11 Best Motorcycle Grips for Long-Distance Touring, Ranked

I’ve ridden enough 500-mile days to know what actually ends a trip early. It’s almost never the bike. It’s your hands — numb fingers, a cramping throttle wrist, and palms that feel like they’ve been sanded with 80-grit by the time you roll into the third fuel stop of the day.

Over the years I’ve run foam sleeves, gel grips, billet aluminum show pieces, and $200 heated kits across sport-tourers, adventure bikes, and a couple of big V-twins. Some were brilliant. A few I ripped off after a single ride. This list is the stuff I would genuinely buy again with my own money.

One thing before we get into grips, though: fix your seat first. A bad seat makes you death-grip the bars, and death-gripping is what actually causes most hand fatigue. I always start by finding the Best Motorcycle Seat I can afford, then work outward to the contact points — grips, levers, and pegs.

What I Look For in a Grip That Has to Last 800 Miles

After a lot of trial and error, I’ve narrowed it down to four things. Get these right and you’ll barely think about your hands on a long ride.

Diameter and Palm Support

Stock grips are usually too thin for my hands, which forces me to curl my fingers tighter than I want to. A slightly fatter grip spreads the load across my whole palm instead of one pressure point. That’s the single biggest reason foam covers work so well.

If you’re fighting bar reach, your seat height is part of that equation too. I’ve written separately about the Best Motorcycle Seat for Short Riders and the Best Motorcycle Seat for Tall Riders for exactly that reason.

Vibration Damping

This is where cheap grips fall apart. Hard plastic and thin rubber transmit every bit of engine buzz straight into your ulnar nerve. Softer compounds, air pockets, and gel cores absorb it. On a big twin or a buzzy parallel twin, damping matters more than looks.

Heat, Grip Length, and Throttle-by-Wire

Heated grips change the whole calculus. If you ride in shoulder seasons or anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line, heat is not a luxury — it’s safety gear. Just make sure the kit supports your bike’s throttle-by-wire setup and that the grip length clears your switchgear.

Durability

Soft grips feel great and wear out fast. That’s the trade-off. I’ll happily replace a $25 set of foam covers every two seasons rather than live with a rock-hard grip that lasts a decade.

1. Grip Puppies — Best Overall Vibration Fix for the Money

If you only take one thing from this whole article, make it this. Grip Puppies are closed-cell foam sleeves that slide over your existing grips and add roughly a quarter inch of compliant material between your palms and the bars.

They cost about $25 a pair, weigh nothing, and take ten minutes to install with a little soapy water or compressed air. The difference on a 500-mile day is genuinely startling — the high-frequency buzz that numbs your fingers just disappears.

It’s the same logic as adding a best seat cushion for long motorcycle touring to your saddle: you’re inserting a compliant layer between you and the vibration source. Cheap, reversible, and effective.

The downside is wear. Mine typically last two to three seasons before the foam compresses and goes shiny. I also wouldn’t run them over heated grips in cold weather, since foam insulates heat almost as well as it insulates vibration.

2. Avon Grips Air Cushion — Best Air-Cushioned Grip for Cruisers

Avon Grips builds these in the USA, and the Air Cushion line is the one I keep coming back to on cruisers. Instead of a solid rubber body, the grip is molded with a series of air pockets that compress under your palm as you ride.

The effect is subtle at a standstill and obvious after 200 miles. It’s a firmer, more supportive feel than foam covers, and the aluminum core means zero flex at the bar. They come in chrome, black anodized, and contrast-cut finishes, and Avon offers fitments for Harley cable and throttle-by-wire setups plus most metric cruisers.

Expect to pay somewhere between $75 and $110 depending on finish. The rubber inserts do harden over a few years, but I’ve had a set last four seasons of regular touring before I replaced them.

3. Kuryakyn ISO-Grips — Best for Harley Touring and Big V-Twins

Kuryakyn’s ISO-Grips are the classic answer for anyone fighting vibration on a big V-twin. The design uses a chrome or black core with rubber “ISO” inserts that float independently, so the engine’s buzz gets absorbed before it reaches your hands.

I’ve run these on a Road Glide and a Vulcan, and they’re the most effective non-foam solution I’ve used on a high-vibration engine. Kuryakyn sells them across several style families — ISO, Kinetic, Hex, and Boss — so you can match your bike’s look without giving up the damping.

Pricing lands around $90 to $130, and fitment covers Harley, Gold Wing, and most metric cruisers. They’re heavier than stock, which I actually like, because the extra mass helps damp vibration. If you’re on a touring Harley, this is the pair I’d pair with the best motorcycle seat for harley touring for a full comfort overhaul.

4. Oxford HotGrips Advanced Touring — Best Heated Grips Overall

Oxford has been building heated grips for decades, and the Advanced Touring kit is the one I recommend most often. You get five heat settings, an intelligent controller that monitors battery voltage, and an auto shut-off so you don’t come back to a dead battery in a parking lot.

The Touring version uses longer grip bodies than Oxford’s Sport kit, which suits wider touring bars and gloved hands. It fits 22mm (7/8 inch) bars with adapters available for 1 inch, and the kit ships with a bar-mounted switch, full loom, and fused wiring.

Plan on roughly $110 to $140. Installation is a solid afternoon job if you’ve never done one — you’ll be splicing into a switched live and routing wires along the bars. I’ve done three of these now, and the heat output is strong enough that I rarely go past setting three, even in near-freezing temperatures.

5. Koso Apollo Heated Grips — Best Heated Grips With Integrated Controls

The Koso Apollo kit solves my least favorite thing about heated grips: the ugly switch box bolted to the bars. Instead, the five-level controller is built into the left grip itself, with an LED ring that shows your setting at a glance.

