I've been running these for about a year now. I'd had a few offs from tree clips and looked at various hard guards - which I didn't like the look of or they had awful reviews, so I tried these.
Product name: Loam Lab Counterpunch - Bar ends/Grips
Price paid: ~ €35 with shipping
Score (out of 10): 10
Review:
You can buy them as just ends or as grips and ends. I went with the grips and ends.
I was initially pretty sceptical. I'd looked at some larger bar ends, but was convinced these would hook up on saplings/branches and wasn't sure if these would do the same or not actually provide enough protection/deflection because they might be too small.
Fitting is straight forwards and easy and the parts are all well thought out and very nicely fabricated.
The grip was slimmer than the one I had been using and at first I found them too small. I swapped back for a few weeks but then found I was getting hand cramps with the larger grips so swapped back to the loam labs ones and have found them comfortable ever since .
You don't really notice they're there most of the time, though I have got used to resting my hands up against them for support.
They seem to wear well too, my race face grips wore considerably quicker - part of that might be the way they support your hands, so you ride with a slightly more relaxed grip.
In terms of effectiveness, I've not had any bar induced off's since I've been running them. If you ride trails where it can be tight and you like to go fast, they're great, they don't snag up on bark, they just deflect round.
@UnreasonableMuppet .. one for you to consider ??
They work equally well if you ride trails which are a tight fit with rock. They're aluminium, so they scratch up on granite, but they still deflect/slide well.
If you ride down an overgrown trail, the crap will hook up in all the usual places, but doesn't catch up on the bar ends and pull you round.
Highly recommend them. They even work with the Granite Stash tools :
Discussion thread :
Product name: Loam Lab Counterpunch - Bar ends/Grips
Price paid: ~ €35 with shipping
Score (out of 10): 10
Review:
You can buy them as just ends or as grips and ends. I went with the grips and ends.
I was initially pretty sceptical. I'd looked at some larger bar ends, but was convinced these would hook up on saplings/branches and wasn't sure if these would do the same or not actually provide enough protection/deflection because they might be too small.
Fitting is straight forwards and easy and the parts are all well thought out and very nicely fabricated.
The grip was slimmer than the one I had been using and at first I found them too small. I swapped back for a few weeks but then found I was getting hand cramps with the larger grips so swapped back to the loam labs ones and have found them comfortable ever since .
You don't really notice they're there most of the time, though I have got used to resting my hands up against them for support.
They seem to wear well too, my race face grips wore considerably quicker - part of that might be the way they support your hands, so you ride with a slightly more relaxed grip.
In terms of effectiveness, I've not had any bar induced off's since I've been running them. If you ride trails where it can be tight and you like to go fast, they're great, they don't snag up on bark, they just deflect round.
@UnreasonableMuppet .. one for you to consider ??
Pic of the Day
Hope it was not the same tree. Target fixation? Been there done that. It's embarrassing. This was the first one. Tagged tree A with the bar, and that sent me into tree B. Tree A remembers me. I was going close to the max assist speed when this happened. The second one was off a jump...
www.emtbforums.com
They work equally well if you ride trails which are a tight fit with rock. They're aluminium, so they scratch up on granite, but they still deflect/slide well.
If you ride down an overgrown trail, the crap will hook up in all the usual places, but doesn't catch up on the bar ends and pull you round.
Highly recommend them. They even work with the Granite Stash tools :
Loamlab Counterpunch Grips with Granite Stash Tools ?
With the Counterpunch grips I thought I wouldn't be able to use the Granite Stash tools anymore. The Counterpunch grips clamp to the inside of the bar ends to stay solidly in place and the Granite Stash do the same, with an expanding rubber collar. On mine, I had the Race face closed end...
www.emtbforums.com
Discussion thread :
Review - LoamLab Counterpunch Bar Ends
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