Torc1 Defy Grips – Review
The guys over at Torc1 racing fired us over a pair of their Defy lock-on grips with their unique shock absorbing compound.
Pedals and grips are you essentially your only contact points with your bike. We now tend to spend a lot of time finding the right pedal, and rightly so, but it does still seem that when it comes to grips many of us will often look at ‘what’s on special offer’, ‘what colours are available in a certain brand’ or just ‘is it a lock on grip or not’. Those often seem to be the criteria. But your contact with the bars are your main point of control of your bike, so really, it’s worth spending more than a couple of minutes best-price browsing to make your selection.
The Torc1 Defy Lock on Grips are new players in the MTB grip world, although they have been available in the states for a while, they are now available in the UK through Rapid Moto Distribution. More choice for us, good news for us. Torc1 Racing have been making some pretty trick Moto products in LA including a pretty extensive selection of MX grips, so they know what makes a good grip.
– Soft and Durable Super Tacky Compound.
– Overall Length 130mm.
– Weight: 90g Per Set.
– Unique Shock Absorbing Material.
– Oversized Clamping Bolts and Side Specific Clamps Make for Easy Installation
– Available in White, Red, Pink, Blue, Black
– RRP – £22.00
They Defy lock-on grips definitely have a different look to them when it comes to their pattern. Featuring a quite strong block pattern, just holding them and trying to twist your hand around the grip and it’s obvious that these have serious amounts of traction. The compound is super soft and very tacky and features a shock absorbing material which is designed to reduce fatigue in the wrists and arms. Any attempted solution to the dreaded arm pump gets a thumbs up from us.
They also come equipped with a single oversized CNC lock-on clamp meaning more area of actual grip and oversized clamping bolts to reduce the chance of stripping the head when you snug them up nice and tight. The clamps are also left and right specific, just to make installation a little bit easier – nice touch. They come in at 130mm wide so plenty of gripping area and weigh in at about 90g a pair.
Out on the trails, we really liked these grips. Initially we were concerned that they may in fact lean on the side of being too grippy but the balance is just right and if you ride without gloves they have a really comfortable feel on your palms and we think that they would definitely aid in reducing the potential of blisters. Whether the shock absorbing compound really works is hard to establish but the grips definitely have a unique feel to them and there is a distinctive cushioning there when you land hard or case jumps (plenty of this going on recently!). We are usually a little concerned about grips with just a single clamp as they can often begin to twist, which is pretty much the most unsettling feeling you can experience mid-ride. Happily though we had no such issue with the Defy’s. With the oversized clamping bolts we were able to tighten them up nicely so other than ‘Moto death grip’, nothing was going to get them to twist on the bars.
They are essentially a super comfortable grip that your hands are never going to slip off and come winter time when the going gets wet, these will be our grip of choice. They come in a funky selection of colours and given the chunky pattern we feel confident these will last.
