What are my handlebars made of?
 

Sorry to be clueless about such a thing.... but I need some new grips for my bike and many say they are only compatible with certain materials.

Specifically, I'd like to get these grips:
http://www.amazon.com/Weanas%C2%AE-G...=bicycle+grips
for this bike:
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=467564

Not to be lazy, but is there any reason why these wouldn't just slide on and be ready to go? I don't know what any of these specs mean...... I'm not sure I know if my bike is made of carbon fiber or something else, or if these grips are going to interfere with my shifters, and so forth.

Thanks for your help. My bike still has the stock foam hand grips shown in the picture, and they're crumbling away in my hands every time I ride. :innocent:

Probably aluminum.

You have absolutely zero carbon fibre on your bike. Probably steel handlebars, and if not steel than aluminum. Easy way to test would be with a magnet. Any grips will work. The ones you posted will be fine. I have never heard of grips that wouldn't work with certain materials. The only thing you might need to do is reposition your shifters and brake levers, which is as simple as loosening their mounting screw. For what it's worth though, if you have any more questions about your bike specifically you can find pretty good grips at your LBS that will be that price or less. I pad $10 for a set of ergo styled grips.

I would say most likely steel bars came on a bike with 200GS components.

I am not familiar with grips that are handlebar-material specific. The grips you linked will definitely work on your bars. If you had crabon fibre bars then maybe you would have to be extra careful about tightening a clamp-on grip, but otherwise you are good to go.

Certainly not carbon fibre, if that is the concern. You have a more old-school frame made of a high quality chromium-molybdenum steel alloy (cro-moly, or cro-mo as they say in the brochure), and that is the part that would be carbon fibre if this was an ultralight modern racing bike. I couldn't find the mention of material compatibility on the amazon link - what is it that the grips don't work with?

Amazon.com : Ergon BioKork Grips, Large : Bike Grips And Accessories : Sports & Outdoors

For example, this one specifically says not to use it with carbon fiber handlebars. I thought I remembered seeing other listings that explicitly said not for carbon fiber handlebars. but maybe imagined it?

Thanks everyone for your help.

Some grips clamp onto the handlebars, and are not for CF. Unless someone swapped out the bars, they are probably not CF. Swing by a bike shop if in doubt as to suitability. Here is something from Ergon:

ERGON BIKE ERGONOMICS

You probably remember correctly. However your handlebars are almost certainly aluminum or steel. Carbon fibre structures that I have seen have a sort of clear resin coating and the cross-hatched pattern of the wrapped fibres is visible through it. As well it is usually brightly labelled. It they look more like metal, they are metal!

Got a Magnet?

The spec sheet calls out the bars but does not mention the material so my vote is for steel.

BTW, many shops will install replacements at no charge of you buy them from them...

On that bike, I vote pig iron, or maybe magnetite.