bar ends

bar ends, are they ok or dorky?
I need them to keep my hands from going numb

It gives your hands anlternative position. I've told myslef that m next bike will not have them on but before I can help, my hands are back on the ends. I like the position seing that I have alot of road bike riding years behind me.

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Trap, of word getrap.

i think that if you do a fair bit of riding on the road then bar ends make sense, if only on a saftey option.
the reason why i say that is a few times i have had people open car doors on me when i have been riding past them. the worst was when i was doing about 28-30mph going down a hill, clipped a car door that was just being opened. the car door hit my bar end, and sent me spilling down a busy main road. and i swear, if i didnt have the bar ends then i would have lost my little finger. i chipped a bit of bone out of my forearm and had lots of brusing all over.
since that happened i would not have a bike without them.

+1. I went down on a multilane road on some oil about 6 months ago. I was doing roughly 50km/hr. No broken bones fortunately, but my shoulder (which took thw worst of the impact) has only recently come good.

If not for the bar ends it would have been much, much worse. I'd have broken or lost a little finger for sure, and the ends of the bar would have dug in and flipped me, possibly into the next lane.

Bar end are great unless if you ride twisty turny single track. I used Cane Creek Ergo bar ends and like them while I used them. However, I found that they slowed me down too much in single track because I was always worked about hooking them.

<chuckle>Yes that is an issue to consider. Even so, I'd still have 'em on. Maybe as I get better I'll be more comfortable with ditching them.

Why don't you just customize your bike??











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