I was thinking about buying some new grips for my bike. I found a site with a ton of aluminum grips that look real sweet. Im going to get ones that have foam on the outside. I was just wondering if i need anything special to do that swap.http://www.xoprodox.com/products.php?cat=67

 

I personally, don't like the style of those grips. They look like they belong on a chopper, imo. The $139 dollar price tag is not very enticing either, lol. But hey, it's your bike. Have you seen Driven's D-3 Alumitech Grips, only $45. High-speed/low-drag; look good too. Just a thought...
As with the swap, removing the grips is really pretty easy, just time consuming. You can cut them off with a razor, use compressed air & blow them off, or even use a shish kabob stick with WD-40 and slide them off. There's going to be residual glue left over once you remove them, which I found rubbing alcohol on a rag works well at getting rid of it.
There are various methods for installation of rubber grips. You can use glue, or hairspray, which acts like a lubricant initially, then dries to adhere, or you can again use compressed air. With those aluminum ones I would imagine there's probably screws used to hold them on; not sure though.

 

<<shish kabob stick...WD-40>>

Well, that's one I haven't tried. Kinda neat. I use the compressed air method for both removal and installation. No glue for installation.

I bought the Driven grips, which I really like. But the left one is already splitting after six months. Not sure if I'll replace it.

I agree with you on the spike grips. I think they're butt ugly except on the most extreme choppers. I also think they're dangerous as hell. It's not unheard of for a rider to hit or cross the bar ends in a get off. Those things would rip you open like a filleted trout. No thanks.

---Paul

 

Yeah, what I did was shove the stick in between the grip & the clip-on/throttle tube about 3/4 of the way in, then placed the WD-40 straw next to it, gave it a quick blast, then removed them. The grips slipped right off.

 

Get some comfortable, proper sportbike grips from Pro Grips. Everyone sells them.

 

First link: Too pricey.
Second link: Cool; if they only had yellow.

But about the aluminum grips, as it sounds like an oxymoron: Do you really (especially for sportbikes) have sufficient grip with aluminum?

 

I got a pair of Oury's a while back for when my Driven grips wear out. Kinda like a frag grenade design.

 

I think the aluminum grips would make the vibration during long rides unbearable. I just recently got the Pro Grip dual density grips and they seem to be pretty good. Used air to get the old ones off and hair spray to put them on. Just plain rubbing alcohol probably would have worked just as well if not better.

Sun line has grips that are a little thicker that I think would be much better.

 

My buddy swapped my grips using an air compressor hose, took him like 10 minutes. No idea how to do it myself, but it was cool.

I have Driven diamond grips. Not the softest, but you feel the front end great, and they grip like nobody's business.

 

i have harris grips and i love them. they grip great and they look amazing. as far as install all those methods would work. i find it easiest to just cut them and i did about 75 of them on four wheelers when i worked at an artic cat shop. as for putting them on just use some WD 40 and when it dries they won't go anywhere. if you don't get them all the way on before it dries just use a screw driver to put more WD 40 in there.

and this may sound obvious but a lot of people make this mistake the first time, but make sure you don't put the throttle grip on too far because it will catch when you twist and that is not safe. i've seen the throttle get caught wide open before because of that