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review
2024 Redshift Sports Cruise Control Drop Bar Top Grips - closeup.JPG£39.99
VERDICT:
Cost-effective way to make almost any drop bar into a mega-comfy ergonomic experience, on- or off-road
Extremely comfortable
Adaptable to different width bars
Reusable
Don't work on wide-topped aero bars
Price
Weight:
142g
Contact:
At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.
What the road.cc scores meanGood scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.
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The Redshift Cruise Control Drop Bar Top Grips add a huge amount of ergonomic grip to the tops of your bar. Enlarging the grip area lessens the impact of vibration on longer rides, making cycling for longer – or at all – open to a wider audience.
> Buy now: Redshift Cruise Control Drop Bar Top Grips for £35.76 from Velozone
The Cruise Control Top Grips are aimed at long-distance cyclists or people with grip challenges, for whom a normal drop bar top is too narrow or uncomfortable to hold. They curve around the outside corners of the bar tops, and rely on a reasonably circular cross-section of bar. If your bar has a 'pronounced oval (aero) cross-section' then they may not fit correctly.
The grips are installed onto a clean, unwrapped bar using double-sided stickers and then high-tensile tape to hold them in place before wrapping. The inside edges facing the stem can be easily trimmed to fit bars of different widths, to maintain enough space inboard to fit accessories like computers or lights. They open to wrap around the bar instead of sliding on, so you can leave your hoods in place.
You need to read the instructions and follow them closely, and there's a bit of trial and error to get the grips perfectly aligned. Fortunately there are extra stickers and plenty of tape in the kit, so if you do faff the install first go and need a second attempt, or need to relocate them to other bars, that's do-able.
The enlargement of the grip area mandates you'll need more tape than usual to completely wrap them, and Redshift's Really Long Bar Tape was designed for this purpose.
Once installed and wrapped, the end result is extremely comfortable under the palms and heels of your hands.
During installation (and before applying the double-sided tape) you can get a feel for the optimal angle of the grips to support your hands. Once fully wrapped with tape it's not possible to twist them, so paying attention up front is important.
At £39.99 these aren't cheap but they work extremely well and can be refitted to other bikes. For the price they are a great choice for comfort and relief from pain.
> Buy now: Redshift Cruise Control Drop Bar Top Grips for £35.76 from Velozone
Verdict
Cost-effective way to make almost any drop bar into a mega-comfy ergonomic experience, on- or off-road
road.cc test report
Make and model: Redshift Cruise Control Drop Bar Top Grips
Size tested: One Size
Tell us what the product is for and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it?
They are for riders experiencing pain or fatigue using normal drop bars, to improve their experience on longer or rougher rides.
Redshift says:
Tired of numb, painful hands? The Cruise Control Drop Bar Grip System gives you the ultimate in control and comfort on your road or gravel bike. Instead of riding all day holding a round metal tube, you'll have multiple ergonomic positions designed to eliminate the high pressure zones that have you shaking your hands out every mile. Together, the Top Grip and Drop Grip offer a complete ergonomic upgrade that fits almost any drop bar on the market. So go ahead, take the long way home.
Combine with the Kitchen Sink Handlebar and Really Long Bar Tape to take things to the next level.
Benefits:
* Ergonomic pad shaping eliminates hot spots which can lead to hand pain, numbness and tingling
* Kraton rubber filters road buzz
* Multiple grip options let you customize your handlebar for the perfect fit
Details:
* Top Grips attach to the bar underneath the tape to provide a larger, ergonomic hand position on the tops of your bars.
Compatibility:
* Compatible with standard drop bar handlebars and not compatible with flat handlebars
* Top Grips are installed directly on the bar, before bar tape is applied, so you may need a fresh roll of tape. Did we mention our Really Long Bar Tape works great, especially for wider bars?
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product
Redshift lists these details:
Weight 94 g / pair
Length 165 mm (can be trimmed by 30 mm)
Material Kraton
Rate the product for quality:
9/10
Rate the product for performance:
9/10
Rate the product for value:
5/10
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
Once correctly installed, the comfort and enhanced grip is epic.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
The overall quality of the product and installation kit. Worth the hefty price.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
Nothing.
How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?
There's no comparable grip for the tops that I could find. Many brands offer gel pads that get laid on top of bars and then wrapped – but I couldn't find anyone selling an actual grip, so comparisons with other grips based on price are not possible.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes
Would you consider buying the product? Yes
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes
Use this box to explain your overall score
They're excellent. Everything about them is class; and though pricey, if you buy the full set, top and bottom, you can save a tenner.
About the tester
Age: 47
I usually ride: Sonder Camino Gravelaxe My best bike is: Nah bro that's it
I've been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: A few times a week I would class myself as: Expert
I regularly do the following types of riding: cyclo cross, general fitness riding, mtb, G-R-A-V-E-L
Living in the Highlands, Mike is constantly finding innovative and usually cold/wet ways to accelerate the degradation of cycling kit. At his happiest in a warm workshop holding an anodised tool of high repute, Mike's been taking bikes apart and (mostly) putting them back together for forty years. With a day job in global IT (he's not completely sure what that means either) and having run a boutique cycle service business on the side for a decade, bikes are his escape into the practical and life-changing for his customers.
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1 comments
Could be quite easy to 3d print 🤔