Grip Buddies Review

Original Beemer Buddy

Updated... (see bottom of article)

I got these grips mostly to make the grips a bit thicker than stock - not so much to reduce vibration.  To this end the grips feel just right when I'm wearing Summer riding gloves.  With winter gloves the grips feel a bit fatter than what I want.  I also got a chance to use them in cold weather.  The heat transfer seems to work fine in both low and high heat settings.  I guess they help with vibration also but I can't tell if they help in this area.

My weak points with the grips is that they look like an add-on item.  In addition they are a wrap around product not a slip on product therefore they have a seam the length of the grip.  The instructions say to place the seam where your hand and fingers don't touch it.  Good advise of course and that also places the seam near dead bottom for each grip.  The additional advantage is that you can't see the seam in that location.  My problem is that I still know the seam is there (it's like an OCD thing for me).  I'm also wondering how they will hold up with wear and tear.  My original grips were showing signs of wear with 24,000 miles.  Neither is an expensive item to replace.

The seam

The cost was $19.95 plus shipping and purchased here.

Update - 09/17/2012
After my long tour this Summer the Grip Buddies took a beating.  The ride was 4,453 miles in 10 days.  I am guessing I had 3,000 miles on the grips before my ride.  As a future point of reference I am at 33,000 miles on my bike.  The photos below tell the story.  The foam is cracked on the right grip and is wearing off on two different areas on the left grip.  I still like the grips but keep in mind that they seem to have a rather short life.  Not too much to complain about for a $20 (plus shipping) item.  As a point of reference the stock grips showed a little wear with a total of just over 20,000 miles.

Left grip - front view

Left grip - rear view

Right grip

Update - 04/08/2013
I removed these grip buddies this week.  Bike was at about 38,900 miles.  The wearing you see above was not too big of an issue with me.  The reason I removed them was that the left side grip was always rotating on the grip.  It's weird that the right side (throttle side) that is always being twisted did not move much but the left side did.  I think it was tension that was on it as I held the clutch in.  Anyway, I got tired of fixing it on the road so I removed them.  Rating changed to reflect this issue.

*****
Rating=5   Scale 1-10 with 1=lowest rating (save your money), 5=average, 10=An excellent product.

tsp