There are a lot of different grip designs out there, but the majority all have one thing in common. They’re round. Or round-ish. There are also a number of “ergo” grips, but even many of those have round portions. Sushi Grips use a different design entirely.
The work of inventor Sean Madsen, Sushi Grips came about while thinking of his favorite food – sushi. Observing the way he gripped a hand roll, and thinking about the way our hand forms a conical grip section when relaxed (instead of cylindrical), Sean thought round grips might not be the way to go.
Instead, Sushi Grips are optimized for the best grip of every finger with a smaller diameter towards your ring and pinky finger. The edges are meant to interface with the natural angles of your fist when you grip the bar which is said to allow for increased control without requiring a death grip on the bar. There’s also a large top platform that is supposed to increase support on the most padded part of your palm for better comfort and reduced numbness.
Key to design is the fact that about half of the grip is actually too small in diameter to fit over the bar. Because of that, the Sushi Grip overhangs the end and adds 65mm in length per side to your bar. That means your 670mm bars are suddenly 800mm. That could be great news for riders on narrower bars who have been wanting to try something wider, but if you’re already riding wide bars – you’ll have to cut them down to get the same width. And you’ll be stuck with the new shortened bar if you decide you don’t like the grips. With a core made from reinforced nylon, Sushi Grips says the design will be strong enough to endure aggressive riding.
But for now, the grips only exist in prototype form. To get them to production, Sushi Grips is pushing a Kickstarter campaign with grips starting at $40 a set. You can also order a set of grips already installed on an aluminum or carbon bar cut to your specified width for $100 or $200.
The production grips will be made in Colorado, and if the Kickstarter is successful, grips should arrive by March 1, 2018.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2133636136/sushi-grips-revolutionary-new-mountain-bike-grips
