Buyers Guide: The Best MTB Grips! (Our Top Picks)

Are you looking for the best MTB grips for 2023? Well, we're to help! Grips are extremely important, but you might be wondering why we believe that they matter so much. You only have three touch points for your bike; your pedals, saddle, and handlebars. In order to be as comfortable on your bike as you can be, you need to make sure that you are taking full advantage of those touch points. You are not always sitting down when you ride your bike, and the rubber or cleats on your shoes are in contact with the pedals instead of your bare feet. Because of this, we truly believe that handlebars are one of the most important key touch point when it comes to riding your bike comfortably, so it only makes sense that mountain bike grips are a natural extension of this.

It is imperative that you choose your grips wisely, as they can truly make or break the way you ride in a lot of different ways. Luckily, mountain bike grips are a relatively cheap and incredibly easy upgrade that takes just a few minutes to install. Swapping out a pair of grips can lead to an immediate improvement in feel on your bike, and with so many colors and designs, is also an extremely easy way to change the looks of your ride!

It is important to get something that is comfortable and durable for your riding needs so we thought it might be good to drop a video showing some of the best mountain bike grips on the market! Take a few minutes out of your day to listen to Mark and Alex go over 7 of the best MTB grips you can buy in 2023. Links for all grips discussed are available in the description below.

Timecodes
0:00 - Intro
0:54 - ODI Ruffian
2:16 - PNW Loam
3:33 - Ergon GA2
5:29 - ESI Chunky
7:41 - DMR DeathGrip
9:57 - Deity Knuckleduster
11:37 - Wolf Tooth Echo
13:44 - Conclusion

About Us
Jenson USA, JensonUSA.com, is one of the largest, oldest, and most trusted online bike retailers in the US. We sell everything from mountain bikes, road bikes and gravel bikes, to newest selection of eBikes and kids bikes. We not only sell and ship full and ready to ride assembled bikes, but one of the biggest selections of bike components, apparel, footwear, helmets, and everything in between. At Jenson USA, our passion for cycling sprouted back in 1994 and has since taken root and grown into a community of people devoted to living life to its fullest. We're building a culture of people who respect each other, set the pace, and lead through service. We strive daily to better serve our customers, our fellow employees, and our community. Over the years we’ve found that happy people are hardworking people, and that the time we spend on two wheels together builds the greatest profit of all. 
 

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[jensonusabicycles]

We're curious, what grips are you all running? What are your favorite grips?

[aaronburela]

None of my friends use the same grips it's all preference. the rev grip guys keep saying how magical the grips are, but I'm good on spending 90 for grips. Love my knuckle dusters

[linori]

I use ESI Chunky and I like the feel, however, if the day is rainy or you forgot your gloves they are a nightmare. They get extremely slippery.

[skiMTB]

All of the grips that you guys showcased (aside from the ESI Chunky) are very thin walled thus providing very LITTLE vibration damping. And my understanding of the ESI grips are that once they get a little wet, they are SUPER slippery. The ONLY grips that you guys did not mention; and the grips that I swear by; are either the ODI F1 DREAD LOCK grips AND the OURY V2 grips. Both of these grips have NEVER fatigued my hands... and provide damping to the UTMOST level. I have bought several pairs of both brands. I like the OURY for how easy they are to clean. The Dread Locks are MUCH harder to keep clean-as they are a sort of foam-ish compound. If you guys at Jenson have not tried these, you owe it to yourselves (and your hands) to give them a ride. I SWEAR, YOU WILL NEVER BUY ANYTHING ELSE... or you will try something else, and ALWAYS come back to one of these two.

VERDAD! 🤙

[DAXimusTT]

This is exactly what I need. New bike coming next week. Thanks

[WorkLessRideMore]

I used to run Deity Knuckleduster on all my bikes, but trying supracrush on my dh bike trying a larger diameter with more vibration damping to help my old man sore bike park fingers. Liking them so far

[dangurtler]

I use Specialized or Ergon with wings, if I use anything else, I get too much numbness in my hands.

[NonLegitNation]

Right now I'm using Ergon GE-1s they feel great but I'm just not a fan of the color. I know it's just nitpicking but I have a tan color scheme going with my bike and I bought the Ergon GE-1s in their sandstone color but it's just too light of a tan and clashes with the rest of my bike. I actually tried dying them a darker shade of tan last night but used too much dye and they came out a REALLY dark mahogany brown, so now I'm thinking of getting rid of them and going with the PNW Loam XLs in their Tan color.

[djsonfire]

I almost pndubbed it but went with sdg thrice 31's i get hand numbness easy and these feel really nice...

[ahoyt]

I run the death grips, and as long as I can buy them I will continue to run them.

[robertwatts]

I come from a bmx background and ive been using ODI Long necks for 20 years. I've tried other grips on my mtb and I found I couldn't find anything as comfortable

[Trikk]

Deity Supracush is by far the most comfortable grip out there for hard charging riders. Ergon GE1's are go to for trail and long rides.The Knuckdusters are one of the worst grips I've tried.. I hate waffle design grips and they're always the first the I rip off new MX and MTB bars.. I prefer a symetrical design where my hand feels the same all the way around the grip, I don't like having to worry about if my fingers are in the right spot on the grip while I'm descending. Supracush soaks up so much small vibrations too, noticeably better for arm pump. The grips with the perpendicular ridges make your thumbs move left and right as they lay over, also sucks ie. Deathgrips/Knuckledusters. PNW look interesting, haven't ridden them before, and no one is running dual lock on grips any more so the others are out...

[ah-duck]

Been using old school ODI Attacks long ago since the 90s. Don't really like the Longnecks versions which feels similar. After many grips later, I had settled on using PNW Loam Grips until ODI Longneck V2.1 Lock On Grips was release. Best Grips for me til date.

[tomwiggins]

It's hard to take you guys seriously when you got a guy standing there with that stupid ring in his nose.

[blakevk]

I’m running the spank grips w/one locking ring . The ends are rounded and hold up during spills etc. 2nd choice are the ESI foam .3rd pick is odi with sticky foam inside . Great grips but wear fast
Nose rings ?

[zintoki]

Sadly 90% of these grips aren't even available in EU.

[mastertuc]

Odi Aron gwin-1 are my go to. Love the small diameter

[themtbcarguy]

I run death grips and they wore out kinda quick but I’m going to get deity knuckledusters next and see which I like better

[abneriidelacruz]

I prefer the burgtec Greg minaar grips. Very nice though the ODI reflex looks promising.

[Burritosarebetterthantacos]

Ive had esi’s for years but now im riding gnarlier stuff and need more bmx style grips. No gloves👍