9 Best Motorcycle Grips for Large Hands, Ranked by a Rider With XXL Mitts

I wear an XXL glove, and for the first few years I rode, I assumed cramped, clawed hands were just part of motorcycling. They are not. The day I swapped the skinny stock grips on my bike for a fat, soft aftermarket set, my numb fingers and forearm pump mostly disappeared.

Since then I have ridden well over 40,000 miles on Harleys, adventure bikes, dual sports and one very loud Sportster, and I have tested a lot of grips along the way. Some were brilliant. Some were expensive disappointments that looked chunky in photos and felt like pencils in my palm.

This list is the short version: the grips I would genuinely buy again, all of them real, currently available products, and all of them meaningfully better for big hands than whatever came on your bike from the factory.

One thing before we start. Hand comfort is only half of the cockpit equation. If your bars, grips and seat are not working together, you will still get sore. That is why I always point big riders at the Best Motorcycle Seat guide here on the site, because a seat that puts your hips and shoulders in the right place does as much for your hands as the grips themselves.

What I Actually Look For When My Hands Are This Big

Before I get into the list, here is the filter I run every grip through. It is short, and it will save you from buying something that looks right in a product photo and feels wrong in your hand.

Diameter Is the Whole Ballgame

Most factory grips measure somewhere between 28 and 30mm across. For a rider with medium hands that is fine. For me it means my fingers close all the way around and then keep going, which forces my hand into a fist that never stops clenching.

My sweet spot is roughly 1.25 to 1.5 inches of outer diameter, which is about 32 to 38mm. That sounds huge until you actually ride with it, at which point your fingers relax and your forearm stops screaming.

Length and Flange Matter More Than People Admit

A grip that is too short leaves your pinky hanging off the end of the bar, which is its own kind of misery. I look for grips in the 5 to 5.5 inch range, and I check whether the throttle side clears my switch housing and my bar end weights.

If you run bar end mirrors or handguards, check whether the grip is open ended or closed ended before you order. Trimming a closed end grip with a razor blade is doable, but it is a hassle I would rather avoid.

Compound: Soft Wins, Up to a Point

Soft, gel backed, memory foam grips spread the load across more of your palm, which is exactly what a big hand needs. But too soft and the grip rolls under your fingers during hard braking, which is genuinely unsettling.

My rule is simple. Street and touring riders should lean soft. Track and off-road riders should lean firm and let the diameter do the work.

1. Pro Grip 719 RVGS Gel Grips — My Overall Pick for Big Hands

If you only take one recommendation from this whole article, take this one. The Pro Grip 719 RVGS is an Italian made dual density grip with a gel layer bonded under a softer outer skin, and it is the single best all round upgrade I have made to a street bike.

The 719 is roughly 125mm long, fits standard 7/8 inch bars, and lands in the 30 to 32mm diameter range depending on how the rubber settles in. It is not the fattest grip on this list, but the gel core is what makes it work for me. Vibration that used to travel straight into my knuckles just disappears.

They cost somewhere between twenty and thirty dollars a pair, which makes them the best value on this list by a mile. Mine have been on the bike for three seasons and are only now starting to show wear at the throttle side.

2. Spider Grips Peak — The Thickest Profile I Have Ridden

Spider Grips is a small US outfit, and the Peak is the chunkiest grip in their lineup. It is the one they steer big handed riders toward, and they are not wrong to do it.

The Peak has a soft, tacky compound and a profile that fills my palm without feeling like I am holding a rolling pin. What I like most is the way it tapers slightly at the inner flange, so my thumb still reaches the switchgear without me having to shuffle my hand.

They are closed end, made in America, and typically run around twenty five to thirty five dollars. If you have ever held a grip and thought “this still feels small,” this is the one to try.

3. ODI Emig Pro V2 Lock-On Grips — Best for Dirt and Dual Sport

Lock-on grips changed my off-road life. No glue, no safety wire, no swearing in a cold garage. The ODI Emig Pro V2 is the version I keep coming back to, and it is genuinely real, widely stocked and easy to find.

The system uses a bolt on collar at the inner edge, and ODI supplies a matching throttle tube in the box, so installation takes about five minutes with a hex key. The compound is firm but the grip body is on the generous side, which suits my hands well on a 450 or a big dual sport.

The one trade off is that the lock-on collar eats maybe a quarter inch of usable grip length. On a wide dirt bar that is nothing. On a narrow street bar it can push your hand into the switch housing, so measure before you commit.

4. Renthal Dual Layer Road Race Grips — Best for Sport and Track Riding

Renthal makes the Dual Layer Road Race grips in soft, medium and hard compounds, and the dual layer construction is exactly what it sounds like: a firmer inner sleeve bonded to a softer outer skin so the grip does not squirm on the bar.

They come in at 125mm long with an open end, which is perfect if you run bar end weights or bar end mirrors. I run the medium compound and find the diameter a touch slim for my hands out of the box, but the compound softens up nicely after a few hundred miles.

