Originally Posted by
ColinL
Cute, but untrue. Firstly you don't have to bash bark to hook a bar end; underbrush, reeds, and all kinds of other stuff can get hooked and apply enough force to twist the bar, and then you crash. Secondly, when your bars are wider you slow down. This is natural. If you have 18" off each bar, you go full speed through the trees. If you have 1-2" clearance, you slow down.
You said "trees" in original post, so I took it literally for some crazy reason. Yeah, I dunno how guys get around on those 30" bars that are all the rage these days. I run 24"-25". Some with barends, some without. But, to each his own.
I find the dogleg barends like in my pic above seem to deflect quite a bit of flora, well more than they snag. I snag blackberry brambles even with no barends. Sometimes you'll have a bramble line up right between your fingers and ZZZzzzzzzzip, pull right through as you speed along. This = blood and makes you wish you'd worn leather work gloves or something.