Mountain Bike Grips for Large Hands

What are the best mountain bike grips for large hands?

For longest time I have used the original grips that came on my Performance Access XCL 29er. As a person with large hands the grips were terrible. My hands would cramped constantly during the ride and would be super sore days later. I knew at the time that the grips were too small, but I dealt with it. After waiting so long I finally purchased the ESI Extra Chunky grips.

Grips for larger hands (Diameter):

• Wolf Tooth Fat Paw (36mm)
• ESI Extra Chunky (34mm)
• ESI Chunky (32mm)
• Ergon GS 1 MTB Marathon (32mm)

After Googling “mountain bike grips for big hands” and not really coming up with anything besides some forum recommendations, I decided to summarize and create an image of the different sizes. The ESI bar end plug below is sized to 22.2mm, which is the diameter of the handlebar where your grip sits. Both 31.8mm and 25.4mm diameter bars slim down to 22.mm. And, any grip that you buy will fit 22.2mm bars. Side note in case your didn’t know, 31.8mm is now the industry standard for both road and mountain biking. 

The foam depth is the thickness of the foam on the one side of the bar, between the top of the grip and the handlebar itself. For example, take the radius of Wolf Tooth Fat Paw Grips 18mm and subtract the 11.11mm handlebar radius, it will equal a foam depth of 6.9mm (0.27 inches).

Below is how my hands fit on ESI’s Extra Chunky Grips:

-thebidon