Monday, April 03, 2006

Little Things

Think 1979, yup thats way back in the day. Its back when OAKLEY was exclusively SO CAL, and us ioweejuns were the trickle down eastern customers, OAKLEY actually made stuff besides groovy glasses so unless you had an OAKLEY number plate on your BMX bike, you were coming up short on style points. They also made THE coolest set of handlebar grips, shaped like your hand, didn't slip, and provided just a little cush for the bone jarring captain insano tricks we'd try to pull off. When I first got into mountain biking I went lookin to replace what in my opinion was THE biggest shortcoming when it came to the "new" mountain bike; GRIPS. I never liked the thin slippery, slide up and down the bar ,twistin, gooey, too small for your hand to grip, GRIPS. The last few years I've used ODI lock on YETI's and been pretty happy, the lock rings kept em exactly where you wanted them and the YETI version is about twice the circumference of a regular grip so you don't have to wrap your hand around it like a Boa eatin a rat. All was good until I spied these on Jeff Kerkoves bike, just like the new Ford Mustang, here was a reincarnated version of OAKLEYS best contribution to biking, makes me want to hit the half pipe and throw down a big Flair to fakey can-can truckdriver (rrrright) or just make hitting the trail for hours on end a bit more comfy...and that they are.

8 comments:

Mike Howard said...

I was a 18 and feeling no pain in 79" ! I have wanted to try those grips and never have made the switch.They look easey on the hand and might help with the numbness.

See you Sunday! Hope the weather is good !

mattonne said...

They feel pretty good, they do change the position of shift/brake pods a bit cause they're a little longer than most but so far so good. Suppose to be 60 and sunny on race day

Pete Basso said...

Matt - I used those Oakley grips in 1979 on my chromoly Schwinn Stingray with Skyway Tuff wheels!! They were called Oakley 3's. I loved those handgrips. I bought a Rav X knock off for $10 for the Ouachita Challenge. They felt great for 6 hrs. I tightened down the lock enough that I could move the grip if twisted hard enough. I'll be racing them this weekend too. See you there stud!!

Midz said...

I'm beggin to see that truckdriver across the finish line!

mattonne said...

Oh thats RIGHT OAKLEY 3's!!! I had a RED-LINE MX3 with Yellow Tuff wheels, I traded it for a set of mags wheels for my first car...
1973 Duster 340 (sigh)

Mike Howard said...

69" RoadRunner 383 ( I hear ya )

Pete Basso said...

Lucky you, my first car was a hand me down 1981 Buick Skylark - skyblue. My brother gave it to me in college and didn't charge me. It wasn't the best car to WOW the women?? Thank goodness my roommates had nicer cars!!

mattonne said...

Are you KIDDING? chicks dig buicks...