That left grip is really the only problem, right?  Used to be so easy, way back when, on bikes.  You could use a water hose or an air hose.

Need to loosen the glue - but don't know what kind it is....

Don't want to cut it off - want to keep the grip....

Probably need to use some heat to loosen the glue - can't use acetylene, I suppose...

Just an off the cuff idea.  Take the bar completely off the bike.  Go in kitchen and ask spouse for a good old crab pot. Fill pot with water.  Heat water to a boil.

Put on the spouse's favorite kitchen mitt, and insert bar end into water for just a few seconds.  Remove and try to turn grip loose.  If it doesn't come off, try it again fo a little longer.  Just watch that the rubber parts don't get deformed or something while twisting.

If it doesn't work, pick up some crabs on the way back from the bike shop

What I do with the rubber grips is insert 3 screw drivers equal distant around the grip between the rubber and bar.  Then twist it off.  The screw drivers spin as you twist it around peeling off the glue.  I suppose you could use bamboo skewers too.  

Max_Morley wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:04:


I mentioned that at the beginning of my post, but doubt it about glue.  Of course, we don't know what the grips look like

I went out to the garage to take the bars off so I could stick them in a pot.  I didn't think the crabs would mind too much.  Well, I never needed to disturb them thar crabs.

Since I was in the garage already I did the srewdriver trick with a very small screwdriver.  I slid it in a good ways and wiggled it to work it around the bar.  It worked like a charm.  I got the grip off and it now resides on the new Yamaha Roadstar longhorn bars that I bought today.  Pics will be in another thread.

Thanks for all the ideas.

Yamaha bars?  You never mentioned that.

Obviously, I'm not dealing with a high tech crowd here.  Once you use the boiling water on the grips then you use the seafood tools to remove them.  I thought everyone was more forward thinking than this...

You got lucky.  This time, even a cave man could do it

The other old shop trick on rubber grips after you slip the screwdriver in there is spray a little water in, pull the screwdriver and start to twist and wiggle the grip.  Soon the water works around and zip off it comes.  (This is less agressive approach to the boiling pot)  I have used the boiling water to get old dried up GS style shifter pads off with out destroying them...it does work like a charm)

No experience with the Kuryakan

You can try a very thin flat bladed screwdriver and spray some carb cleaner between the grip and the bars. The carb cleaner softens just about everuy kind of glue.