If you have limited strength in your hands, chances are you’re going to want pushrims that are a little more grippy than standard metal ones. But the typical options aren’t that great. Foam is plenty tacky, but they chunk off easily, can leave black marks on your hands and generate a lot of heat when you’re braking down a hill. Vinyl coated pushrims are more durable — but they’re heavy, leave sharp edges if you peel up a strip, still get hot and start getting slick after as little as a few months. So I was excited when, a few years ago, I saw an ad for the Newton AirGrips, made by the Canadian wheelchair manufacturer Motion Composites.

The AirGrips claimed to “boast a coating that doesn’t crack or peel, making them easy on the hands. They’re also … 1 pound lighter than standard grips.” Sounds great, right? I decided to get my C7 hands on a pair to see if they live up to the marketing.

Initial Thoughts

The first thing you’ll notice unboxing the AirGrips is that they are noticeably lighter than a vinyl-coated pushrim. AirGrips are also made out of smaller diameter tubing. I didn’t have a preference one way or the other, but the diameter difference was noticeable when I was first getting used to them. I know of at least one quad who stopped using the AirGrips because he just didn’t like the way the smaller tubing felt on his hands when pushing.

The AirGrips come with three holes drilled in their mounting tabs, allowing you to mount them wide, close in, or super close-in — where they’re almost flush against the rim of your wheel. I love having that option, as bringing your pushrims slightly farther in can make all the difference if you’re right on the cusp of being able to fit through a narrow doorway. If you choose to mount them flush, you’ll want to grind off the excess tabs so they don’t protrude from the inside of your wheel rims and catch on clothes.

Once I got them on my wheels, I was impressed. They are significantly tackier than brand new vinyl. I’m used to using rubber garden or receiver gloves to get good friction on my rims, but with these I felt like I could get a similar grip with my bare hands. When I was pushing long distances, I still wore gloves to protect my hands, but I found it incredibly freeing to be able to push with bare hands at the grocery store, where I’m checking a list on my phone and grabbing items off shelves. In fact, the rims are so grippy that after a week or so I found myself getting small cracks under each thumb nail from the pull generated between the rims and my thumb pads. After another week of being extra diligent about putting lotion on my hands, my skin got used to it though.

Durability

The initial trial was a resounding success — I liked the AirGrips significantly more than the vinyl pushrims I had been using. But what about durability?

I’ve used the AirGrips for over a year now, and they’re not nearly as tacky as they were new. I can still get some grip without my gloves on, but for most occasions I do still wind up pulling my gloves on or just pushing on the tires. That said, after a year of use, they’re still grippier than a similarly old set of vinyl rims. The performance gap has definitely narrowed though. One plus is that even though I’d scraped my rims against doorways and concrete curbs, the AirGrips were still smooth on my hands.

The Verdict

Overall, I’d prefer the AirGrips retained their tackiness for longer, but they’re still lighter, more durable and grippier than anything I’ve used previously. Over a year after trying them out, I’m still using them, which is about as strong an endorsement as I can give. If you want to give your own pair a try, AirGrips are available for $134 a pair from a variety of online retailers, including Sportaid, Spinlife and HowiRollSports.