Bar ends yay or nay?

[bold stelvis]

it will constantly be under maximum strain

not really - at rest it isn't under a huge amount of tension. Most of the strain would come from peddling the thing

 

[retrobiker273891]

I can't get the image out of my head now they look like dildos after having looked at a few 'stubbies'. Also with names like 'power studs' that does nothing to diminish that idea.

 

[retrobiker273891]

I just read this:

The most classic mountain bike bar ends you can find have to be the ones from Onza. The brand is synonymous with bar ends from the nineties and basically started the whole bar end craze.


Although bar ends come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, the original Onza mountain bike bar ends were long with a sharp bend. This early design would be changed later on, since you’d basically never use the most forward position.

https://www.restoration.bike/bikes-and-parts/mountain-bike-bar-ends/
Did anyone else make use of the farther part of the larger L ones?

 

[FluffyChicken]

I did.

Long flat sections, you stretch out on them and can rest you arm bits on the bars to for extra resting.
You can do long climbs on them too.
Etc.

It's all about what fits you.


I would not recommend using the L part on bumpy downhill and roots, while good fun the bumps would cause the bar ends to slip on the fragile ultralight weight handle bars.
Which after a while become even narrower as you lop another half inch off...

But yes I used them all the time, the bar/clamp section used for comfort (especially the onza Ls with that area being really comfy) not so much the stubby section though.

And of course shopping they are great, as they are through fast wooded areas with quick turns and paths with tall nettles, other tall plants.

 

[Darcus]

I think they enhanced the 90s head down geo really well, offered 2 or 3 more hand positions and formed a useful hook for shopping bags. Not everyone wanted racks and panniers in the 90s! On my touring commuter Thorn the position is upright for me, I've added bar ends that slot inside the bars, so there's no width loss. They do a great job of adding more positions that I use daily.

 

[ThePrivateer]

I think they enhanced the 90s head down geo really well, offered 2 or 3 more hand positions and formed a useful hook for shopping bags. Not everyone wanted racks and panniers in the 90s! On my touring commuter Thorn the position is upright for me, I've added bar ends that slot inside the bars, so there's no width loss. They do a great job of adding more positions that I use daily.

Especially with the old bikes I find them extremely positive. Using them on a rigid fork bike with a narrow handlebar the ride feel comes rather close to a road bike. To me these were the first proper gravel bikes. The bar ends are comfy and remind me of riding “in the hoods”.
On the other hand these things seem to pile up in my basement. Restoring old bikes I tend to not mount them - bikes just look cleaner without them.

The bikes I really ride, however, do get them.
And as a final thought: if you have a bike that is just a tiny bit too small for you - try some bar ends before you get rid of it. They could just make the difference

 

[bold stelvis]

Using them on a rigid fork bike with a narrow handlebar the ride feel comes rather close to a road bike

agree 100% - they really do massively improve the range of available had positions on narrow flat bars. Work better on the road TBH than proper MTB stuff. The ones with a slight but not pronounced curve at tbe ends are my favourite style:



Call me unfashionable but I also think they enhance the look of those sorts of cockpits- on riser bars they look terrible though

 

[ThePrivateer]

There were some quite nasty looking ones, I have to say - e.g. the long ones with an almost 90 degree curve. The more adventurous riders mount them pointed towards them, for a more upright riding position

 

[retrobiker273891]

There were some quite nasty looking ones, I have to say - e.g. the long ones with an almost 90 degree curve. The more adventurous riders mount them pointed towards them, for a more upright riding position

The ones not bothered about rib impacts?

 

[retrobiker273891]

agree 100% - they really do massively improve the range of available had positions on narrow flat bars. Work better on the road TBH than proper MTB stuff. The ones with a slight but not pronounced curve at tbe ends are my favourite style:

View attachment 886996

Call me unfashionable but I also think they enhance the look of those sorts of cockpits- on riser bars they look terrible though

These are the ones I have gone with mostly due to circumstance of what was offered to me but, having used the big L ones in the old days I do seem to recall that beyond the curve was not used that much and would mainly just grab at the angle so the extra metal was mostly redundant. These ones seem to offer the ideal of not too short and not too long.