They fit standard 22mm bars and measure about 120mm long, so measure your existing grips before ordering. Heat output is comparable to the Oxford kit, and the wiring is refreshingly simple for a heated grip install.

They run about $150, which is more than the Oxfords, and you’re paying for that integrated switch and cleaner cockpit. On a bike with limited bar real estate — a naked sport-tourer, for example — that cleanliness is worth the extra money to me.

6. Grip Buddies Original — Best Wrap-On Grip Cover

Grip Buddies take a completely different approach. Instead of sliding over the grip, they’re neoprene wraps that close around it with a hook-and-loop seam. No soapy water, no compressed air, no swearing.

That means you can install or remove a set in about two minutes at a fuel stop. The neoprene is thinner than Grip Puppies foam, so you get less diameter increase but a similar vibration-damping effect. They cost around $30 a pair.

I keep a set in my tank bag for long trips because they’re so easy to add and remove. If you’re not sure whether fatter grips will help you, this is the lowest-commitment way to find out.

7. Progrip 714 — Best Budget Gel Grip

If you just want a better grip than the hard, skinny stock units and you don’t want to spend much, the Progrip 714 is my go-to. It’s an Italian-made dual-density grip with a softer gel outer layer over a firmer inner core, and it sells for around $18 to $22.

The 714 has a closed end, fits standard 7/8 inch bars, and comes in a few colorways. The gel layer does a decent job of soaking up road buzz without the squishiness you get from pure foam.

It’s not going to transform a badly vibrating bike the way ISO-Grips will, and the gel does compress over a couple of seasons. But for the money, I don’t think there’s a better straightforward replacement grip out there.

8. Pro Taper Pillow Top — Best for Adventure and Dual-Sport Bikes

Pro Taper’s Pillow Top grips were designed for motocross, but they’ve become a quiet favorite among adventure riders — and I understand why. The raised “pillow” ridges give your fingers something to grip against, which reduces how hard you have to squeeze the bar.

Less squeeze means less fatigue and better circulation, which is exactly what you want on a 400-mile day that includes 40 miles of gravel. They’re also cheap, usually $15 to $20 a pair, and they come in a wide range of colors.

The trade-off is durability. Pillow Tops are soft, and if you spend most of your time on pavement they’ll wear faster than a harder road grip. I still keep a set on my ADV bike.

9. Biltwell Recoil — Best Retro-Style Grip for Customs and Sportsters

Not everyone wants a chunky touring grip, and the Biltwell Recoil is proof you don’t have to give up comfort for style. They’re made from a very soft thermoplastic rubber compound, fit 1 inch bars, and have a classic ribbed profile that suits customs and Sportsters.

At around $25 to $30 a pair, they’re one of the cheapest genuinely comfortable grips I’ve used. The soft compound is the whole trick — it deforms under your palm and absorbs a surprising amount of vibration.

The catch is that soft rubber wears quickly, especially if you ride gloveless in summer. On my Sportster build I replace them about every other season, and I pair them with a Best Seat for Harley Sportster to make short-hop bikes actually rideable on longer days.

10. Harley-Davidson Kahuna Heated Hand Grips — Best Factory-Style Heated Option for Harley

If you ride a 2016-or-newer Harley Touring model with throttle-by-wire, the Kahuna Heated Hand Grips are the cleanest heated option available. They’re genuine Harley-Davidson accessories, so fitment is perfect and the heat control integrates with the factory switchgear.

They combine a chrome and rubber finish with a heating element that warms the full grip length, not just a patch in the middle. Expect to pay around $250 to $300 depending on the dealer, which is real money — but you’re buying plug-and-play fitment and a factory warranty.

I installed a set on a friend’s Street Glide in an afternoon, and the difference on a 40-degree morning ride was night and day. If you already run the best motorcycle seat for harley touring on your bagger, these are the natural next step.

11. CrampBuster Original — Best Throttle Assist to Pair With Any Grip

Technically this isn’t a grip, but I’d be doing you a disservice by leaving it out. The CrampBuster Original is a plastic paddle that clamps onto your existing grip and lets you hold the throttle with the heel of your palm instead of wrapping your fingers around it.

It costs about $12, installs in thirty seconds, and it’s the single most effective fix I’ve found for a cramping throttle wrist. On long highway slogs I can rest my whole hand and just lean on the paddle to maintain speed.

Some riders find it gets in the way in tight twisties, and it’s not a cruise control — you still have to be able to roll off instantly. I only run mine on touring trips and take it off for weekend canyon rides.

How I Choose Between Foam, Rubber, Gel, and Heated Grips

My decision tree is pretty simple, and it’s saved me a lot of money over the years.

If my hands go numb from vibration and I want the cheapest possible fix, I buy Grip Puppies or Grip Buddies. If I want a permanent upgrade that looks factory and damps vibration, I buy a quality rubber grip like Avon Air Cushion or Kuryakyn ISO-Grips. If I ride in cold weather at all, I skip straight to heated grips and treat the cost as safety equipment.

Bar diameter and grip length are the two specs people get wrong most often. Measure twice. A 1-inch grip will not fit a 7/8-inch bar, and a grip that’s too long will jam against your switch housing.

Final Thoughts

If I had to pick just one product off this list for a long-distance bike, it would be a set of Grip Puppies at $25. That’s an absurd return on investment for something that directly addresses the number one complaint I hear from touring riders.

If budget isn’t the constraint, my personal setup is Oxford HotGrips Advanced Touring plus a CrampBuster, with Grip Buddies in the tank bag for when the foam sleeves wear out mid-trip. That combination has carried me through multiple 4,000-mile seasons without a single hand-related meltdown.

Start with the grips, but don’t stop there. Get the seat sorted, adjust your lever angles so your wrists sit neutral, and take a break every 90 minutes. Do all of that and your hands will stop being the reason you cut a ride short.

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