mzeffex 

I'm getting more into mtbing and now im going to soon be in a race. I have flat bars and bar ends - should I take em off? Also, is it fred like to have them on? Thanks.

Girlscout13

Bar ends rock. I have a set of bright yellow Tomacks on my Stinky.

sirtigersalot

bar end are for climbing, you go uphill on a stinky?


I think bar ends have fallen out of style they where more popular on bikes with narrower bars to help climb, and wider bars w/o bar ends are more the norm these days, but theres no reason you can't use em, I doubt anyone'll laugh at you (and if they do there a jerk) Just have em angled right (usually same andl as the stem) bar ends sticking strait up are stupid and u might get laughed at for that

mzeffex 

I have the stem at a 5 degree rise, and the bar ends somewhere around 30. I don't think that bar ends at a 5 degree would be very good

DirtPedalerB

no ... they are tree hooks

HIPCHIP

I like mine because it allows me to change my hand position in case something starts cramping up. I'd rather have them than not.

bikinfool

If you need extra hand positions, or to put your hands in a better climbing position for racing, go for it. Dorky is when you combine them with riser bars (sorry, the aesthetics just don't work). Fred's don't make equipment work for them, those that do aren't freds...

mzeffex 

I don't use them when I mtb, only when road riding. I find I need to stay near the brakes when mtbing, but in road i don't as much. As for tree hooks, I have the super dorky ones that curve in which could be better

TwinCam

i love barends. but i only use them with my flat shoulder pinchers for a few reasons.

1. a wide riser helps with climbing in much the same way barends do. who knew?

2. wide risers are allready a liability when it comes to clearance. and if you have ever snagged a barend at speed, you know that it yields an epic butt screwing stack.

3. i have had barends attached to wide risers and when i get up and honk on them there is alot of flex in the bar and stem.

victim

I use em to hang my man purse on. Others have said they make steering "sluggish". I think they're just nifty! Good luck...

guadzilla

I just ordered a pair of Cane Creek bar-ends - the grip afforded by the bar-ends should help me climb in the Himalayas (at 10k+ altitude, pretty much any kind of climbing hurts and I need all the help I can get!). I have low-riser bars on my bike for general use, and I am going to use the bar-ends with it.

Besides, there is no such thing as a MTB Fred. Fredness/lack thereof is something you only worry about when you have no hair on your legs

V.

aL1

I just put these Cane Creeks' on, and still lookin' for a mountain to climb. So far I haven't found any in South Florida...

mzeffex 

Those cane creeks are funky lookin - I like em though

mystolenbikes

I don't use them anymore through out the years my climbing form has changed so now I no longer need them. I actually have kind of weird climbing form I lean forward as much as I can(almost to the point that my chin almost touches the handle bar) and I hold the handle bars with my index fingers only, this way I don't pull the front wheel off the ground.

roccobike

I thought the term "Fred" was banished from the MTB forum and sent to the road forum for eternity.

stevemtbr

I have some carbon ones on my flat bar mtb. It does help with long climbs and I like the extra hand postion when I'm out for all day rides.

ed 

Yes...it has changed to "Ed" for MTB.

isport929

no joke!

nachomc

I like them on my geared bike. They're great for long rides when you mostly stay seated for climbs and flats. I don't have them on my single speed as my hand position changes frequently enough, and I don't need them when standing (which is pretty much all the time on that bike).

mzeffex 

Alright well ed like then, ha. I don't tend to use them on climbs, rather than just when I'm bored I switch. And hand numbness, switch too. Recently when I was turning on to my street after a long ride, I did not see the sand (????) that was scattered there..and..well.. My hands remained uncut - though the right hand black bar end is now silver.

Spanky-G-Master

Back in the 90's I had some purple anodized bar ends that were super kick ass, but when I got back into the game bar ends had fallen out of favor. I tried to ride with the wide riser bar, but switched for a flat bar (clearance issues). After a year of riding I moved to a city with actual elevation changes and installed bar ends and still use them several years later, they make a huge deference climbing. As for being tree hooks, I figured if a tree is that close I'm pretty much screwed with or without bar ends.

mzeffex 

I took them off, gonna try without tommorow and see how that is.

RJM

I like using barends on the trails. For me, more leverage = good.

alcanoe

Bar ends as recommended by Ned Overend (5 national XC championships and won the first world XC championship in Durango) are for increasing the leverage when pulling on the handlebars. The hands are moved forward and up thus increasing the lever length from the bottom bracket which increases the downward force on the rear tire for climbing (as proposed by Overend in his book).

If the ends are long and curved in-ward, they are not "tree hooks" but "tree bumpers". I've bounced off many a pine tree in north Florida with mine. They also protect the hands when the hands when on the grips. They also shed vines which is a big problem in Florida.

I used them for several years. The negatives for me was less control with the hands on them when climbing steep and technical stuff and the weight does slow bar movement slightly even though mine were carbon fiber. There are reports on injuries in crashes. That plus the weight argues for the carbon fiber (they have rounded ends) and the leverage argues for the longer ones.

I started to ride about half time on the steep mountain trails in north Georgia. After a while It didn't seem that the extra downward force on the rear tire was really needed; not even in the fall/early winter on wet leaves. I was using tires with moderate knobs instead of the small knobs of the more typical racing tires so I took the ends off. After a year I put them back on and confirmed that for me at least they were superfluous. I gave them away.

Al

victim

Those cane creeks are heavy! But I'll be busting them out when I head to Vermont in a couple of weeks. They're comfy...