Submitted by
Rod Munch
a Cross Country Rider
from Santa Rosa, Ca
Date Reviewed: April 2, 2004
Strengths: Best fit for me on the market, great looks, light weight, bought for a steal at the bargain bin at Supergo in 1995
Weaknesses: Hmmm. Discontinued now?
Bottom Line:
Wish I could find a stockpile of these somewhere. Mine are almost 10 years old, and have just made the swap to their third bike. Great shape- thicker and straighter than other endz, light weight. I left a lot of custom parts selling my '99 Razorback, but I kept these bar ends. They've seen a lot of crashes and have some scrapes, but are still going strong.
Weaknesses: cost too much and are not made out of titanium inpregnated milk cartons
Bottom Line:
these bar ends are the best thing ever. even without a drivetrain i can still beat all my friends since they are so light. i can now ride in confidence and huck the super nasty better than i could in my origanal review that magicly dissapeared, oh well here is another.
Bike Setup: a monster dr rig with a rs metro and no crank or drivetrain.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Ron
a Cross Country Rider
from clarksville, tn
Date Reviewed: January 18, 2001
Strengths: fit to hand, light, tough
Bottom Line:
I have been riding hard for a while, not to mention the use of these bar ends as a stand before and after the ride, and they have more than met the match. We need to remember that they are carbon. You do make sacrifices when you go for light weight. These bar ends rule!
Submitted by
Patrick Beeson
a Cross Country Rider
from Bluff City, TN, USA
Date Reviewed: July 5, 2000
Strengths: Light, very sweet looking, fit better in my hand than other barends, plus got 'em for free from a friend!
Weaknesses: My 5mm bolts stripped out, but I found some new ones.
Bottom Line:
These bar ends have held up amazingly well over the past two years they have been in use. I have tried other 'ends, but these fit my hands the best. I also work in a bike shop so I could technically get any bar end I want for cheap, but these OCLV ends rock! I have crashed hard on them before and the stay together. How people break their stuff is beyond me; ride better! 5 flaming horses for value(got em free) and 5 for quality!
Similar Products Used: Onza, Trek system 4, Bontrager Race Lights
Bike Setup: Yeti ARC, SID XC, Spinergy Spox, XT, ya get the point...
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Rhonda
a Weekend Warrior
from Columbus, OH
Date Reviewed: June 7, 1999
Strengths: comfortable fit
Weaknesses: breakage
Bottom Line:
My husband jinxed my beloved bar ends by telling me that there was some problems with breakage. What happened yesterday??? One of them was snapped. However, I did land hard enough to launch the water bottle out of the cage, dent my helmet, and knock my handlebars out of alignment. The bar ends have definitely been great and have taken abuse. Like I said...he jinxed me.
Submitted by
Ed
a Cross-Country Rider
from Apex, NC
Date Reviewed: April 22, 1999
Strengths: Light Look cool Almost as tough as nails
Weaknesses: Expensive Brittle (relatively speaking) - will nor bend Not as tough as nails
Bottom Line:
SNAP, CRACKLE, POP!!!! Nope, it ain't the rice crispys...Just broke one of my OCLV barends in half yesterday. Wasn't even a wicked crash or anything, just spinning along and rolled into a shallow hole - did an endo and apparently landed on my handle bars. I myself was unscathed (except my pride) but I then noticed the shattered remains of my barend (much to my chagrin). Still can't complain too much, they were unbelievably light and put up with a lot of punishment up until now. I probably would have easily bent an aluminum barend, but it would at least get me back to the car (or I could even keep using it if I didn't mind a custom bent barend). But like anything that's made out of carbon, it has pros and cons. It will be light and really shouldn't have much flex, but is pretty brittle when compared to the more traditional metal materials. Oh well, still give it 3 chilis for 2 years of good service.
Strengths: Tough as nails Fairly light Look cool Carbon???
Weaknesses: Carbon??? In theory, could crack if they get scrathed up a lot
Bottom Line:
So far these things have been great!!! They seem to be tough as hell, even thoughthey have been beat up / scratched pretty bad. And best of all, they look great. Now I just wish they would make them look like carbon bull horns, sharp points and all. If for now other reason than to look intimadating on race day. Seriously, the only thing i might change with the OCLV's is maybe the overall length - a little shorter maybe. Otherwise, 5 flaming chilis!!