At roughly twenty to twenty five dollars they are cheap enough to treat as consumables, which is exactly how you should treat grips on a track bike.

5. Kuryakyn ISO-Grips — Best Cruiser and Touring Pick

For cruiser and touring riders, the Kuryakyn ISO-Grips are close to a no brainer. The design uses a series of rubber isolators set into a metal barrel, and the result is a grip that measures noticeably fatter than a stock Harley grip while soaking up an absurd amount of engine vibration.

They are available for cable and throttle by wire bikes, in chrome or black, and they come in fitments for most Harley models plus a lot of metric cruisers. Expect to pay somewhere between ninety and one hundred and thirty dollars, which is real money, but they last.

If you are building out a touring bike, I would pair these with the best motorcycle seat for harley touring, because the combination of a fat grip and a proper long haul seat is what finally got me to a thousand mile day without wrecking my hands and back.

6. Avon Grips Memory Foam — Best for Long Distance Comfort

Avon Grips are made in the USA, and the memory foam line is exactly what the name promises. The foam layer compresses under your palm and then slowly returns, which spreads pressure across a much bigger contact patch than a standard rubber grip.

They are available in 1 inch fitments for Harley and 7/8 inch fitments for metric bikes, and the profile is genuinely thick. On my touring bike they are the grips that finally stopped my right hand going numb after two hours in the saddle.

They run roughly seventy to ninety dollars, and they do wear faster than a harder rubber grip. I get about two seasons out of a set, which I consider a fair trade for the comfort.

7. Biltwell Kung Fu Grips — Best Budget Chunky Grip

If you want to test whether a fatter grip helps your hands without spending much, start here. The Biltwell Kung Fu is a vintage style rubber grip with a soft compound, a closed end, and a body that is noticeably beefier than a stock bar grip.

They fit both 7/8 inch and 1 inch bars, come in a few colors, and cost around twenty five to thirty dollars a pair. I ran a set on a Sportster for a full season and they held up fine, though the soft rubber does scuff up quickly if you ride in gloves with grippy palms.

That Sportster also got a Best Seat for Harley Sportster upgrade in the same winter, and honestly the two changes together transformed that bike from a bar hopper into something I would happily ride all day.

8. ProTaper Pillow Top Grips — Best Off-Road Pick for Big Hands

Off-road grips are where large handed riders usually suffer most, because dirt bars are wide and the stock grips are thin. The ProTaper Pillow Top fixes that with a dual density construction that puts a softer, cushioned outer layer over a firmer inner core.

They are among the most popular grips in motocross for a reason. The cushioned surface takes the sting out of rocky trails, and the diameter is generous enough that my fingers do not fully close around the bar.

They cost about fifteen to twenty dollars and fit standard 7/8 inch bars. I run them on my dual sport and have recommended them to everyone I know with a best motorcycle seats for kawasaki klx250 style trail bike, because that whole class of bike benefits from a thicker grip and a taller, softer seat at the same time.

9. Oxford HotGrips Premium Adventure — Best Heated Option for Big Hands

Heated grips used to mean slim, hard, plasticky grips that were worse for big hands than stock. Oxford’s HotGrips Premium Adventure changed that for me, because the grip body is longer and thicker than the older touring version.

The kit includes Oxford’s intelligent heat controller with five heat settings, a battery voltage monitor and an auto shut off so you do not come back to a flat battery. There are separate left and right grips, with the right side sized for the throttle tube.

You are looking at roughly one hundred to one hundred and forty dollars for the kit. For anyone riding in cold weather with big hands, that is money well spent, because cold hands and cramped hands are a genuinely dangerous combination.

How I Set Up the Rest of the Cockpit

Grips are one piece of the puzzle, and I have learned the hard way that they cannot fix bad ergonomics on their own. If your bars are too far away or your seat slides you forward, your hands will still hurt no matter what you bolt on.

Shorter riders often need a narrower bar and a seat that lets them reach without stretching. I usually send those riders to the Best Motorcycle Seat for Short Riders guide before they spend a cent on grips.

Taller riders have the opposite problem, and a taller seat combined with a bar riser is what finally let me sit up straight instead of leaning on my wrists. The Best Motorcycle Seat for Tall Riders breakdown covers that side of the equation properly.

Installation Notes I Wish Someone Had Told Me

Use compressed air or plain hairspray to slide a new grip on. Never use oil based lubricant, because it never fully dries and your grip will spin on the bar the first time it gets hot.

Safety wire your dirt bike grips even if they feel tight. On the throttle side, check that the grip does not drag on the switch housing or the bar end, because a grip that rubs will stick your throttle open at exactly the wrong moment.

Finally, give a new grip a hundred miles before you judge it. Gel and memory foam compounds break in, and a grip that feels slightly firm on day one often feels perfect by day three.

Buy one of these, ride a few hundred miles, and I would bet money you stop noticing your hands entirely. That is the whole goal. When the cockpit fits, you stop thinking about the cockpit and start thinking about the road.

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