As the husband of a Suzuki SV owner and SV lover myself, I'm pretty active on www.svrider.com. A few years ago, a group buy of 'big name' tank grips that went badly led a prominent forum member to create his own lower cost alternative. Hammergrips are made from industrial grade rubber, with adhesive on one side and a grippy texture on the other.
People have been running HammerGrips for over three years now, and the reviews have been staggeringly positive. They don't chew up leathers like Stomp Grips, they are very secure on the bike while still leaving the owner able to remove them down the road, and best of all, they offer riders a secure and confident grip to the bike while braking and hanging off. Bottom line: these grips are every bit as good as any rival, at a fraction of the cost.
Pete (the owner of HammerGrips) offers a free kit to help riders get the perfect pattern for their bike via the mail. He sent me some contact paper that I stuck to my Buell and traced out a pattern that I liked. If you would like a different shape than this, get a hold of Pete and he'll send you a tracing kit of your own. Perhaps someone wants a pegasus grip? ;)
The details: Frame and airbox grips (four piece kit as seen in pics) is $40 shipped to the US. He does ship out of the US as well, contact him for info. He has assured me that if you mention my username (Fatty SS) he'll mark your set down to $35. That's HALF the price of a four piece Tech Spec set. I haven't talked to him about pricing just the frame portions, though he charges $25 for a two piece set for SV so I'm sure it would be in that ballpark. Also, this set was fitted to an R, so it will fit any of the regular frame XBs. If you've got a bigger frame model, get a hold of Pete and trace up your own!
To order a set, email Pete at bighammer@chartermi.net. For the record, I'm not affiliated with him. I'm just a really satisfied customer hoping to help out some fellow Buellers.
To see his work with SVs, and to read about his many, many satisfied customers, check out this thread at svrider.
http://www.svrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142220
Well the thread was more about ordering than anything else :) I did see one post of a guy in Houston, said it was pushing a 100 degrees and one of them slipped, sagged a tiny bit. Our frames are always blistering hot, how have they held up on the frame?
Oh, and no center pad? My 50 year old belly is a little bigger than it used to be :)
I haven't had mine on very long yet. I'll definitely update this thread if I do have any issues. The general consensus on these has been that the adhesive is comparable to Tech Spec. Should be fine long term.
I didn't want a center piece, so I didn't trace out a template. Sorry about that! It's $10 to add one, but the first of us to do it will have to make a template. It really is super easy though.
Very true about the xb frame getting hot...very hot. Here in Atlanta the adhesive on my Tech Spec protectors began letting loose in the concave areas of the frame behind the pucks.
I don't have pucks on mine, and wasn't sure just how much real estate they claim on the frame. So to be safe, I cut the template off well before the sharp curve in the frame. These are basically flat on the frame, only the airbox portion curves.
With the International Motorcycle Show rolling into Minneapolis this weekend, I'm getting in the mood for some track time. How about all of you? I'm really looking forward to having a solid grip against my tank/frame for once! I rode my wife's SV on the track in the rain last season with HammerGrips on it, and the amount of grip compared to my bare Buell was astounding.
Has anybody ordered a set of these yet? Or am I still the only person here able to hang on to my bike while braking? ;) Spring is coming, get a grip of your XB! Remember to mention my user name (Fatty SS) for a $5 discount.
Also, for all the Debby downers, the key to proper adhesion of any grip on any bike a CLEAN, DRY surface. Wipe the frame area down with an alcohol soaked rag to get rid of any contaminant (like wax, or fuel, or grease from your grubby fingers) before sticking them on. For the airbox, a basic car wash soap and a good wipe down with a clean rag after it's rinsed and dried is adequate. Alcohol can be a little much on the plastic.
Holy smokes have these grips made my frame easier to hold on to!!!
The verdict is in, I put four track days on these grips, plus a season of street riding. One track day was about 100* and they look exactly like they did when I first stuck them on. The adhesive on these grips seem to handle Buell heat just fine!
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