The lightest, most popular and grooviest-feeling bar ends ever! Ergonomic shape fits your hands perfectly, and the carbon construction keeps `em feathery light at just 100 grams per pair!
Material: Carbon fiber with forged aluminum clamps
Submitted by
shiny_car
a Cross Country Rider
from Australia
Date Reviewed: October 12, 2005
Strengths: nice ergonomics; nice carbon fibre finish; very light; nicely sculptured clamp that suits CF bars
Weaknesses: retail price is expensive and would not make them great value; no ski-bend so limited hand position
Bottom Line:
I have the newer release '05 bar-ends that apparently feature a stronger union between carbon fibre bar and clamp and slight change in shape; very nice finish and very light; quite small so wouldn't suit larger hands; nor do they have the extra length of a ski-bend which limits hand positions; I haven't had any accidents to test out their strength but hopefully they'll withstand the punishment; if you're after a well-finished bar-end that's light and not cumbersome, these are worth considering, although at full retail they wouldn't be very good value
Bike Setup: Specialized HT with carbon fibre flat bar
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Submitted by
Ethan
a Cross Country Rider
from St. Louis, MO
Date Reviewed: November 8, 2004
Strengths: Light, comfortable, strong
Weaknesses: none
Bottom Line:
These are basically great bar-ends. I've had them for a long time with no problems. They are more comfortable than any aluminum bar-end (due to the rounded shape) and I've crashed quite a few times without any damage. These are the best bar-end out there as far as I can tell.
Submitted by
Bernard
a Cross Country Rider
from Lakes, UK
Date Reviewed: December 7, 2003
Strengths: Nice looking, comfortable.
Weaknesses: The bonding of the clamp fails. The clamps are poorly designed and are not suitable for carbon composite bars: When you tighten them the heal of the clamp is forced inwards into the bar causing deformation, delamination and failure. Even the Easton website does not recommend them. I found they split the ends of my Kestrel bars and they are reinforced!
Bottom Line:
I have gone through two sets of these only to find the bonding fails so the grip rotates and rocks. They are not suitable for composite bars because the clamps can cause carbon bars to fail. I am down two sets of bar ends and one Kestrel bar. Not good!
Similar Products Used: Icon, Xlite, Bontrager.....
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Submitted by
Mark A. Lohnes
a Cross Country Rider
from Skagway, AK USA
Date Reviewed: August 2, 2003
Strengths: Comfy, light and they look good.
Weaknesses: none so far!
Bottom Line:
I love these little guys. I didn't notice the few grams difference in weight btw the others and the Titec's, but that is not really why I bought them. I am a carbon junkie and they give me my daily fiber! Ther are super comfortable and I won't trade them ofr any thing else.
Bike Setup: Fuel 90, Full Xtr, Fox AVA, Black ELite
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Submitted by
Michael Drawdy
a Weekend Warrior
from Aiken, SC
Date Reviewed: May 20, 2003
Strengths: The contour and finish of the bar ends results in an outstanding grip. Additionally, they are so comfortable. The light weight is nice but nearly all bar ends are within a couple ounces of each other...
Weaknesses: None so far!
Bottom Line:
If you find bar ends indispensable like I do, then you will find these very comfortable. The price is reasonable for what you get. I highly recommend them.
Similar Products Used: Been riding with bar ends since '88. Probably have owned 10-20 different types. They are expendable.
Bike Setup: New Yeti AS-R. Pretty irrelevant actually...
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Submitted by
Matthew
a Cross Country Rider
from Milwaukee
Date Reviewed: May 13, 2003
Strengths: Light, comfy, look cool.
Weaknesses: Expensive, limited hand positions, maybe not so durable in a crash.
Bottom Line:
I loved the Bontrager barends that came stock on my bike, and they were great for years. Then the threads stripped on them, and I found out that they were no longer made. I got a deal on the Titecs, but even so they're still not cheap. But they do look real cool, they're light as hell, and they give my hands more places to rest. Hey, it's a barend... what else is it supposed to do?
Similar Products Used: ControlTech L bend, Bontrager.
Bike Setup: '98 Trek 8000 with lots o' goodies.
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Submitted by
Sarah
a Cross Country Rider
from Davis, CA
Date Reviewed: October 9, 2002
Strengths: Fits small hands well, light weight, very comfortable on long climbs, good ergonomic shape for gripping
Weaknesses: No so far
Bottom Line:
Buy these if you have small hands and do a lot of climbing. Bar ends, flat bars and proper stems are still the lightest and strongest way to get proper fit and strength. I crash a lot at low speeds and have never broken carbon bar ends. However, bar ends take the brunt of the force in fall, protecting your far more expensive levers, shifters and hands. Consider them somewhat expendable protection.
Bike Setup: Litespeed Unicoi, Kooka levers WTB bar, XTR, Cook Bros, etc.
