I have them on my old Stumpjumper that I have recently converted to a SS and love them! I miss them on my new hardtail build. I want to get them but I because of peer pressure, I feel I should not. I need to be cool now that I am turning 40 soon.

They are dangerous. Hook a tree or a branch and you're toast.

Must have bar ends on my bike - more hand positions. Currently using Scott cowhorn bars. No one should care how 'cool' they are. As a matter of function, I do not understand bikes I see locked up downtown that have the bar ends pointed straight up.

I will be looking into some bar ends once i get my bars cut. I can definatley see them improving my riding position whilst climbing.

To the OP. Uncool? Looks? I don't give a f***k what anyone else thinks. Plain and simple

I have never used them. Why start? I'm not particularly concerned with looking cool, but I don't need the extra weight.

+1

I have thought about them but have not found it necessary to go and buy them. Certainly they can offer more hand positions and that was mentioned previously as a good option. I have found that even without them I can also just take my hands off the handlebars to wake them up as at times they fall asleep. Perhaps later I will get a pair just to see how it goes. So I voted no only because I do not have experience to warrant there usage.

i use to have gt bar ends on my flat bar but dropped them when i shifted to a riser. they just didn't look right with the risers plus the lock-on grips on my rig won't allow them.

on long rides, however, i sometimes miss the variation in the hand position. oh well, i'll probably get used to not having them.

I used to use them, but not now. I did a lot of canal trail riding in the states for hours at a time. It was nice to be able to move around. My riding now is different, so I don't use them as much - besides my wife stole them.

LOL I'm guessing if your close enough to a tree to hook your bar ends, your handlebar is going to hit the tree anyways.

Yeah, but if its a sapling or a small branch it just goes by. Hook it with a bar end and you'll have trouble. Ask me how I know....

back in the mid 90s most mountain bikes have bar ends and mine always did. I never hooked one on anything, but most everyone else did. Back then I was using narrow flatbars that gave you plenty of room. I always found them comfortable to climb and cruise on flats.

Fast forward to a few years ago. My bike has riser bars and no more bar ends and its almost impossible to find a bike with bar ends around. I got some of those round bar end deals up there, not exactly like those but close and I really love them. You can grab the sides for a more natural climbing position, and when slinging the bike back and forth while standing. They also support the outside of your hand in the normal position.

No, unless you do significant climbs, especially the steeper ones. Then they need to be the longer, curved ones to provide the extra leverage to increase the traction on the rear tire and a more comfortable wrist position.

I also like them for the long less-steep climbs as the more forward and slightly higher hand position is more relaxing.

When I bike in the flat lands, they are useless, but I'm too lazy to take them off.

The light carbon-fiber ones have the least impact on steering response and reduce the risk of injury because of the rounded ends.

The longer curved ones overlap almost a full hand-width on the grip. So in brush, they can actually be an asset. The vines just roll off the bar-end and you don't snag anymore than with out them; possibly less. Also, they tend to bounce off trees an allow you to keep going where an unprotected bar would have put you on the ground. This is based on personal experience on the same trails both with and with out over about 6 years.

Oh, they look and work just fine on 1" riser bars.

Al

I run bar ends and I like them.

I have hooked the odd tree, but more often the bar end helps deflect me back on course where otherwise I would have smashed my knuckles. Tradeoff I guess.

nah i dont like em. specially when you fall over the handle bars and take one in the ribs

I use bar ends. I have never snagged one on a bush. I put handlebar tape on them and a bell on the end of one.

My lifetime cycling dues are paid up to the point where I don't care what anyone thinks about my bike, and I way do not care about what anyone else rides.

Woo Hoo! Bar ends!!

Are those bar ends like...twisted the wrong way?

Shhh. yes. But they are on my friend's bike. She's happy the way they are because she sits on that wooden board and she can hold the bars like that. So quit snickering. I can see you.

She sits on the wooden board?

Here's a better pic of her showing how she can actually reach the bar ends should she sit on the board.

Ohh i see.

The only things I don't like about my Ergo's are the weight, they are heavy little suckers. If I was worried about looking "goofy" I would drive my mid-life sportscar around instead. Check out my goofy light and computer too.

I have them on my old bike with flat bars. On the Fat with risers, nope. I don't miss them.

Singletrack barends are da berries. I've hit many trees with them, even had bark left in the ends of them and never went down. I couldn't imagine riding without them, or mainly climbing without them.