Easton carbon bars and bar ends

Scottay5150 said:

Hey I want to put epoxy in the bar ends of the handlebars to prevent the bars from being crushed .. Is this ok?...or is there a dowel size that will (havent found any)? And there is lots of creaking coming from the Thomson stem.Should i grease the steerer or the bar clamp interface? Thanks in advance

Scott

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It all voids the warranty and they're not designed for loads bar ends place on them anyway. I wouldn't do it. On the stem creak, you shouldn't need to grease it but remove the faceplate and inspect all the parts including the bar. Reassembly per Thomsons instructions and make sure you lube the threads. When using CF bars it's reeeeeaaaalllly important to make sure that there are no sharp edges on the stem contacting the bar.

I've broken two CF bars, one a USE and the other a Easton Monkeylite riser. Both times it put me on the ground. If I had any desire to use a CF bar today, I probably go with the Easton DH model: still relatively light, but much more robust. As it is, I run a Salsa CroMoto riser. You just can't have enough chromed steel on an MTB.

I forgot to mention...

I am running the Ritchey made for carbon bars bar ends. The slots are cut on a bias (slant so the bars dont get pinched ..so far so good

Scott

Scottay5150 said:

Hey I want to put epoxy in the bar ends of the handlebars to prevent the bars from being crushed .. Is this ok?...or is there a dowel size that will (havent found any)? And there is lots of creaking coming from the Thomson stem.Should i grease the steerer or the bar clamp interface? Thanks in advance

Scott

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure using a Thomson stem will void the warranty of the Easton bar, check their website to double check. The 4-bolt clamp somehow places stress on the carbon causing it to fail - ouch! Notice all of the new Easton stems are 2-bolt jobbers.

Why use bar-ends? A properly fit bike with adequate width bars should eliminate any need for extra climbing leverage. Notice that virtually no Pro CC racers use them anymore. But then again, those bar-ends do look sweet on those neon Nishiki Aliens!

Hey I am not nornal size...

Thanks for the advice ..for the record I am a size 54 2xlt and weigh 250 on a good day ...I kneed all the leverage I can get

Scottay5150 said:

Thanks for the advice ..for the record I am a size 54 2xlt and weigh 250 on a good day ...I kneed all the leverage I can get

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All the more reason to run equipment appropriate for your size & strength. IMO, if you do weigh 250, you're too big to be running weight weenie bars in the first place. If you really want to use bar ends, get a more robust bar that is more appropiate for your size and is designed for their use.

I am a gentle giant...

I go real light on my stuff cause I dont want to break me or the bike .... Have some Hyperlights from 1994 still on the road bike ..was on rigid MTB

the irony is i denoed this weekend on the Rainbow Trail near Westcliffe and mashed the end of the bar on impact...I have been on that bar for 3 seasons at least ...i blame you have a good one

scott