American Kickstarter project offers bespoke grips that are 3D printed.

Formy grips began as a project back in 2014. The brains behind them is Sky Van Inderstine who, at the time, was a senior student of mechanical engineering at Virgina Tech. He ended up being Virginia Tech’s 2015 Undergraduate Innovator Of The Year.

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Before beginning with the custom-fit grips idea, in 2013 Sky had run on online business selling custom watch straps. It was here where he learned about custom product fabrication, which in turn lead to the idea of Formy grips.

Formy grips are go!

Formy grips has already reached its $2,500 goal on Kickstarter so is on the way to becoming a reality. Moving on from Kickstarter, there is now a proper website where you can order your $49 Formy grips.

Formy bike grips were designed using 3D scanning to ensure a good fit with every rider. They are 3D printed in a flexible and durable thermoplastic in your choice of over 40 colorways.

Two measurements

You don’t have to go and get your hands scanned somewhere. Sky has scanned a load of people’s hands and reckons that he only needs two measurements from a customer: middle finger length and width of palm.

From his research Sky claims that hands don’t vary much in shape, they just vary in size. Formy grips should fit 99% of people, Sky reckons.

Improved durability

As well as the custom-sizing aspect of Formy grips improving comfort and control, it’s also claimed that 3D printing them also improves durability.

Here’s Sky’s explanation: “When it comes to plastics, the more flexible a material it is, the less durable it is. This is why conventional grips wear out after only a couple seasons; in order for them to be squishy enough to be comfortable, they must be made of a material that wears out easily. So how can Formy bike grips be more durable than conventional grips without feeling hard?

“The key is the unique lattice structure within Formy grips that can only be created with 3D printing. Whereas conventional grips are either solid material (durable, but not very squishy) or foam (squishy, but not very durable), Formy grips effectively have a solid exterior with a foam interior. This gives Formy grips the best of both worlds without compromise. In fact, since Formy grips can be made so squishy, they are made of an even harder (and more durable) material than conventional grips; you’d never guess by feeling them though!”