Similar Products Used: Walmart specials - and man were they special. I deserved it though for skimping.
Bike Setup: 97' Klein Attitude Comp Judy XC
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
T.R.
a cross-country rider
from Germany
Date Reviewed: February 3, 1999
Bottom Line:
The Trek OLCV are very fine Barends. They are light and feel very comfortable, especially if you have got large hands. I crashed with them two times, but they did not crack, they only have a few scratches on the carbon fiber. More over these barend look pretty cool.
I would just like to say that these are by far the best bar ends I have ever tried!!! When I first looked at them I thought to myself how anything this light could hold up. It has been a dream on the uphill with these and they haven't broken yet and believe me I've taken a few endos in my day where you just ram the bar ends into a rock or something. And another thing, they're incredibly comfortable and practically forms to your hands. These Babies get 5 flamin' peppers!!!
These bar ends are great! I got mine from Supergo for about $40. They are very ergonomic, they feel good in your hand. I have wiped out a few times and even had the ends drag across a stuco header in the back of a truck coming out of a car port before a ride. My buddy wasn't used to an X-large frame in the back of his truck. I love my bar ends mostly for the way the feel.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Dale
a cross-country rider
from abq, nm
Date Reviewed: March 1, 1998
Bottom Line:
I agree that these are some nice bar ends, fit nice, look great but that is until you crack'em when the bike is sitting still. Mine cracked when the bike fell over while sitting against my car in the slickrock parking lot, there was a noticeable cracking noise that all my friends asked about. One star because stuff this expensive should have a warning about how brittle it is before you buy it and the fact that trek won't warranty it for any reason. Back to the avenir onza clones for me.
I have had a set of OCLV barends since early '95 on my ProCaliber. Thay've held up great. In fact I crashed hard enough to wreck a handlebar without killing the barends. I really like the way they fell in my hands too, although they now have shorter ones which I would prefer. My only dissapointment was their weight I expected them to be more like 100g. than 140g.
I've had these bar ends for over a year. I've crashed on them hard enough to scrape through a layer of carbon, but I haven't had any of the breakage problems that krafters mentions below. I'm lucky I guess. Anyway, these bar ends are the bomb. Their shape is killer and they look really nice on the bike. Ironically, for the price, you'd think they would be lighter, as many alloy bar ends are at least as light, but none are as sexy as the OCLVs. Jewelry for your bike.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
krafters
a cross-country rider
from la, ca, usa
Date Reviewed: February 3, 1998
Bottom Line:
these bar ends were comfortable and light. plus they were high-tech looking. too bad they were still pieces of junk. when i talk about these bar ends, it will always be in the past tense. they are weaker than crap, cause when i fell, one bar end broke against my ribs. my LBS couldn't do anything for me since it was my fault crashing. the barend broke at the aluminum junction where the carbon fiber is bonded. so what was i going to do with one bar end? i picked up my bike and ran it into a steel post twice. the other bar end broke with ease, cracking the first time, and falling off the second. what a weak piece of crap. carbon fiber should not be used for bar ends, especially since it's a component susceptible to breakage in crashes. a strong aluminum bar end is well worth the extra weight (and cheaper cost). however, maybe in my case i was lucky the carbon fiber gave. otherwise i might have a broken rib. anyway, i said screw it to bar ends all together, hello riser bars.
These bar ends are sweet! I got mine from Supergo for 40 bones (reg 90). They are very ergonomic because Trek designed them around the human hand. The use of carbon composites allowes Trek lay the carbon sheets in whatever shape they want. With aluminum tubes there are only a few ways to draw the tubes (round, teardrop, single bend ect). They are also pretty light (130g) for a ski/L bend bar end. They are very strong. I wiped out hard on some ice covered pavement in really cold weather (-15 F) and they didn't crack. If you camp out on your bar ends, these should definately be worth your consideration. Great product!!!!
