Grips have been round, four-sided, six-sided, oval, and a few other shapes. We thought we'd seen them all. Now Ergon is in the United States and they are showing their wing-shaped grips. This, is new. The support is right where some glove makers are putting extra padding these days and provides more support for the palm of the hand.

The Ergon GP1 grip is a great starting point for an exploration of Ergon's wares. The grip has two kinds of rubber, a harder rubber on the outside and a soft, patterned and textured Kraton rubber pad that both grips the hand or glove and offers great support. Each grip is held in place by a forged aluminum alloy clamp set by an Allen key.

Since the grip is a unique shape, it's great that the clamp is what holds it in place. This way, the grip can be slid on and the clamp left loose so a rider can get a feel for where the ideal position is. Most likely, people will have it at level or slightly below level, but having a clamp so the grip can be set and reset until the position is dialed is a sweet convenience. Those who do drop-offs or spend lots of time with their butt behind their saddle might want the grips lower still.

The Ergon GP1 grip comes in four iterations. Standard width in Small and Large, and SRAM width in Small and Large. The size does not refer to the length but the thickness of the grip. The people at Ergon tell us that macho types assume they should have Large unless otherwise indicated, so consider this a warning. Ergon has found that most people, except those who have huge mitts, go with the Small. The smaller diameter is lighter, a bit stiffer, and easy to grab. Those with big hands and those who spend long, long days in the saddle might want to lean towards large.

The grip is 54mm at its widest (measured front to back). The GP1 Standard Small is 130mm long while the GP1 Standard Large is 140mm. The GP1 SRAM Small and Large are both 94.5mm long. The clamp tightens via a 4mm Allen key and is designed to take not more than 7nm of torque. The left and right grips are mirror images of each other. The grips come with end plugs and mounting instructions. Weights for the GP1 are 169g per pair for the standard small, 206g for the standard large, and 155g for the SRAM small, and 174 for the SRAM large. Available in Black/Grey.