[Words by Allen James]
Peaty’s Monarch Grips Knurl are the latest addition to Steve Peat’s ever-expanding lineup of bike care products and now, componentry. As the brand’s first crack at contact points, it’s done an impressive job, ticking all of the boxes for durability, comfort and traction having created some of the best MTB grips around.
Peaty’s Monarch Grips Knurl – Technical details
Available in two grip textures and two thicknesses, the British-led brand headed by the Big Man himself, Steve Peat, this year launched a range of grips aiming to cater to most rider’s tastes, whether that be tearing up your local woods, or shaving off precious tenths of a second in your world cup bid!
The Peaty’s Monarch grips feature a tapered design, thickening slightly towards the outside of the grip, that when paired with their offset core, is said to help support the palm, give a more natural grip-angle, and help to increase feel on the thinner sections of the grip for better trail feedback.
They also have a flared inner flange and a pinky ramp (a much smaller flared outer for those wondering – I had to google it too…) to help aid hand retention. The two grip textures share a lot of the same characteristics, the only really difference being the ribbed “mushroom” pattern and more (don’t say Deathgrip) knurled diamond pattern; the former being said to be focused on trail comfort with the latter being more focused on feeling trail feedback.
At first glance, the Thick Knurl texture model tested here looked a little busy and I was first concerned that these may have been a case of form over function, but I’m happy to report at this point, that I could not have been more wrong (more on that later.)
The grips weigh in at 128g, a little heavier than similar grips on the market, although if you’re the kind of person who really cares about the weight of your grips, I suspect these aren’t the type of grips you were looking for in the first place.
Even small details such as the now seemingly industry standard single-sided lockring has been slimmed down from 11mm to 8mm to give that little bit more space on the grip – a small but welcome addition, and although there’s no specific “this way up” marker, levelling out the embossed Peaty’s logo on the enclosed rubber bar-end is a great starting point that can be tweaked later to find your perfect fit.
Peaty’s Monarch Thick Knurl Grips – Performance
Now, back to that complicated design. Although it looks like there’s a lot going on at first glance, even after the first few rides, it became clear that this was a very well-thought-out and thoroughly tested design. Each constituent element of the grip’s design was made with a clear focus on what it was trying to achieve – a testament to the grip’s designers and engineers.
The mid-height, ribbed body covering around 40% of the grip adds comfort to the palm area, which when combined with the 32-34mm thickness gives an incredibly damped feel over rough and technical terrain. For the thumb area, the taller zig-zag texture adds a little more of that important “squish” to counter the tapered thinner portion of the grip, and I’m pleased to report that at no point did I get any pressure points or uncomfortable friction on any part of my hand.
Fingers are treated to a split-block design that gives plenty of traction both with and without gloves in a range of weathers. Think of them like sipes in your favourite tyres, with angular edges for traction, but splits to help them better conform with whatever they’re trying to stick to.
Speaking of rubber, the super-soft construction (20A compound stated on the packaging for all you tyre nerds out there) is fantastically comfortable and has held up well showing little to no signs of wear over the past few months of testing. The grips have even staved off a few smaller spills, although for full disclosure these were usually in the forest in wetter conditions so the landings were certainly softer than a day in the Park or scree-strewn mountain tops.
Although it’s hard to pinpoint which element of the grip’s design was doing the lion’s share of the work, I realised at no point I’d gotten to the end of the trail and had to shake my hands off or stretch my fingers. It really was a case of “sometimes the best piece of kit on your bike is the one that you don’t notice”. If anything, it just made it more difficult to review as I found myself quickly focusing on the trail ahead rather than noticing any contact-point discomfort or awry bar feel
It should be noted, that both the Knurl and Mushroom texture bear no resemblance to the Lizard Skins Steve Pete signature grips released nearly 14 years ago, sharing only a namesake, and although these may share some convergence with some of the most popular grips on the market today, I’m confident enough to say they have managed to take a familiar design, and improve on it.
Peaty’s Monarch Thick Mushroom Grips – Verdict
The Monarch grips are sitting at a very crowded table both in price point and features. At £25, they’re very marginally more expensive than DMRs famed Deathgrips and it’s hard not to draw at least some comparisons to the design.
There are plenty of similarly priced grips on the market including the recently reviewed WTB Wavelength, the PNW Loam and the All Mountain Style Berm to name a few that sit within grasping distance of the Monarch grips’ price, all of which are worthy for consideration, but all should be available from good bike shops so best pop in and try feel them for yourself.
If you’re looking for something on the more budget end of the scale, it may be worth considering the Oxford driver at only £15, but just don’t expect the same levels of comfort and grip as the Peaty’s.
The Monarch Grips are a seriously impressive first outing for the Man from Sheffield. The Thick Knurl design offers class-leading damping for the fraction of the cost of a set of fancy carbon handlebars, and I’d argue do far more to stave off arm pump and fatigue. The grips have lasted admirably for such a soft compound and have shown good resilience to damage so far. It’s hard to pick fault.
All the deals displayed on our review pages are pulled from a constantly updating database feed of the best affiliate deals available. The criteria for deciding on what are the best deals is who is offering the lowest, delivered price. In most cases we will be showing the very best deal available online, but sometimes you may be able to find an item cheaper. If you can please feel free to post a link in the comments box below. To find out more about affiliate links on road.cc click here.
