AerGrips

It’s unlikely before that you’ve considered why the shapes of drops are a round tube; it’s for one reason only, and that it’s needed to be able to install your levers onto the handlebar. So no consideration has previously been given to how the drops fit into your hands ergonomically, and let me break it to you, your hands don’t grip into a perfectly round shape, especially one that is curved.

The AerGrip concept begins in 2021, with the idea that the nominal round tube shape of the drops aren’t aerodynamic. Avec founder, Tim Allen, knocked up a kammtail grip design and 3D printed them in a TPU material that flexes to the back of the drops. The idea proved effective, not only as an aerodynamic component, but also in reducing wrist torsion when sprinting at a maximum effort, delivering a positive sense of power transfer when pulling across the handlebars, winning in their debut race in an elite criterium and many race wins through to today.

The AerGrips remained a secret weapon, until the development began of the Avec Aer handlebar. The original design did not offer much in the way of comfort, with harsh edges and ridged in its compound, but potentially offered the solution to a wrist clearance issue that resulted in the support mechanisms built into the Aer handlebar. So we revisited the design to learn how we could improve the overall comfort in the grips shape and ergonomically improve contact of the hands with the profile of the drops.

Simple tests with plasticine showed us that when your hands are gripped, the shape formed through your hand is more like an avocado, so we begin be reforming the shape of the grips that shape to the palm of the hands more naturally, distributing contact more evenly and giving a sense of more full contact and increase in hand security while still allowing mobility for your hands to move up and down the drops.

With 3D printing technology, we can be clever about the internal structure of the grips, hollowing out the middle and experimenting with various wall thicknesses that would allow the grip to flex downwards when compressed over harsh, but stable on smooth roads, without losing its shape over time or flexing sideways when under torsion, offering a suspension effect over rough roads. The final design has up to 7mm of travel over the roughest roads/cobbles, vastly improving comfort.

We manufacture our 3D printed parts on the same estate as the Avec HQ in the UK, made with a lightweight TPU rubber material, the AerGrips weigh just 32g a set, a minute trade-off for an industry first upgrade for your hand comfort and performance.

• 3D printed SLS TPU

• Length: 145mm

• Max profile depth: 12mm

• Suspension travel: 7mm

• Colour: white

• Weight: 32g/set

• Compatible with all 23.8mm round drop bar profiles

1 set of 3D printed TPU AerGrips