I'm old school, to a point, so I ride with bar ends. They give me a chance to change-up my hand position and more leverage for climbing. Does anybody still use them? I see a few out on the trails but nothing like back in the day
Yes I still use them. My bike feels incomplete without them. I am also equal parts roadie and mtber, and the bar ends offer an extra hand position that feels like the brake hoods on my road bike. I like the feel and power of that position for climbing, and gets me in a perfect position for high speed riding on the flats.
You could argue that bar ends are counter to weight weenie-ism in general. WW is about removing non-critical bike stuff, then agonizing about what's left, and how to make it lighter.
In addition, WW usually use carbon bars, and these in turn require inserts if you want to run bar ends - so even more weight added.
That said, I noticed some bar ends on a pretty freaking light 29er in this thread: 2013 S-Works Epic SRAM
Phlegm, Imo if ww was about removing non-esential components we would all be riding ss with 12"bars and one brake on 1.5 tires so to me it's about building a bike with the components you want as light as possible that does'nt fall apart when you try to ride it and also fits your budget. My first (Adroit) cost me some $$$$ and more$$$$$$ could have saved more weight. I got to the point that enough was enough, it is light and tough especialy for my weight, one can only loose soo much body weight before looking like a conc. camp serviver so a 21# mtb for a 190# rider is pretty light imo
Hey Norsk - your point is valid, but I probably didn't make mine very clearly.
Since this was posted in the WW subforum, I took it as a question about if bar ends are typical on a WW bike. My guess is that in this group of people, who typically remove stuff, it's probably less common to run bar ends.
That said, it's one of those "personal fit" choices. Do you drop 100g by going to an uncomfortable saddle, or do you stick with what you like? I think bar ends is one of those personal fit types of things.
And, I did want to point out PanuV's bike (and now Tig's bike) which are examples where it works.
That's kool, I guess I look at as a component I prefer and would like it as light as possible,and not break or bend. That's why I brought it up. I know my kcnc on the Adroit are light but I had to tighten them so tight till the screws screatched, now they hold. I was just wondering if there aren't better just as light and over all feedback. I remember seing some a while back that looked like a oval loop that I tbought would be sweeet.
There are a few bar ends lighter than the KCNC's. Extralite make some in the 30-40g gram range. They look larger in diameter (so maybe more comfortable) that the KCNC's and have a wider clamp area.
But phlegm makes some good points about WW and bar ends and if you're chasing every last gram then they don't make much sense. For example, I could use a 90g bar, but in order to run bar ends I needed a Syntace Duraflite (143g). So with the weight of the bar ends (51g), that's an extra 94g.
Do those ends point inward so they don't extend past the width of the bar?
The bar ends are straight tubes but they are angled in from the clamp area. They do present a bit of a "snag" risk, but not so much with 600mm bars. Now that the trend is for running super-wide bars most trails I ride don't have much bar height vegetation.
Wide bars killed the bar end. They became less neccessary cuz you already have a lotof leverage on climbs and snagging them became much more of an issue. I miss them but wouldn't give up my wide bars to have my Zoom Brahma bar back.
That said, it's one of those "personal fit" choices. Do you drop 100g by going to an uncomfortable saddle, or do you stick with what you like? I think bar ends is one of those personal fit types of things.
And, I did want to point out PanuV's bike (and now Tig's bike) which are examples where it works.
Agreed.
I cant do without bar ends. Have tried it, and even with 685mm bars, ends make a big difference for me in terms of leverage, weight shift and comfort.
Going without ends would be like rocking a too short stem and cutting off 100g worth of needed seatpost and handlebar in an effort to save weight - I'd be sacrificing efficiency/comfort for a net loss.
I rock these spesh cf (115g) and love'em. There are lighter ones out there fore sure, but the contour/shape/size of these is ideal for me:
Last edited by Stumpjumpy; 01-24-2013 at 02:28 AM.
Another good topic wide or narrow bars, I've got both with bar ends, I prsonaly prefer the old school narrower. So if you like bar ends and are trying to build or upgrade "lite" you also have to find liter bars, it just ads to the fun of it all
I ride with bar ends and don't plan to give them up. My shoulder has been dislocated a few times and has some structural damage to the bone. So, having that extra hand position that rotates my arm 90 degrees is a god-send on longer rides. Yes, it's extra weight, but I just can't go without it. If I really wanted to go WW, I suppose I could remove one of the two.
I recently bought a pair of Ritchie 65mm bar ends. They were light and relatively cheap, but really are too short. They looked bigger on the website where I ordered them. They only cover about 4 of 3 fingers on my hand so I'll have to sell them and go bigger. I had an old set that were really long and quite nice on climbs, but weighed a ton.
I'm from the days when EVERYONE ran bar ends, but like most I quit a decade or more back. I decided to try them again on my SS... Really helped the climbing. Next a set goes on my geared bike. Grams be damned.
I remember those! But I also remember not liking the feel of the shape. I prefer the round tube shape.
Originally Posted by GRFSR
I'm from the days when EVERYONE ran bar ends, but like most I quit a decade or more back.
I remember when everybody had bar ends on their bike, and how most people didn't use them because of the extra reach needed to get to the bar end. It's like seeing people on road bike bars that only ride on the tops. Some folks just prefer to sit more upright, or aren't comfortable controlling the bike from the bar ends.
I'm equal parts roadie and MTBer, so I'm more used to the laid out position. It's more of a natural riding position for me, so I'm always reaching for the bar ends or the brake hoods/drops on my road bike.
Riding a SS in endurance events, I feel bar ends are a must for the leverage and the change in hand position. I almost went with the lightest offerings but ended up with the idio carbon ends (~91g) on ebay because they came in white (and go nicely with my white Ritchey WCS bar). Still, with pedals, my bike is ~19.3lbs. Not true WW by any stretch, but I elected to go with Arch rims instead of Crest, Hope hubs instead of lighter offerings etc. so strength, looks and cost all factored into the mix, along with weight...still, those silver KCNC ends do look nice, so maybe next time...
I have a set of those one of my bikesand they are tough, took a big hit in a bad crash that cost me some hide I do like the uniquenes of the stubs, I guess I like what everybody doesn't have, might also explain why I'm drawn to Kleins, Richy, Fat Chance,Mountain Goat just to name a few
I have a set of those one of my bikesand they are tough, took a big hit in a bad crash that cost me some hide I do like the uniquenes of the stubs, I guess I like what everybody doesn't have, might also explain why I'm drawn to Kleins, Richy, Fat Chance,Mountain Goat just to name a few
I just picked these up in black. Great size/weight!
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so to me it's about building a bike with the components you want as light as possible that does'nt fall apart when you try to ride it and also fits your budget. My first (Adroit) cost me some $$$$ and more$$$$$$ could have saved more weight. I got to the point that enough was enough, it is light and tough especialy for my weight, one can only loose soo much body weight before looking like a conc. camp serviver 
so a 21# mtb for a 190# rider is pretty light imo 
Originally Posted by TigWorld
wide or narrow bars, I've got both with bar ends, I prsonaly prefer the old school narrower. So if you like bar ends and are trying to build or upgrade "lite" you also have to find liter bars, it just ads to the fun of it all 
I do like the uniquenes of the stubs, I guess I like what everybody doesn't have, might also explain why I'm drawn to Kleins, Richy, Fat Chance,Mountain Goat just to name a few
