have any of you actually done long rides with keirin grips, worked with them all day or week? or used them in the rain? I have bought a couple pairs though out the years because they were pretty and I had some idea of using them on something but they always return to the relm of the parts bin because unless your a kerin rider and even if you are, they are not practical. you'll notice that the vast majority of track racers just use some kind of bar tape. Arguing for function here is pretty much the same as making similar arguments to kids on scraper bikes. I know some one will want to say they give you a great grip but if you sprint in your drops with gloves and thats what you use your bike for you have a point, other wise you get no dampening and you get blisters and your skin gets striped raw in the summer and they slip around in the rain. i used to double up my bar tape but tape always gets flat so fast and I've now got gel under the bar tape of my works bikes so my hands don't go numb. I'll save the rant on your chopped flipped drop bars for another time. but what ever, do what you want.