I rode this bike on the road for months before I got a road bike (with road tires and rigid fork), and never got any use out of the bar ends out on the ends of the bars because they were just too wide. The bars are almost 650mm wide. The bar end location is what's comfortable for me and I get much more use out of them. Maybe not so much during trail riding, but I'm not sure yet if this bike will stay set up for trail use, or if I will just get a newer, better dedicated MTB with disc brakes, etc.