Bar Endless And Fancy Free

Came home to find a package of grip via Ergon today. The GP1 Leichtbau in flashy PRO team green. In case you wondering "leichtbau" means "bad mother f*cker" in German. Seriously, I like looked it up. OK, OK, it translates into Lightweight Construction and the grips did indeed feel much lighter than my current GR2/Bar End grips.

Anyway, since I had to do some quick maintenance on the Mamasita I figured I'd mount them up. First I needed to get a new tube in the front due to a pesky thorn that some how entered via my sidewall. WTF? Not sure how that happened? But a flat is a flat (I hope I didn't just utter the bike maintenance equivalent of "it is what it is"?? Dear God I apologize if that is the case.

After a quick tube change it was on to the new Ergons. The first thing I noticed was how light they felt compared to the GR2's with bar ends that I currently run. The grip it's self of the GR2 is not that heavy, it's more the magnesium bar end. It's always seemed a bit heavy. The GP1 Leichtbau is the titz! I thought that it would feel strange without bar ends but it actually feels great! Not 100% if I would run grips without ends on my endurance rig (I like to have a lot of position options), but on the Mamasita which I use more for XC style riding and training (and soon as a CX bike!) they feel great.

Installing them was not as easy as Ergo grips usually are for me. I found that when I loosened the clamping screw up enough for them to slip on easily, the screw was not engaging when I would then go to clamp it down. I tried several times, not sure what the issue was. I solved the problem by not loosening the clamping screw as much and then giving the grip a few taps with a hard back book (for lack of rubber mallet). Worked fine on the alloy bars I run, but I would have NOT done such a thing if I was running carbon bars. After I finally got them where I wanted, the clamp tightened just fine, and the all is right. Again, big thanks to the fine peeps at Ergon for the hookup. Much appreciated.

I think I posted a link to this dude's site before, but it has since been updated and has a TON of Euro CX races available for viewing and download. You have to register to see and download, but it's free and worth it. I HIGHLY reccomend it. It's one of my new favorite time waters both at here and at work (sshhhhhh!).

Decided to pass on the Southern Cross race. If it was closer I'd be in, but driving 20 hours round trip in January for a race that's not a priority race, just isn't going to happen. If it was in the 5 hour range, I'd be in fo show. Looks like a grat race. Who know's maybe I'll end up down there for Fools Gold in '09.

OK, time to go update the Pro Bikes blog with some pics from Timmy Cs' race a few weeks ago.

Later.