Ergon GE1 Review

A whale dies for each display-card produced

I just re-read my initial impressions and fell asleep half way through, so I'll keep this one brief. 

Thanks to fellow blogger DB I've been trying out the small size over the last fortnight as I had come to the conclusion that the large size was a bit big to use with gloves. I've been out to Woodhill a couple of times with mixed results. Super-comfy with my polyprop glove-liners but when I got hot and took those out they felt a little small and harsh on the bumpy downhill stuff. This was purely a sizing issue and may not be a problem with the suspension forks that most people run. I had lots of control for technical riding and I like they way you can slide your hands inwards against the flange for an alternative hand-hold.

What I liked:

- Comfortable

- Well made

- Really easy and quick mounting with the single clamp

- Quirky looks

- Wide grip area

What irked me:

- The packaging is totally over the top

- The clamp is a bit bulky (Slimmed-down on the updated model)

- No medium. Underwear doesn't just come in large and small. 

As Ergon states on their website: "The sculpted shape better distributes the load away from the nerves entering your hand. It may not look revolutionary, but the effect is noticeable."

My grandmother always told me that things come in threes and I've just won a third pair of Ergon grips in a photo competition on Flickr. Hopefully they send me a pair with "wings" as I'd like to see if they'd work for me with the sweep of my bars.

Woodhill testing ground

Testing finished and heading for home

You don't want to lose that silver ring inside the clamps

This is as high off the ground as I get

Family Mountainbiking at Woodhill

As I've mentioned previously there's no shortage of keen mountainbikers in our small cul-de-sac so every month or so a call will come out of the blue arranging a group ride. We always go to Woodhill Mountain Bike Park as it's ridable all year round and the kids enjoy the man-made structures out there. 

As anyone with children will attest to, just about any organized activity will cost you an arm and a leg. That's one of the attractions of Woodhill for me, it's actually reasonably priced and that encourages me to go more often. For casual visits it costs me $6 as an adult, $4 for my 11 year old and my 8 year old is free. We take our own food so the only additional cost is the petrol for the 70km round trip. 

It's a good set-up with plenty of parking and toilets, a coffee hut and a shop if you feel like spending more money. My boys aren't keen cyclists but they enjoy the trails enough to tear themselves away from their Nintendos for half a day.

Thing-One tackles the see-saw while we decide which trails to ride.

"I'll be damned if my big brothers going to do something I can't"

It's good, clean, healthy fun and until my daughter (The Midget Assassin) gets off training-wheels it's also a chance for a bit of male-bonding in the family. A bit of mud, sweat and blood is good for the soul.