iamthetas

I did not know that .thanks. I will be removing my ergogrips ASAP. I barely use them aymore anyway

InchesOfEvil

While I respect everybodies right to put useless cr@p on their bike I recommend you save your money...they're useless and unneccessary.

Raiyn

Happy to be of help

wheelhot

Anyway, I love barends. There is a few advantages, first of all is the if you fell off your bike, ur bar end will absorb the damage and bar end is cheap to change rather then changing your whole handle bar. Beside this bar end will give you the comfort when riding on a strait road (pavement or non-pavement) just make sure that you are quick to pull the brake just in case, lol. Anyway I agree with a few ppl who says that bar end is good for cycling uphill cause it makes you feel more comfortable. Well thats all my reason. Maybe i might have more but i made my point already.

FishBikeSteve

I know it's an ancient thread, but it seems everyone missed the point, so I have to chime in with my two cents:
Though many people like them for climbing, their primary purpose is to offer alternate hand positions. (That's why road bikes have drop bars.) Ever try riding 50+ miles/3+ hours with only one position for your hands? Besides fatigue, cramps, etc., it's very bad for the wrists, e.g. crappie (sic) tunnel syndrome and all that.
Though there are many bar-end styles available, short, long, thin, fat, etc., I cannot find a modern bar-end that I like at all. (BTW: Profile was one of the companies with a ball-joint type connection that allowed some rotational positioning, and was surprisingly useful to get a perfect bar-end orientation.)
The only bar-ends, ever, that I really loved (or even liked at all, for that matter) were the the Concept bar ends (made by Univega/Lawee in the 1990s) I had put on my metallic pink '92 Stumpjumper (long since stolen in Buffalo, NY in 2000). After the forward extension, they curved inward but at an angle, just like the sweepback on handlebars (though angled a little more since straighter arms requires a bit more of an angle) which matches the slight palm-grip angle relative to one's arms/wrists (the same reason nearly all handguns and pistol-gripped rifles have a swept-back grip.) There was enough length to get a full-hand grip (many I have tried are too short there), and if riding on a flat-ish, non-gnarly trail you could rest the distal ends of your forearms (just before the wrists ) on the handgrips for a low, aerodynamic riding position.
The icing on the cake was that there was about two inches of bar-end after that that curved downward a bit that 1- let you hook your thumbs securely underneath if you wanted to stay in a nice low position on a rougher trail and 2- gave you a little more protection from hooking small trees/saplings.
When the "all-in-one"/"wraparound" bars were popular, Profile made a bar that was reasonably close to the shape of a handlebar with Concept bar-ends, but I don't like the "wraparound" bars for the simple reason that if you change the up/down angle to get the "bar-end" part where you like it, it often puts the sweepback of the straight part of the handlebar in the wrong position.
Sure, people who just like bar-ends for climbing seem OK with short, straight ones, and I'm sure they're fine in the desert, but in the woods they're definite tree-hookers. (No, not 5lutty redwoods.) Plus, they only give you one alternate hand position. The longer ones give you more options to keep those wrist muscles & bones fresh and happy.
If you don't ride long distances on your MTB, bar-ends may be superfluous for you. Similarly, if you ride in tight, technical terrain that requires frequent transitions form sitting to standing, the resulting changes in handlebar gripping angle may keep your wrists from hurting and make bar-ends unnecessary as well. Plus, without that extra 100 grams you'll save almost two seconds in a 400-mile race.
However, if you ride more than ~50 miles/3 hours at a stretch, bar-ends may soon become your best friends. Make up for that extra weight by filling your tires with hydrogen and drilling out your water bottles.
--Ride Like The Wind,
--Steve

PS: @Raiyn: I don't know what type of "pivot mount" you're talking about, but the ball-joint intreface between the bar-end and handlebar on the older Profile bar-ends worked *really* well for fine-tuning one's position. Also, why would one assume riser bars have a greater sweep than flat bars? (Maybe it's the marketing morons.) It's not a mechanical necessity, and bars of both types are available with sweeps ranging from nil to almost beach-cruiser-ish (well, maybe not that much).
PPS: I think the "riser bar vs. taller stem" debate is almost as played out as the AK vs. AR or Ford vs. Chevy debates... Neither will ever have any answer beyond personal preference provided the engineering is up to snuff, unless one has a very, very specific niche use and is pushing some single parameter to the absolute limit.

dminor