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Submitted by
John Whitney
a Cross Country Rider
from Haddonfield, NJ, USA
Date Reviewed: September 15, 2002
Strengths: light weight, great look and feel
Weaknesses: very fragile
Bottom Line:
i ride mostly in the street where these bar ends worked great. recently i began challenging myself with some moderately difficult trails. after the second crash the right bar end was toast. in my oppinion the look and feel of this product doesn't out-weigh the fact that it does not perform well in the environment in which it was intended to be used. unless you have money to burn, my advice is to consider a less expensive and more durable option.
On my first descent with the barends on the bike, I could hear a rattle in the right barend. I was planning on taking them off after the ride and getting them replaced; however I took a minor spill that cracked the very end of the barend. The barend did not even hit a rock but simply the dirt trail and cracked the end. Unbelievable, less than 30minutes into the ride and my barend is cracked. I could probably epoxy the crack and continue to ride them, However the rattle is annoying.
I do not reccommend these barends. First, poor build quality. Mine had a loose pieced rattling in the hollow part that was really annoying. Second, they are unbelievably frail. I am out $50.
Submitted by
Brad
a Cross Country Rider
from Las Vegas, NV
Date Reviewed: October 22, 2001
Strengths: light, good ergo
Weaknesses: none that i've found
Bottom Line:
OK, these are light and feel good on my hands,, what more can I ask for? I've crashed with these at least 6 times and they are not broken, the aluminum clamp's scratches will attest. But they are carbon and prone to breaking, so if your the type that breaks things buy something more durable. I guess its fashonable not to use bar ends nowadays but if you slog up fire roads for an hour you will be glad you have them.
Submitted by
Mark
a Weekend Warrior
from Burlington, VT
Date Reviewed: August 23, 2001
Strengths: Very lightweight, nice ergonomic design to them, feels right in my hands climbing a hill or just adjusting to a different hand position on a long ride.
Weaknesses: being carbon fiber, they are prone to damage that aluminum isn't, knew it buying them, still love them for the non round design to them.
Bottom Line:
I bought these barends about 6 months ago and rode them for the summer, loved them, the lightweight carbon feel to them gave a nice play to them when riding long distance and readjusting my grip. You can't beat the design, I crashed and dropped the bike on one of the bars, scraped the carbon down to the core, completely blowing the strength and rigidity from them. Tried to expoxy over the scrape, no luck, gave Titec a call to see what they could do, maybe get a single barend, they offered me there crash replacement price of $35 for the pair, can't beat that, sent out that day, very good response.
4 chilis on value only because they still are $60 +/- for bar ends, but 5 flames on overall becuase they do rock.
Bike Setup: Trek 8500LT, upgraded riser bar to flat bar, thomson stem, titec seatpost over the suspension gimmic thing, XTR cranks, R der, F der, XT cassette.
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Submitted by
Arturo Navarro
a Weekend Warrior
from Mexico City
Date Reviewed: August 15, 2001
Strengths: Very cool bar end, nice touch and feel.
Weaknesses: im afraid to break them untill it happens, on a crash is the only part of my bike that get damaged, is a litespeed obed, the only thing made of carbon fiber fails!!
Bottom Line:
Very cool product, nice view, but very touchi, the titec logos worn out easily
Bike Setup: Litespeed Obed, chris king head set and hubs, race face crank, XT shifters and brakes, thomson elite seatpost, kore elite stem,titec 118 handlebar,flite seat,mavic rims.
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Submitted by
John
a Cross Country Rider
from Sacramento, CA
Date Reviewed: March 26, 2001
Strengths: Strong, Light, agro, comfy, stylin.
Weaknesses: Scared that if they break I will be out 60 bucks.
Bottom Line:
Good, Light. Look cool. Still look coll when you put it down and the Titec logo on the side gets scraped off (almost cooler!)
Submitted by
tyler
a Cross Country Rider
from Rockton, Illinois
Date Reviewed: February 9, 2001
Strengths: well....i was contemplating on putting bar-ends on a riser bar (titec hell bent) and realized that if i did they would have to be good looking. these don't look bad on a riser bar plus they are light!!
Weaknesses: i can see where the might not be real sturdy, but otherwise i love em!
Bottom Line:
these things are alright, want bar-ends that are light and don't resemble profile shorty's or icon....then get these
Similar Products Used: scott, icon, system 1, profile, (by the way profile shorty's are not good)
Bike Setup: : Well, i work at a bike shop so i have been blessed to ride a nice rig, being only 17 i have not a whole lot of time to be saving up for bikes. Anyway, 1998 Schwinn Homegrown frame(red bass boat), 2000 SID xc, XTR der.s, XT crank and shifters(yes i was trapped into 9 speed), Avid Archrival 50 brakes,Rolf Dolomite wheels, Cane creek C-2, Continental tires(i have a few combinations),Titec hellbent, titec stem, titec seat post, titec Carbon 100 barends, fi`zi:k nisene saddle ti rails, time ATAC pedals, yeti grips, sigma copmuter, and whole lotta love!
