why does no one use bar ends anymore? besides looking kind of stupid, I used to like them for leverage on climbs. Lets hear reasons/opinions!

I don't really like them going into my ribs if I take a spill.

valid point... really didn't think of that. Do you think they also have a tendancy to get hung up on brush on trails?

I've had mild cases of that, nothing that made me wreck or anything but I guess it's possible.

I'm considering tossing a flat bar and bar ends on my old rigid. Seems like it would be a useful combo. I don't see why they disappeared so quickly.

I do
Who cares what they look like, they are useful on climbs and long rides.



There's been plenty of threads on bar ends in the past, here's just a few:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?445435-Bar-Ends-necessary-or-even-relevant

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?268636-Bar-ends-yes-or-no

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?217579-Bar-Ends-A-thing-of-the-past-or-an-unappreciated-component

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?553929-Bar-ends-yes-or-no

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?168936-Bar-ends

The days of having one choice of handlebar (22 inches wide and 3 degrees of sweep) ended over ten years ago. Todays riser bars have enough width and upward/rearward sweep to keep most riders comfortable without adding extensions to the ends.

I definitely use them. Call them my bull horns. I see two sides of it. I use them to give me another grip angle to take pressure off that annoying nerve that makes your hands go to sleep when doing epic rides. But on the flip side with them I have caught branches and vines and dam(n) near killed when I got ripped off the bike at some speed! Kinda funny if there was video!

BTW- I use the Forte brand which are small and have that nice tacky rubber and did I mention they are cheap.

I use them. They're WAAAYYY out of style. They will make your butt look fat. People will laugh at you. They'll talk about you behind your back.

Carbon bar ends rock hard!!!

lol, im never taking my bar ends off. mine have huge nicks and scratches on them from smacking off trees... i'd rather have huge nicks and scratches on my bar ends then my knuckles.

I hated em back in the 90's and still hate em.

Without bar ends, I'd have a hard time hanging all my shopping bags for the ride back to the hobo camp.

I think I know that guy......

They don't fit well on my woodchippers. On my fixed gear mtb though. Love them for commuting.

You can hit yourself in the ribs just fine with the end of your bar, with or without a bar end. There are plenty of good reasons not to use them, but I don't think this is one of them.

I've been riding with bar ends for a few months after not using them for 3+ years. I mostly like them though I am using a newer style that is way shorter than the early-mid 90s coathangers. Rides around here usually mean miles of climbing, and I stand a fair amount, so I like them. Also good for stretching out on the flats/roads on the way to the trail.

My handlebars are about 26.5" wide.

I've only been MTBing since March & I've endoed 6 or 7 times (mostly messing around in the driveway practicing stoppies, fortunately). My bike came with bar ends, & they went into my ribs every time I endoed. I've endoed 3 times since taking them off, & had no problems with it since. Also, the one high-speed endo I had involved my hands getting caught in the bar ends & taking a hard hit to the head because I couldn't get my hands in front of me in time to do much good. If you do a lot of climbing & go slow on the downhill, they're great. But I don't, so they hurt like a *****. Not worth the extra comfort climbing at all.

There was enough climbing with bar-ends in the 90s so we switched to aero-bars to increase the speed of descents.

i don't like it when the bar ends. then i have to go home or drink in the alley.

I've never had an issue without them, only with them. You may not think its a good reason but I speak from experience.

Fixed.

would any of you guys trust these bar ends https://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Mountain-Bik...item335f31ae46 or should I go with these https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT ??

I'm pretty sure that Julien Absalom won 5 UCI XC World Championships and two Olympic gold medals in XC *with* bar ends.

Anyway, that the current fad for bombing downhill obviates the need for bar end extensions doesn't speak at all to their efficacy for real XC riding. Likewise, nor does the fact that some dudes go over the bars but somehow don't manage to clear the bars when they wreck. (What's up with that, BTW? If I go over the bars, it's because I'm going forward but the bike ain't.)

i just got some Extralite cyber barends.

they're pretty light!

mx

But are they extra-light?