Tech Tip: Gas Grip Without Friction

Looking for a buttery throttle action? You may have noticed your grip rubbing against the throttle body or your bark buster? Check how you can simply fix that!

DR650 right grip with plastic washer fitted against the barkbuster

The issue

Grips being made of soft rubber, they can rub and drag if they touch the throttle housing or your lever protection.

If your grip model is anything else than the tiny OEM, you might have this issue where it is hard to prevent them to touch the throttle housing and/or your bark buster closing on your bar.

As shown in the picture above, the otherwise excellent Pro Grip Rally 714 (check the review here) have a wide flange and are a tad longer than you common smaller MX grips. The large flange can rub against the cable housing and they run a bit longer than the throttle tube as well.

The solution

Cut two plastic washers to fit on both ends.

Rummaging through your trash, you can find great material like the common polypropylene plastic used in many food containers. It has great properties to make low-friction washers between your rubber and the metal.

1. Source a thin and flat plastic piece of packaging like a yogurt lid

2. Draw a circle slightly smaller than the external diameter of the grip

3. Draw a circle slightly larger than the throttle body or bar-end

4. Cut and smooth the edges with sandpaper

5. Slide on the grip/throttle assembly with a little dry Teflon spray on the bar

6. Re-install the grip and bark buster

Yogurth lid: black polypropilene plastic washer material

Might as well go for the look and choose a black piece to cut from!

NOTE: You might wonder why not space the grip simply further away?

These grips are great because they are large and thick. There isn't simply the room to accommodate them on the bar so they wouldn't touch at all.

Plus the smaller end is riding over the bark buster insert and so isn't wire tied meaning it has a tendency to slide toward the bark buster brace and rub some more over time.

Fitting those plastic washers just solve all the above, and keep the grip fitted best against the throttle assembly.

Also, it helps to protect the wire coming out of the grip from the heating element as it is spinning against the cable housing.

Plastic washer between the large flanged grip and the throttle assembly

Now the grip is butter smooth, goes back quickly by itself and no matter how hard you squizz them and eventually make them move, they won't stick against those metal parts.

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