rseeker

Have you added bar ends and did you feel crowded on the bars after? Or was it fine?

I'm talking about the add-on handle protrusions off a flat bar that stick forward kind of like bullhorns.

I'm getting mirrors and I need a place to mount them on my flat bars, so I'm considering bar ends for that.

Like these:

fietsbob

I have a Brompton . I got Ergon GR3 grips , they include a bar end.. I got used to it..

rseeker

What made you want them in the first place?

Do you use the bar end part much?

Ironfish653

On the narrow XC bars we used to run on 26" MTB's BITD, they were good for the extra leverage, and for us East Coast guys, the '3/4' style was good for fending off branches and saplings when trailbreaking and bushwhacking.
The modern 650mm+ bars don't need the extra leverage, so bar-ends are superfluous. I'm not sure why you'd need to mount a bar-end just so that you could mount a mirror to it. I've seen people who do use them to mount mirrors and lights, but rather than crowding your hands, it feels more like using moose antlers for handlebars.

Paul Barnard

Love my bar ends.

BobbyG

Put 'em inboard.

Colnago Mixte

Very comfy-looking setup. If I ever rode across the USA, that's the setup I would want.

I would wanna add another bar end to the seat tube to help me whenever I pick up the bike. Seems original, and a conversation piece to boot.

Kapusta

livedarklions

I have pretty much the same bar end set up. I attached one of these mirrors to the bend of the left-hand bar end and if you orient the mirror so the long dimension is vertical, it works just like a truck rear view mirror:
https://www.amazon.com/UltraLite-acc...an+bike+mirror

Since I never actually rest my hand on the bend, I don't miss the small amount of the bar end I lose.

Kapusta

cyccommute 

Although I'm a proponent of helmet mirrors over bar mounted mirrors, I have had to mount mirrors on bikes with flat bars because my wife doesn't like helmet mirrors. My solution was to use a Zefal Doobak mirror. It's a nice mirror and inserts into the handlebar. The barends won't interfere with the mount. You can see it on the left hand side in this picture

DSCN1058 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

I actually got the righthand mirror so that the mirror hangs below the handlebar. A lefthand mirror stands above the bar and interferes with the use of the bar ends.

BobbyG

+1 for helmet/glasses mirrors and supplementary bar mirrors.

fietsbob

Flattish paddle grip, comfort, bar end integrated, but separately adjustable.

I often just open my palm, across grip and bar end,

so not grabbing , more leaning, on the handlebars..

fietsbob

here is their longest bar end model.

rseeker

I hadn't thought of that, but fending off branches sounds attractive. One of the ways I use this (cheap but serviceable) bike is bike-and-hike, where I ride for an hour, stash the bike, hike for a couple hours then ride on home. The place I stash it doesn't have a trail, it's in some dense woods and down in a gully ("Local Adventure" biking) where no one will see it. (Security through obscurity.) (Also locked.) Anyway, creating a protected space for the mirror seems like a win.

The other win with barends may be a cheap way to begin trying different fore/aft rider positions without having to use a whole different set of bars yet. Especially for climbing, which I do a lot of since my neighborhood is almost all hills

My bars are 630mm, maybe I'll need something wider after all.

That sounds like good times.

rseeker

That looks like a nicely set up bike. I'll check out the Doobak, thanks for mentioning it.

That's my plan, I'm getting both, Take-A-Look for the helmet and thinking Ortlieb for the bars. I'll try em both and keep what works. (.. and the Ortlieb looks identical to the D+D UltraLite linked above.)

Retro Grouch 

Anything on the handlebar I like to bolt it up and try it out. before I commit myself to something that can't be undone.

I tend to prefer narrower handlebars and almost always shortened them a little. That's when I learned about trying them out before cutting the end of the bar.

Skipjacks

I have my bar ends inside the brake handles. They work great.

I don't feel cramped, like the OP is looking to avoid. When I had them on the outside the outside of my hands pressed against them and I felt cramped. When them inside my hand is a good inch from the bar end when holding the normal grips. Plus when I'm holding the bar ends I can drop down much quicker to the brake levers without having to pull my hand back and around the bar end.

With the interior positioning I get all the advantages of the bar ends on the outside. It's an alternate hand position and a place to grab and pull for a climb. And they don't have the down sides like your hands feeling cramped inside them of hooking low hanging tree branches/other bikers

What they end up feeling like is holding the shifter hoods on a drop bar. The ergonomics of the grip are a bit different, but that's roughly the same position I'm in when I'm on the bar ends.

MikeyMK

I've never got on with them. They were all the rage in the late '80s and I tried a few, but the hand position was all wrong. My Merlin came with bullhorns and I couldn't cope.

With flat bars your hands are in the wrong position because they're just too straight. Maybe you can get more straight poles on a pallet but it does nothing for the riding position.

I held my hands out in loose fists with a handlegrip in each, and looked at them. I closed my eyes and let my hands move to the most comfortable position. When i opened my eyes, the grips were in a position none of my bikes had ever had...

What I needed, apparently, were moustache bars, angled slightly downwards. I bough an Ergotec Space Bugle and i absolutely love it, i've used it on my last three dailys - if you like your bars low, you can get the grips lower than your top tube by mounting them upside down. And you can cut a gap out the middle of the curve for an inboard pair.

Skipjacks

What computer are you using there? I like the way it displays the information.

MikeyMK

KT-3 I think it's called (I call it Katy), yeah I like it. It has a lot of parameter settings and has allowed me to customise the bike to behave just how I want it.

Unfortunately it's only rated up to 48v systems (working well with 54.4v max).
My motor is rated 1.5-3.0kw and is currently reaching 2kw. But my new motor is rated at 3.0-8.0kw and i'm gonna have to keep it at 48v for now until I can find a new system.

MikeyMK

This is probably a better photo for both the screen and bars...

BobbyG

The clean simplicity of your bar setup is reflected in your prose. My clunky-kludge of a jungle-gym handle-bar reflects my overwrought writing style. Yours looks and sounds like mine do in my head. Nice!

Duo

is there any chance of a bicycle mirror for a drop bar Road Bike? i am looking for one that allows me to use all the positions on a drop bar handle bar.

thanks.

rseeker

That Doobak mentioned here above looks pretty good. It goes in the end of the bar where a plug would usually go. Would something like that work for you?

This other topic should help too: https://www.bikeforums.net/general-c...t-mounted.html