The Ergon GDH Team is only available in one (mid-fat) diameter, and it isn’t left-right specific like so many of the best mountain bike grips around today… and including the Ergon GE1. So unlike most of its other offerings, the GDH has a more ‘fixed’ hand position and there’s less opportunity to fiddle with hand roll and angle via the grip if you’re looking to achieve a very precise sweep or don’t quite like your bar’s shape. Whether this is a problem though comes down to your riding style…

The GDH offers a raised waffle section on top for damping and distinct finger ridges for traction underneath

Design and specifications

Ergon has been making ergonomic grips in Germany for over a decade. The company makes a lot of noise about how it uses science to marry grip shapes and tread profiles to a rider’s hands and has worked with leading World Cup downhill and enduro riders to develop this all-new GDH grip for gravity mountain biking.

The first thing any mountain bike fan might notice here is a distinct similarity to a very popular rival, ODI’s Elite Pro. While not identical, Ergon’s profile is close and also uses a raised waffle section on top under your palms for damping, and distinct finger ridges for traction underneath. 

A further likeness is having a small inner flange and raised outer bumper for a ‘locked-in’ feeling when riding (as Ergon describes it). The basic idea with both products is to follow the contours of a rider’s hand and offer extra hold and comfort in a grip that still retains a slim profile – especially where thumb and index finger loop. 

At £27.99, ODI’s Elite Pro is a fair bit cheaper than Ergon’s GDH at £35, but the German brand does have some differences. There’s a more more pronounced finger box to the GDH, there’s German-made and SGS sustainability marked rubber, and it also features a separate replaceable end cap.

The GDH comes with a replaceable end cap and uses sustainable, German sourced rubber

Performance

My size 8 hands aren’t the biggest, but the mid-fat GDHs feel comfortable without being too bulky and just a little fatter than the slim GD1 I use a lot. Any feeling of extra diameter is not so much in the overall volume of the underlying grip either, but more just in the raised portions and ridges in the central zone.

The padded palm section and sharp finger ridges underneath are pretty pronounced if you’re used to a rounder/plainer grip, and also feel slightly bigger to me than ODI’s Elite. Overall, GDH lies somewhere between a slim and regular Ergon GD or GE1 grip in terms of sizing. It’s slightly more convex though, with thinner portions where your thumb and index finger wrap round it, a bulge in the middle and the GDH is thinner again at the pinkie finger end.

As claimed, I really do feel locked in position, and there’s definitely a ‘sweet spot’ where your hand has to go, rather than the freedom some longer grips give to shuffle about a bit. This will be a matter of personal preference, and while dirt jumpers pulling dramatic shapes on the bike in the air and hanging off grips more won’t like it, gravity riders after a more precise position likely will.

The GDH offers a lot of texture on non-gloved hands that may not suit everyone’s taste

Ergon’s special gravity rubber blend is extremely soft and comfortable and there is a lot of damping and isolation, without ever veering towards being too squidgy or imprecise. There’s no sense here either of ridges and padding twisting like you can get on some grips with taller textures and shapes. 

I really like how Ergon implements its end caps so they can’t fall out, and the brand’s rubberised end design has proven really tough and resistant to damage over the years, and doesn’t pierce the outer grip end as easily as many rivals.

Since the GDH delivers a very set position and the complex raised pattern can feel a bit too textured without gloves, I’m not sure if I 100% prefer this new grip to some of Ergon’s others, but if (and I’m reading between the lines here) the goal was to offer a similar product to the Elite Pro that works every bit as well, then Ergon has clearly succeeded.