trmcgeehan

My Trek dealer showed me some bar end plugs that dampen handle bar vibration. To demonstrate, he dropped a new handle bar on the floor, and it made a hell of a noise and vibrated considerably. Then he installed the two bar-end thing a ma jigs (I forget what he called them) and dropped the bar again. The noise and vibration abated almost 100%. They only cost $10 for the pair, and can be installed in 30 seconds. I think he said they were born in the space program. Anybody know what they are, and do they do any good when you are actually on the road?

AndrewP

I think they are likely to provide the most damping at very high frequencies which you wont feel in your hands. However $10 wont bankrupt you, so buy them and tell us how it feels when you are on a long ride.

pablo27

i'm skeptical... sounds like one of those golf club bs inventions

just because the vibration is not transmitted into the air (or significantly reduced) because of the bar end plugs doesn't mean that your hands won't feel it

how much energy can the little plug dissipate?

mswantak

Bar-end dampers work on motorcycles, but I think the effect would be negligible on a bicycle.

jeff williams

The bar only vibrated cause it wasn't mounted, it oscilated.
A mounted bar wont do that, most people use bar-ends anyway, they come with grips.

I'd put the money into a CF bar if vibration is the issue.

Can you get a product link?
It does sound interesting, and I wouldn't say boo 'till I tried them.

roadfix

I'm a wine drinker so I've got lots of extra bottle corks which make excellent handlebar end plugs. I use them on my fixies. Oh, and I think they dampen vibration as well.

mtbikerinpa

The drop test is rather questionable anyway. The unplugged bar will make a much louder noise since it can have the hollow innerds passing sound as well. To merely seal the end would remove a fair bit of the sound, so before placing too much stock in it, get a controlled test involving other 'normal' plugs and ride them.
As was stated, 10 bucks isn't so bad, but it still has to be proven.

jeff williams

My Ritchey fork had a cork in the hole underside the fork.
I noticed when we decided to drill the backside of the fork crown brake mount hole (there must be shorter way to say..).
Only one side was done, first I was thinking ol'Tom was drinking on the job..maybe I better see if my frames really in-line
Then I thought it was to stop the bit from hitting the inside wall and breaking.
(we drilled it, it almost killed us..defeated by 4mm of chromo, 5 bits, 2 sharpened, 2 guys and a bike stand.) Very hard steel.

Anyway...a member who worked on these bikes said he did it probably, a trick to keep muck and stuff getting up inside the tube......

I'm wandering off......

Oh...ya they would look nice as bar ends, good idea.

halfbiked

What she said - your bike shop found a great gimmick to use as a sales pitch.

For what its worth, most motorcycle anti-handlebar-vibration devices include a fair amount of weight. The idea is to use the weight to change the frequency at which the bars vibrate - higher weight = lower frequency, which is perceived as less vibration by the rider. So the question becomes - how much weight are you willing to add to your bike to reduce the vibration in the bars? Maybe try different grips or tape first. Holding on more loosely can help too.

It also seems to me that you might need to reevaluate what the problem is in the first place, what kind of riding are you doing that brings that much buzz into the handlebars?

Trogon

They're mentioned in this article - not much information on the actual product though.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?...discovery_bike

eubi

I've seen similar items on power lines. Basically two weights connected by a wire rope, which is in turn clamped to the power line. The cable is parallel to the power line. The natural frequency of this little system is very low. They keep the wires from singing at a high frequency due to vortex shedding in high winds.

The bar end vibration dampener sounds like a gimmick to me, considering the length and stiffness of most handlebars.

amahana1

Try this.....hit the handlebars on the floor while you are holding them in both of your hands and then tell what the vibration is like. Sounds like useless weight that you dont need.

jms02138

From what I can see by googling around, it looks like this item is currently used for archery to dampen vibrations from bows and may actually not be as stupid as it sounds.

KleinRider

This works on the same principle as the motorcycle barend dampeners, at least if memory serves me correctly. It adds weight to the system, thus reducing the frequency of the vibration.

I really don't think it would do much good for a bicycle. The real question, as previously asked, is *why* do you need to reduce the vibrations? Are they really that bad?

Edit: perhaps you are referring to rubber attached at each end of the bow (on the limbs)? I suppose a similar principle to tennis rackets, as well. I still would question the need on a handlebars, but that's just me....

Raiyn

Hmmm the things people do rather than buy carbon bars.

jazzy_cyclist

Santa put a set of those bar plugs in my stocking, but I haven't installed them yet. (They have the Bontrager logo). I'll post when I do (which will probably be in a month or two when the ice melts a bit).

eubi

The natural frequency of a bow is much less than that of a bicycle handlebar. I can see how these things help an archer since they shoot many arrows during a competition (and practice!). The vibration can be fatiguing. Conversely, the bow weights help the archer keep the bow steady while aiming, by dampening muscle vibrations.

More mass correlates to a resistance to movement. Newton's Second Law.

Most of the road vibration is taken up by the tires. The handlebar vibration dampener may take out a little vibration, but not much. Now you have more mass on your handlebar to resist steering!

Therefore, I'm still thinking the bike handlebar vibration dampener is a gimmick, but I've been wrong before.

Bruce Lowekamp

The webpage for the dampers is at
https://www.bontrager.com/Road/Parts_...ories/5882.php

As near as I can tell, it's a spring-loaded mass designed to damp high-frequency vibration. I'm sure it weighs more than a regular plug, but I don't think it's enough to notice while steering, so unless you're into counting single grams added onto your bike...

It's definitely more than just a weight. How much difference it makes is an interesting question, though. My hands don't go numb as long as I wear gloves. I'm probably going to get a bike that comes with these installed soon, so I'll find out whether I think they matter.

Bruce

ewitz

I think Sammy Sosa uses corked bars.