ESI (Extreme Steering Inc.) was established in the US in 1999, and has spent over 20 years providing superior products for the bicycle industry.
In the early stages of design and prototyping, Gary Stewart (CEO & Founder) spent many hours on his bike. During this time he noticed the pain in his arms and hands increasing. As a natural inventor and problem solver, Gary immediately decided he wanted to alleviate this problem.
“While working in Aerospace I ran across a material on an application that I was working on. It was perfect. It was non-porous and withstood severe temperatures and climates. Any condition you would throw at it wouldn’t affect it. Best of all, you got extreme shock absorption. I had to have that on my bars. So began my next mission to design the perfect mountain bike grip made of 100% Silicone! I had no idea that there were so many racers/riders that had the same issues with grips that I did – other grips were hard, uncomfortable, spinning, heavy, deteriorating, etc. Who would have thought that the simple concept of lightweight, shock-absorbing grips with no glues (along with the idea that logos belonged at the end of your bar, not on your grips) would be accepted by racers/riders across the world!”
– Gary Stewart
