Grips for this build HAD to be ODI Attack. THE Mushroom grips! (Original versions came with a mushroom sticker!) And 'Designed by [my hero and Yeti C-26 racer] John Tomac'. Original versions have a closed end, as seenin the early advert below, which showed Tomac riding on his Yeti FRO. As most of you will know, when barends became the 'must-have' accessory in the late 80s / all through the early 90s, chopping the ends off your grips to fit barends was often a nightmare and looked scruffy if hacked badly! Tomac was sponsored by ODI and even had his name molded into the grips. He also ran with barends (but, bit of trivia for you, Tomac turned down a sponsorship offer from Onza founder and 'inventor' of bar ends, Dan Sotelo. Dan approached Johnny T, who thought barends were wacky and weren't useful, definitely not for him! A decision he went on to regret as Onza bar ends sold in the thousands and Onza made millions of dollars! Still, the Tomes would still go on to using bar ends (initially they were Onza bar ends, covered in bar tape to disguise them), which were upplied by and branded by Tomac's biggest sponsor, Tioga! The world's biggest star would never have a scruffy cockpit, so ODI launched the Attack Endless - specially molded with no ends.
I picked up this set of special bar ends Attack grips, which come with a separate, smaller diameter ODI Attack Mushroom grip specially for bar ends, NOS from a seller in the US - cheaper than they cost new in 1991! They have DESIGNED BY JOHN TOMAC molded onto the inner grip collars.
(Later ODI Attack remakes don't have this molding, probably due to ending sponsorship with Tomac, who later in the 90s swithced to using ATI grips, ODI's biggest competitor!)
In keeping with the 'Team Yeti theme' and with this build being heavily influenced by Juli Furtado's C-26, I wanted Onza Titanium bar ends for it, just like Juli used on hers at the Worlds. This is the third set of Onza Ti barends* I've had in three years, but the first I've fitted to a bike! First set I brought back in my suitacse from the US in 2016, which I bought for the Alpinestars Ti Mega frame that I sold without ever building up, so sold the barends to a guy Down Under, who wanted them as the final piece needed for a stunning GT Xizang build
. I'd bought a different set to these ones here, funnily from Jason, who didn't want them for his own so parted them to me when I told him I was looking. I gave him what he paid but promptly sold them on again for less, becasue I found this set, which has OG decals. The ones I had from Jason had a brighter, smaller, replic decal and different plugs, which different on very early models being plain aluminum, to plain plastic on later versions, to this more refined and definite Onza plug on these, which I much prefer the look of.
(*I am purposely switching spellings between barends as one single word or bar ends tow separate words, because I don't know which is right, but a bar en, is where you attach a barend, right? Maybe! This needs a debate and the OED to settle it
)
The rubber end caps often perish on these or if used a lot, will wear down so you can't see the onZa logo or the textured pattern. These are really nice and clean.
I've adjusted the brifters slightly higher than if I'd ride them (!) so tat if the bar swings they won's smash into the top tube.
Looking at the finished cockpit from the rider's eye, makes me think that Henning spent way too long polishing that stem! I've got some new decals to fit, but I'm gonna buff it a bit with wire wool / soft red Scotchbrite pads to take the shine off. It's probably lost all its anodizing so it's never going to look original again, but dulling the sheen is the next best thing I reckon.
