The Ergon GA3 grip is a blend of traditional shaping and full-on winged grip, with what Ergon dubs a Miniwing. It’s comfortable, grippy and they’re great if you don’t wear gloves – but if you’re not a fan of chunky grips, you won’t get on with these.
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The idea behind the GA3 is that it provides more support than a round grip, but allows for a larger range of movement than a fully be-winged ergonomic grip.
It’s also meant to alleviate pressure on the carpal tunnel, so minimizing pain and numbness, and enourage you into the correct wrist position.
The grip uses a soft rubber compound and a similar tread to other Ergon grips, with a smoother upper and a more textured lower.
They have a single lock on the inside end, and the wing itself is surprisingly firm, but there’s still some compliance. There’s a bar end built into the grip too.
As with a lot of Ergon grips, there are markings on the collars, which help massively to get a similar roll for each of the grips. This is a huge plus for me as they’re super easy to set up: I put them on, lined them up and that was that. I never had to faff to realign them after that first installation.
The GA3s work well. They offer more support than a regular grip, and the larger contact area allows for a number of hand positions without getting uncomfortable.
The grip they provide is quite impressive. That soft compound is great with or without gloves.
However, on steep trails I found I got arm pump much sooner than with normal grips. I found that as I leaned back on the bike to compensate for the trail, I put more pressure on the wings and they essentially acted like fatter grips. Sure, you could roll the grips further back, but that would move the wing out of the way and defeat the purpose.
I was also surprised with how much extra leverage on the brakes I can get with this grip – this may be a contributing factor to the arm pump, though.
Also, characteristically of Ergon, they are slightly more expensive than 'regular' grips.
Away from steep trails, there was absolutely no point in which I felt that these grips were in any way uncomfortable. The extra support in different hand positions is a very welcome feature too.
If steep trails aren’t something you usually ride, the Ergon GA3 is a great grip that provides a solid platform and support you can’t get from a round grip. You do sacrifice some freedom of movement, however.