Brompton Grip Swap to Ergon: A Mapo Ride and DIY Surgery
Cycling · Published 11/19/2022 ·
Sorry for kicking things off with this… haha.
I’m meeting a buddy for dinner tonight, so I’ve got to ride all the way out to Mapo.
It’s been ages since I last rode, so I just can’t get any speed going.
And this bike has a hub dynamo on it, which makes it even more… heavy… no wait, let me put it this way: my engine has been reset.
I stop for a quick break at the convenience store on the north end of Haengju Bridge.
I’d headed out without a water bottle, so I downed a whole bottle of Pocari Sweat.
Cold and refreshing, as always.
After pushing hard, I made it to the Mapo area.
It took a whole hour and a half. That was rough, I tell you. ㅜㅜ
The Han River is always a sight for sore eyes. I can’t tell you how lucky we are to have a river like this in our country. ^^
Here’s the hub dynamo and Edelux combo.
You gain the freedom of charging on the go, and you lose some rolling resistance.
The rolling resistance is more noticeable than you’d think, so it’s something worth thinking over.
After dinner, I’m on my way home. I’ve reached the underpass (“rabbit hole”).
The underpass that cuts under the Jayuro highway was under construction as of November 2022, but it’s still passable. Good to keep in mind.
One shot from a flattering angle~~
This is the underpass that’s under construction. They’re in the middle of tearing out the rails that people used to wheel their bikes up and down.
A lot of folks have expensive bike wheels, and honestly far more people just carry their bikes down than set them on those rails.
If anything, I think tearing them out is the way to go.
They say it’ll be finished on November 24th, so I’ll do a follow-up post after that.
This is what it looks like once you come down.
There’s a mural painted on the wall to take the edge off how bleak the underpass feels.
Even after getting through that underpass, I’ve still got a good way to go before I’m home.
I just have to keep going, mind switched off.
Once I got home, I started debating with myself.
It was later than I’d realized, but I really wanted to swap out the grips… I just couldn’t stand those ugly, lifeless grips.
Once you’ve made up your mind, you’ve got to do it. Nothing happens unless you move.
The little hex bolt is the grip bolt. I boldly loosen it.
These are Ergon grips. Along with Brooks, they’re one of the most popular choices out there.
It depends on how you use them, but these grips give you two riding positions.
Here it is with the end cap removed.
You’re supposed to torque it to 5Nm (I just snugged it up by hand, ha).
This is the end cap. It has a set orientation, and you just slot it in the right way around.
I removed the stock grips.
No turning back now, hehe.
Just in case, I decided to hang onto them for now.
I didn’t have a hex wrench to loosen that tiny hex bolt, so I was scratching my head until I remembered my little screwdriver set.
It’s a Wiha screwdriver set, and I think I bought it four or five years ago.
I tried the Torx bit, it fit nicely, so I loosened it right off.
First I tried fitting the grip on. I remembered reading somewhere that with M bars you have to either trim the grip or reposition the brake lever. So I loosened the brake lever. (Turns out that was a mistake.)
I pushed the brake lever all the way inward and tried sliding the grip on. Even then, the grip still didn’t have enough room to seat properly. Ergon grips clamp at the very outer end. The Brompton stock grips clamp at the very inner end. That’s why there still wasn’t enough room.
So I decided to perform some surgery, hahaha.
Time to cut…
Today my trusty hacksaw did the hard work.
It reminded me of that scene from the movie Inside Men… “Cut here… no, no… not there, cut here…”
Alright… here comes the blade, hehe.
This really is the point of no return.
As I sawed away, it hit me: plastic on the inside, rubber on the outside.
I’ve cut about halfway through. It cut more easily than I expected.
It’s a mess. I thought about cleaning up the edge with a lighter, but…
since it’s the part that tucks inside anyway, I just tidied it up with a wet wipe and called it good.
Now for the second grip, which needs cutting too.
What do you think? I cut off about 2 centimeters.
Looking at it now as I write this, I think cutting about 2.5 cm would’ve been even better.
I try fitting it on first.
The metal handlebar tube pokes out nicely all the way to the very end. This is what lets you clamp it down with good torque.
I did the same job on the other side too.
While moving the brake lever I didn’t even need to touch, I scratched the handlebar. ㅜㅜ
I’ll carry that one with me for life.
How’s the setup look? …
Looking back now, I had it mounted completely wrong. I went back and rotated the ear-like raised part to face forward.
There’s just no substitute for taking it outside and riding to dial in the right position.
I cut up a piece of cushioning foam and slipped it in, hoping to absorb at least a little shock when I carry my 16-inch MacBook in the Brompton roll-top bag.
The smoother the road, the less the impact, but given that you can’t avoid riding over paving blocks on a bike like this, doing even this much put my mind a little more at ease.
And do yourself a favor and get AppleCare+. ^^ Accidents show up without warning.
After swapping the grips, I rode for about an hour.
The roughly 2 cm I trimmed off causes no problems in actual use.
The two positions they give you are fantastic. The numbness in my arms has improved a lot too.
I went back and forth between these and Brooks grips, but the Ergon grips turned out to be plenty comfortable.
If you’re agonizing over which grips to get, I hope this helps.
Thanks for reading.
#Ergon #ergon #Brompton #minivelo #gripswap #PyeonghwaNuriBikePath #PyeonghwaNuri #Edelux
Contact: bumseok.view [at] gmail [dot] com
