|   Since when are bar ends taboo | RysT
Jun 15, 2002 3:34 PM | | when did bar ends "go out of style"?? |
| They aren't and they didn't. nm | fred³
Jun 15, 2002 4:05 PM | | |
| re: Since when are bar ends taboo | Yeti_Rider
Jun 15, 2002 4:27 PM | | They aren't out of style, but they look dorky with riser bars which are very popular right now. Since people don't want to look dorky when they get risers, they simply ditch the bar ends. Personally I love my bar ends.
Michael |
| I kinda miss mine.... | Cook
Jun 15, 2002 4:30 PM | | I loved having a variety of hand positions during long rides....but for me, my riding style has changed and risers just suit me better. I no longer try to get from point A to B as fast as I can, but try to have as much fun as I can between the two points. The flatbar/barend combo meant being leaned too far forward for me which is too dangerous for my style. I like being more upright....less endos going over logs and going down technical sections....or when dropping retaining walls on the way to work in the morning.
Cheers. |
| I kinda miss mine.... | Zippy
Jun 15, 2002 5:53 PM | | I totally miss my bar ends. I find they are VERY comforting and helpful when doing climbs.
Amy |
| I tried a riser and missed by bar ends... | Quattro
Jun 16, 2002 11:21 AM | | so I got a different stem to keep the height and position
of my hands.On my new frame I put some spacers under the stem
for height and am ordering a wider bar and of course will use
short curved inward barends. |
| It seems | Matno
Jun 15, 2002 5:33 PM | | that mountain biking manufacturers are targeting trailriders/freeriders these days. From experience, bar ends in tight winding singletrack with lots of trees, rocks (the really large kind), etc. are (or at least can be) a bad idea. I've banged my plain risers on trees and still been able to recover. Back when I used bar ends, I was not so lucky! Those suckers grab on to a tree and don't let go until you are catapulted over the bars.
For XC racing with straight bars, they are still perfectly legit. Especially in open country. I still think they make a true XC bike look cooler. Certainly they do their job extremely well (i.e. climbing, sprinting, etc.). However, on bars with more sweep (e.g. almost all risers), they look like cow horns because they angle out. This makes them even more prone to snagging trees, on top of being goofy.
PS
I think bar ends look ugly when they angle sharply upward. If your stem has a slight rise, bar ends parallel to the stem look the best. Just my stupid fashion advice... |
| Flat bars and bar end for me every time ... (nm) | Steve Young
Jun 15, 2002 5:43 PM | | |
| Flat bars and bar end for me every time ... (nm) | sweep
Jun 15, 2002 7:19 PM | | Well you know what folks for what ever reason if you got bar ends on now a days it's kind of frowned up-on. why? i dont know but there are a lot of people that still have em & dont care.i like em but have oury grips on & cant use them guess i could but dont want to cut them cause they look so good.(red) |
| I wouldn't................. | Mike T.
Jun 15, 2002 6:06 PM | | ....leave home without 'em! |
| second that.... | Nigey
Jun 16, 2002 3:18 PM | | those are nice bar ends.... I use Profile Stubbies (yeah, they were cheap!).
Yikes, Mike T. -I'm agreeing with ya! :^o |
| You................ | Mike T.
Jun 16, 2002 5:10 PM | | .....agreeing with meeeeeee? Ho lee sh!t I think the sky's gonna fall! :o) |
| I saw an interesting set of Bar ends ... | Ransak
Jun 15, 2002 7:13 PM | | ... at the Whislter Bike Park on Friday. Tihs guy had a full on DH rig set up with bar ends on his risers. But that's not all, he had jerry-riged a set of brake lever extensions so he could pull the brakes from his bar ends.
I saw him ripping the dual slalom course and hitting all the gap jumps! (I think he was 30+ years old too!)
To each his/her own. |
| Tektro made/makes? them | nallen
Jun 16, 2002 9:09 AM | | Tektro actually sold (still sell?)extensions for levers to be used with bar ends. I bought them in the Netherlands a couple of years back on a trip. They slipped onto the lever arm and were tightened down by a small hex bolt, they worked, however unless everyting was setup perfect I couldn't lock the wheels, only slow down (they were canti brakes at the time). Plus your levers had to be long enough that the extensions could still be reached. THey did have a little extra reach built into them. Email me if you want some pictures, I think I still have them around somewhere.
