bar ends

anrothar

entirely thrilled
so i decided to throw a pair of old onza bar ends on my karate monkey to see how they feel on the hills. they're shorter ones, with a 45 degree bend in them. don't look quite as dorky as those big ones. on a short road hill right by the shop they felt alot better, especially standing. i'll know for sure tomorrow after i ride up a ski slope a bunch of times with them.

anyone else using bar ends with wide bars on their singlespeed?
 

NJ Jess

Active Member
bar ends are great

I have the short ones and they work great. It gives your DH muscles a rest. See ya at Hidden Valley
 

jdog

Shop: Halter's Cycles
Shop Keep
Ergons

I totally dig the Ergon Magnesium Grip/Bar end combo on my single speed.

I rode without barends for a very long time but after seeing these I had to try them.

Very much worth the $50 bucks.

J_
 

jdog

Shop: Halter's Cycles
Shop Keep
bars..

I am using a 31.8 Monkey Lite XC Low rise bar.

Nice and stiff.

J
 
S

Stan LeCupp

Guest
jdog said:
I totally dig the Ergon Magnesium Grip/Bar end combo on my single speed.

QUOTE]

magnesium? anrothar's gonna like them.:D
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
hahaha. i'm using not really flat bars. i have the surly torsion bars with something like 15 degrees of sweep. for as lousy as i rode today, the barends did seem to help.
 

ytc100

New Member
I have risers on my ss and thought bar ends would be silly but I like the idea of grabbing the ends of the bar when climbing. Something stubby would be ideal I guess. - sounds like time for a little shopping.
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
i'm convinced, i use them on most hills of any reasonable distance now. i would officially like to recommend bar ends on your singlespeed.
 

mergs

Spokompton's Finest
JORBA.ORG
wow, they're making a comeback...

i have risers on all my bikes so they're kind of a "fashion faux paux" ;)

but seriously i've been told they're technically not a good idea on anything but flat bars due to the torque you'll exert (potentially snap the bars?). i don't know if that's true but that's what i've heard through that all-knowing "grapevine". anyone hear if that's true?

on second thought, I do torque and yank pretty darn hard on my ss at times... on the silly steep climbs, i tend to mumble to myself while cranking away: "dear Lord please let this headset remain attached to the steerer tube, lest I imprint "Chris King" on my chin and break my own jaw" ;)
 

ytc100

New Member
I installed some stubby bar ends on my ss and rode with them for the first time this weekend and I have to say I really like them. I do have riser bars and was worried about looking dopey but I think the stubbies actually look kinda cool - now I'm worried about snapping my bars though. :confused:
Anyhoo, riding hills was a bit easier with a noticable improvement in acceleration. Still have to get used to the transition from normal grip to bar end grip though, my timing was off a little at times.
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
i'm using mine all the time now. well, for climbing anyway. biggest noticeable difference is out of the saddle climbing and uphill sprinting. it's now uncomfortable for me to have my hands on the grips during either of those. the differing hand positions(useable on the smoother sections), make a difference in hand comfort over the course of a longer ride as well.

as far as riser bars go, there are plenty of strong and reasonably wide 'straight' bars available out there. if you take a riser bar, and a straight bar with the same width, sweep and wall thicknesses, the straight bar will be stronger. but most riser bars are built with downhill, freeride, jumping and trials in mind, so i'm sure some singlespeed cranking, even with the extra leverage of barends, wont be causing any more stress than any of those.
 
Last edited:

ytc100

New Member
anrothar said:
i'm using mine all the time now. well, for climbing anyway. biggest noticeable difference is out of the saddle climbing and uphill sprinting. it's now uncomfortable for me to have my hands on the grips during either of those. the differing hand positions(useable on the smoother sections, make a difference in hand comfort over the course of a longer ride as well.

as far as riser bars go, there are plenty of strong and reasonably wide 'straight' bars available out there. if you take a riser bar, and a straight bar with the same width, sweep and wall thicknesses, the straight bar will be stronger. but most riser bars are built with downhill, freeride, jumping and trials in mind, so i'm sure some singlespeed cranking, even with the extra leverage of barends, wont be causing any more stress than any of those.

I agree about climbing out of the saddle and the new hand position. After a couple more rides with them I now can't keep my hands off these things!
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
i bent that set of bar ends a few months after my last post in this thread, and have been without up untill middle of last month. i now have barends again, and friggen A!! climbing is sooooooo much easier with them that it's almost cheating.

just figured i would revive this thread since rediscovering my love for them yet again.
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
they're cheap, and uh, if you want to know if they're effective read the thread or at the very least my previous post on the subject....
 

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
i can't imagine life on the SS w/o bar ends. the difference for climbing is night and day. well worth the money. i have the ergons and won't ever go to standard grips.
 

tonyride

Don't piss off the red guy
I have short stubby ones on all my bikes and I absolutely need them for climbing. It allows me to shift my weight up forward a bit and the change is hand position helps with gripping the bar.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom