Stick grips

I love construction tips and seeing how other people are putting their RVs together. In the new RVator newsletter from Van's (available here), Ken Scott gives a glimpse about the stick grips in the company models.

I’ve never installed a set of handlebar grips – all my bikes have bars wrapped with handlebar tape. So, off I trotted to the local bike shop, bought a set of grips… and spent an hour and a half trying to get the first #@#$! grip to slide down the control stick. It went about an inch, and then friction took over and I just couldn’t slide it any further. I tried brute force. The rubber grip smiled. I tried WD-40. The rubber grip grinned. I tried a film of motor oil. The rubber grip grimaced. I tried fervent cursing and pushing down around the rim with a bicycle tire iron. The rubber grip, I swear, snickered. Obviously, in the infinitely long list of things that many people in the world know and I don’t, is how to put a rubber grip on a steel tube.

Bicycle grips? Who'd have thought?

Strolling the RVs at Oshkosh is a love-hate thing for me. I see mostly immaculately-built aircraft that have craftsmanship I can only dream about. And it's not like I don't try.

But I also like stopping by the Van's booth to look at the company models. There's not a lot of fancy stuff involved in their construction. And yet, I don't see any indication the people who work there have any less fun flying them.