Nicolas |
| Tektro made/makes? them | DIRTJUNKIE
Jun 16, 2002 8:33 PM | | That sounds alot like what shwinn came out with in the 70's for thier ten speed road bikes.They had an extra set of levers for the upright position that leveraged off of the regular levers. |
| I saw an interesting set of Bar ends ... | Fuelish
Jun 17, 2002 2:54 AM | | Hey Ransak ... perhaps his rig's brake lever extensions weren't "jerry-rigged", maybe just old parts :) - I distinctly recall seeing ads for such a product for that same purpose (i.e., brake lever "extensions" to help you reach levers while out on barends) being marketed back early on in '90s - maybe that
"30+ years, too" dude had 'em laying around from way back when (us old folks never throw anything out...LOL )....dunno how "up to the task" they were, never saw anyone with a set - don't think I'd trust something as all important as braking to an add-on extension of my levers, and don't think I'd want to be doing any braking from the barends anyways... Actually, am really surprised no component co thought up our "need" to be able to get at brakes while out on the barends and sell us lever sets with a "shaped" levers sos ya can get at yer barends....kinda reminds me of the old Schwinn Varsity (and a whole bunch of "entry level" - or lower...haha) 10 speeds, being sold with regular brake levers, with a second smaller lever at an angle to the regular sos ya can get at yer brakes (on 10 speed) with your hands on top of bars instead of out on the hoods or drops.....anyway, enough of this Fuelish rambling........ |
| Since the fashion police started riding ... | adventuregeek
Jun 15, 2002 7:23 PM | | I don't understand the "bar end are dorky thing" either. If you just ride up the hill to downhill it, them probably not a good idea.
However if you ride anything over 5 miles, they will make you life much easier. I use a Titec Hell Bent Flat Tracker with LP Carbon Shorties. The shorties give me a bit of extra leverage and multiple hand positions without sticking way out there. The Tracker has the same sweep as a riser bar. |
| re: Since when are bar ends taboo | LTGTR
Jun 16, 2002 6:46 AM | | After making the leap to risers (which were standard on the new rig) - I did miss my barends at first. I have since grown accustomed now to not having them and rarely think about it. Though, I still toy with the idea now and then of adding a pair of stubbies to the risers. Haven't done yet though - I guess over time I just haven't found it necessary to do so. When it comes to outdoor gear esp. mountainbiking - function always comes first for me. There will always be trends...wonder what kind of bars we'll see in 5 years? Ride on. |
| re: Since when are bar ends taboo | brusko
Jun 20, 2002 1:03 AM | | what are flat bars & risers anyway? sorry, but i don't know about it. : ) |
| They're not in my world... | bray
Jun 16, 2002 9:06 AM | | I haven't noticed them disappearing here in the Rockies, per se. Maybe it's the long climbs, or maybe more riders here choose function over form. Personally, I've tried a riser with no bar ends... hated it and went back to flat with bar ends. |
| Profile stubbies for me.... | Nigey
Jun 16, 2002 3:15 PM | | I've tried flat/riser bars, with and without bar ends. No question for me (x-country) -bar ends are extremely advantageous. I've ended up with flat bar with Profile Stubbies ($13 from Nashbar on sale). They're pretty short but after noting my hand position on other bar ends, I realized I was using only that bit of them anyway. Unless things change in some way, I cannot see ever not having them on an MTB -they provide an alternative hand position that is very good for going uphill.
Maybe someone can enlighten me, but for x-country I just can't understand the difference between a flat bar and different stem I(with more angle and length) vs. a riser bar. The only thing I can think of is someones aversion to a less "professional" looking stem. Alot of this whole thing has to be down to fashion statements IMHO. I can however see going downhill or doing trick stuff that you wouldn't need bar ends -I don't do this stuff so I'm on shaky ground here -but I would guess that's the case.
Ride the woods, not the catwalk I say! |
| Oh yeah, baby! | næstep
Jun 16, 2002 4:47 PM | | Maybe 'cause they look like something out of a bad porno flick? I dunno!
They still have their place in the XC world. I didn't put any on my hardtail with risers, but that was more a minimalist move on my part, since I didn't have the intent of doing any serious climbing on it.
My full-time ride, however, doesn't go without. I like the extra assistance I get from my LP's to shift my weight forward, especially with a 4" fork up front.
Haven't really taken stock of who's got 'em and who doesn't out on the trails, but on the other hand, I've never been called demeaning names, either!
næstep |
| The only problem I see... | Kapusta
Jun 16, 2002 6:47 PM | | The only problem I see is the issue of getting them caught on things. This is more of an issue as you move to wider bars, as seems to be the trend. I have a 1" rise Titec Hellbent with bar ends, and last summer they got snagged in some bushes. The bar snapped sideways so fast it broke my wrist. 2 months of riding down the tubes (not to mention work). Kinda suprising that I still keep the bar ends after that, but I find them so helpful for steep climbs.
Only posers fear the fashion police.
Kapusta |
| I don't miss my bar ends!... | Mountain Cycle Shawn
Jun 16, 2002 8:27 PM | | Bar ends make my hands feel confined. I feel so much more free without them and you can climb just as good without them. |
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