Bicycle Jack

How do you go about cutting your bars? Do you do it yourself? If so, what saw do you use? If you don't, where do you bring it and is it cheap or free?

barba

Just use a hack saw or a pipe cutter. Remember, measure twice.

Yoshi

1) Give them to a bike mechanic at a local bike shop.
2) ...
3) Profit!

Landgolier

Pipe cutter for straight sections (risers, crappy drops to tiny straight bars), hacksaw (and grinder or files) for cutting on curves. I've cut chop and flops on the curves with a pipe cutter, you can do it but it's a pain.

ianjk

I've used: hacksaw, pipe cutter, and a sawzall. Pipe cutter is the easiest.

jet sanchEz

Wow.

axelfox

Isn't cut twice?

barba

Well I guess since there are two sides to the bars you should technically measure four times and cut twice.

metaljim

cut off wheel and a bench grinder!

felldownthewell

I used a hacksaw to cut my straight bars. The ends didn't look too great, so I would recommend a pipe cutter, but they looked fine when I stuck the grips on.

PapaLegba

you can use a tape measure and a grease pencil from the end of the bar.

cut it with a hacksaw, rub down any sharp edges with a b@stard file.

i always cut my XC bars real narrow.

j0e_bik3

I measure twice, mark the line, and then using a pipe/tubing cutter with a c-clamp behind it to prevent "walking" on tapered bars, I roll the first cut VERY carefully, checking often that the cutter isn't walking off the line I marked.
once I get a full turn, and theres a nice deep cut line, I start cranking the handle down and turning.
once the cut is made I de-burr the inside with a burr-quick tool, then use a single cut b@$tard file to chamfer the outside. (weird how the spelling filter even filters "legal" words )

P.S.: if your using a brake, put the lever on the bar BEFORE measuring where to cut, some bars taper quite quickly, and some brake levers wont fit far toward the clamp, so WITH the brake lever, measure twice, then cut, once.

I_luv_hooters

I use a hacksaw and I do it while they are mounted on my bike. that way they are held still. its easy to cut too much so measure and mark it good.

jchechile

i used a pipe cutter and the job was done in 5 minutes... used it on the curves with no problems at all.
i dont know what they cost but maybe you can return it after one use... or maybe you have a shop nearby, or own the tool already

shasta

I used a hacksaw to cut my bars. It took a few minutes on each side. Then I used some sandpaper to round out the sharp edges. I'm pretty much just restating the same thing thats been said in this thread already.

BuddyMike

Measure twice
pipe cutter

fetch

pipecutter is so easy is f'n mind blowing

operator

Bikehsop with guide and hacksaw = 30 second job and $5 charge. Guaranteed perfect result.

freeskihp

sawzall. entire set of bars done in 15 seconds or less

sp00ki

funny that this thread was just started.
i used to cut my bars with a pipe cutter my office's maintainance man left in the breaker room on our floor (it was adjacent to our data center and subsequently pretty big, so the sysadmins all keep our bikes there).
it was big and heavy duty. i cut no fewer than three bars down to size using it with no issue. it was really good and effortless with a remarkably factory-smooth cut every time.
i needed to cut some moustache bars down today, but couldn't find it; turns out no one had seen it in over a month. i then went to the hardware store and picked one up. i had the choice between a 9 dollar one, a 16 dollar one, a 29 and a 33 dollar one.
i went with 16.

i was able to cut my bars, but not easily. the left is 1/2 cm shorter than the right, and the ends are ****. i'm going to have to file them down before wrapping them (cloth), and the pipe cutter is destroyed.

my advice: pipe cutter AS LONG as it's good (i'll probably buy the nice one sometime this month). if you don't have access to a good one, use a rag wrapped around your bars in a vice clamp and a fine toothed hacksaw.

maddyfish

I used a sawzall.

I_luv_hooters

sawzall is cool but some of us don't have one... Definitely a hacksaw is a good investment. I've probably cut 20 bars all together just trying to find the perfect risers. its like an addiction - i keep buying new bars. oh well its fun to customize your bike. heres my latest buy https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=380001863145

mooseblend

I have one of these (older model though) https://www.blackanddecker.com/Produc...roductID=14973

I've used it to cut bars a few times, works very well and also it's a lot faster than doing it by hand.

dayvan cowboy

i used a cheap pipe cutter on my drops. needless to say, i need a new pipe cutter, but my bullhorns sure look nice.

ghostofcrujones

I dont know if anyone has pointed this out yet, but you wanna know what an un****withable technique is? Pick up on or two of these from you local hardware store.



Slide it on your bars that you have already flipped and mounted in your stem. Rock them downward so you can easily use your hacksaw to cut straight downward. The hose clamp acts as a perfect straight-edge to guide your cut (ie you can really **** it up because the hose clamp is thicker metal and clearly raised higher than the bar's aluminum).

once you have one side done, you can actually use the removed piece to line up the other drop perfectly!

i've done this one a few pairs of bars and it works very well. Also, i have cut at least three pairs of bars without changing the hacksaw blade and have gotten perfect, professional smooth cuts (a little sandpaper on ends makes it totally pro).

Good luck!