GET A GRIP BUDDY
“GET A PROPER GR IP ON YOU R SE L F BU DDY !” Story by Rob Carmichael
I KNOW THE TITLE OF THIS PIECE SOUNDS LIKE A LINE DELIVERED BY JIMMY CAGNEY IN A 1940’S AMERICAN GANGSTER MOVIE, BUT IT CAPTURES WHAT I WANT TO SAY ABOUT AN AMERICAN PRODUCT, “GRIP BUDDIES”. These are soft-textured motorcycle hand grips that wrap around your OEM grips. The question is whether a friction type throttle lock like OmniCruise (henceforth ‘O-C’, if you are not familiar with how an O-C mounts on the twist-grip see the photo on page 13) will be able to get a proper grip on the softer spongier surface of these types of grips.
A Grip Buddy being wrapped around the OEM Grip.
for keeping me riding as Parkinson’s disease had affected my ability to hold the throttle open in a fixed position. The O-C worked as intended and solved my touring problem because the O-C is mounted on a special silicone band that allows it to both grip when required and to slip when you roll off the throttle. But would the O-C work on the soft-cushy surface of a throttle grip with an extra 3 to 4 mm of foam rubber?
A Grip Buddy, note textured neoprene surface and Velcro strip.
Back in 2018 I wrote a letter to the Editor of Old Bike Australasia praising the O-C throttle lock
www.vjmc.org.au
I ride a Honda single cylinder GB500TT (with a balance shaft), There is still some engine vibration between 80 to 100 kph, but above 100kph the engine becomes remarkably smooth, except for a high frequency tingling sensation in my hands which is typical of Parkinson’s. This is why I wanted to test what system works best with the O-C.
VINTAGE JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE CLUB
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