What happened to barends? When did they go out of use?

[voodoorider]

Re:

Ahh, the bar end... gone but nor forgotten. All my retro rides have then, except the CR7.

I remember seeing them first appear at the Malverns, the pro's were riding the original Onza stubbies... went to my local store, Haywards in Cambridge, you couldn't get them for love or money, at one point I think they had a wait list for the CroMo stubbies.

There are still times I miss them out on the trai, but yes riser bars have taken their place.

 

[cce]

flat bars are kinda back now, but much wider.

They're quite niche these days but they still have a place in long distance events where the extra hand position is welcome

 

[danson67]

Re:

I've always ridden flat bars and barends :shock: so can I re-phrase the OP a bit?

I can see why risers and bar ends don't mix, but why did riser bars become the norm?
Is there a sound practical advantage over flat bars? Just seems like extra bends to me
Was it just to avoid top tube dents?

It seems to me that they were introduced for two reasons:
1: They look more gnarly and wide like MotoCross bikes, and
2: People didn't like the stretched out flat 90s XC layout, so demanded a shorter, more upright position.

OK, top tubes have got longer to stretch the wheelbase for stability, so stems have shortened, but surely as front ends have got higher (long travel forks and 29ers etc), the bars should get flatter to compensate :?

All the best,

 

[brocklanders023]

Re: Re:

OK, top tubes have got longer to stretch the wheelbase for stability, so stems have shortened, but surely as front ends have got higher (long travel forks and 29ers etc), the bars should get flatter to compensate :?

All the best,

They have. Most 29ers come with flat bars.

 

[danson67]

Re:

Come to think of it, these days I suppose you're either standing up on a downhill, or walking next to it, pushing it back up the hill, not much actual riding involved...hrummph.

All the best,

 

[FluffyChicken]

Re:

I guess risers came about since the zero degree stem came out.
The risers unncompensate the lowering of the front end (Stem) to compensate for suspension forks being retro fitted.

A return to higher rise stems would have been easier logically, but then they look as cool as bar ends on risers.

Or you could get more than 8degree sweep on risers?