Why did bar ends disappear?

[Johnsqual]

I did think the possibility of knocking barends out of position in crashes, tight corners etc might have something to do with it too. DTs are in a much less vulnerable position in that respect.

 

[mattr]

Indexing probably had something to do with it as well.
You need a stiff, incompressible outer, that's as short as possible, couldn't easily do that with bar end shifters, especially not with the outers that were generally around when early indexed shifters started to be available.

Once we got into the proper incompressible outers (the SIS/SP40 type stuff) and light action rear mechs it got much easier to index with a longer run of outer. But by then, we had STI.

(and regarding the earlier poster commenting on reliability, STI/Ergo are pretty damn reliable these days. Yes there is lots to go wrong, but it very very rarely does.)

 

[Nob]

Bar end levers were also used as brake levers to make the bike lighter & more aero as you got rid of the big brake levers. Didn't catch on as it was quite dangerous.

 

[David B]

Bar end levers were also used as brake levers to make the bike lighter & more aero as you got rid of the big brake levers. Didn't catch on as it was quite dangerous.

You do occasionally see bar-end levers used to operate drag brakes on tandems, mind.

David

 

[bagpuss]

You still see them fitted to some new touring bikes. I think Dawes fit them to the Galaxy range. I have them on two machines and I refitting them to one of my Mercians.