Thanks for your help. I went down to the garage armed with rubbing alcohol (70% isopropyl alky with some kind of oily stuff for massaging), straight isopropyl alky, WD-40, acetone and household spray cleaner.

Well, the first thing I tried did the job: rubbing alcohol, a variant on what most of you suggested. I don't know if the oil in the rubbing alcohol helped work the Grab-ons down the bars. I pried each end of each section of the Grab-Ons away from the handlebar with a screw driver, and dribbled the alcohol in, let it sit for a minute, then started twisting and working the section down toward the end. The top section was tough to get around the bends of the Maes style handle bars.

The trickiest part of the job was positioning the bike, so I could dribble the alcohol in to the ends of the Grab-ons. The bike has a mixte frame and there are very limited options for positioning the work stand clamp.

I hope my wife likes the new short-reach brake levers I'm installing for her that made it necessary to remove and reposition the Grab-ons.
EB