recommend these for this reason.