Brooks leather grips - a review

Its been a few weeks now since I fitted the Brooks leather grips to my Pashley - sadly we have had nothing but bad weather which has curtailed many planned road trips.  Happy to now report that I have put these grips through their paces.

The first thing I would say is that I think these grips look the absolute business - they are formed out of a row of leather discs held together via spokes that run through them, and capped at each end with very classy looking aluminium ends.  The aluminium is stamped "Brooks", and there is also a leather end label with the Brooks logo too.

They come in a range of colours, but as my Pashley is in black, I went for black grips (though they look more grey)

After removing the nasty stock plastic grips that come on the Pashley, fitting is as simple as sliding them on and tightening both aluminium end caps with an allen key.  These grips are longer than the standard grips, so I did need to move my brake levers along a little, and in the case of the left hand grip, move the bell too.  No biggie though.

So what are they like in use?  Well they are large and substantial, that is the first thing I noticed - you really feel you are gripping the bike.  On my first rides with them, I must say they felt a little rough, but having now used them lots, the leather is smoothing out and conforming to my hands  They feel just great.

The real bonus (in the weather we are currently having) is that without gloves on these things get nice and warm - they are actually a joy to hold in cold weather!

I really cant complain, think they look great and feel great.  Well done Brooks