Product Reviews – Part II – All City Star BMX Grips

This review is long overdue. I received these grips from All-City in January 2010.

I often review something once it has served its purpose and has been completely used up/annihilated. With these grips, this wasn’t the case. I ended up cutting them off when I decided to strip down my MTB and clean every bolt/bearing/etc. This was in May 2012.

The grips are a dual durometer, with the white stars being a tougher rubber than the black. The black rubber is pretty gummy and kept its grip their entire lifetime. Roughly 18 months into using them, the soft durometer (black) rubber started edging away from the tougher inner rubber (white). This was a visible issue, but not a functional issue at all.

The grips were also very easy to clean up. I often would get them filthy looking after four or five rides, but a touch of water and soap on a rag would clean them off in less than 30 seconds. The little stars were still very white the day I cut them off.

Since these were a set of “BMX” grips, the donut flanges at the end were pretty big, but not enough to be in the way of my brakes.

The only thing I could complain about is the colors of the grips. I really wish the black had been reversed with the white, but this is just so it would better match my bike ~_~

These grips are pretty flashy and a cheap piece of bling to put on your bike. Even the bar-end side of them were in great condition when I removed them. You know how often during crashes or overall neglect for the bar ends result in a smushed or crappy looking edge? Not these guys. They last forever, and are as comfy as grips get.

They MSRP for around $10, so you should go out and pick up a pair for your bike! They come in several colors: http://allcitycycles.com/products/star_bmx_grips

Numeric Review: 4/5.

These would have gotten a perfect score if they would have come in a colorway that fit my bike better. YMMV.

***FCC Mandatory Warning – I did receive these for a discounted price, please be aware that I am showing no bias for them, regardless of the costs or benefits.

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Product Review – Part 1 – RaceWareDirect Garmin Mount

Okay, now that academics are done for the summer, let’s get down to business. First product is a new accessory meant for the Garmin Edge series bike GPS units.

The mount is made by RaceWareDirect in the UK. A lot of people were getting finicky with how long garmin/quark were taking to create their mount, and a couple of companies have popped up to create an unofficial version.

I really liked the look of the PRO mount, so I looked around. K-Edge makes one for like $754,365, there’s a company named Barfly, and a few others on the market.

Raceware Direct is 3d printing their mounts, and it weighs less than 13 grams. If you are interested in a unique style to mount your garmin to your handlebars, Martyn at Raceware Direct is capable of making your ideas a reality.

The mount is very stable, places the garmin in a very nice place off of the handlebar and stem, and the clamp only takes about 10mm of space next to the stem.

I’ve had it for about three weeks now, and despise going back to the stem mount that was originally provided with the garmin when I ride my mountain bike. I can’t afford another one.

I also got a TT mount from Raceware Direct, and it is also of very high quality. It fits very snug and secure. This allows you to place the garmin wherever you want on your TT Bars.

I can’t exactly say this piece of equipment has made me ride faster or climb better, but it has made it easier to look at my garmin, and adjust angles and whatnot. If you want something like this, I would go with racewaredirect, because you are working with a small group of people, and they care whether or not you are enjoying your product! Will garmin ever email you and ask if you enjoy your products? I thought not.

Review Summary: 5/5 Stars.

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