Hey Guys & Gals

Col_5632

Newbie here, gf bought me a new mountain bike in April and on the 24th June im doing a 30 mile cycle for charity but im after some equipment before the cycle, one thing im looking for is Bull Bars (think thats what they are called anyway) metal horned shaped things that go at the end of each handlebar

Will my local halfords sell these?

Also looking for a small bag to hold punture repair kit, tools, first aid, will any make do or are some better than others?

Thanks in advance

Colin

JM01

Hey Colin, welcome aboard...

http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_...D=1181742394943

this is a good pack that stays out of the way and fits on the front triangle of your bike...works well unless you have a full suspension...

the bar ends you mention are actually specialized accessories that are used to get more of your weight over your front wheel on extreme climbs...not something that most MTB'rs need...they actually could cause problems on tight singletrack...but they're available at all bike stores

happy trails

Col_5632

Just after i asked the bar end question i found the answer on another site
Only reason i wanted the bar ends was for somewhere else to put my hands when cycling on straight paths or roads

JM01

yep...they work well for that...just keep in mind that they change the geometry of the bike and put a bit of strain on your back, especially if you have XC (wide)handlebars

my wife got silly with these on one of her bikes

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Col_5632

I have no idea weather or not my big has wide handlebars or not.

Here is the bike i was bought http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/...ategoryrn_38308

JM01

good basic bike, handlebars are not that wide so it should work well with the bar ends

have a great summer

HowardSteele

There is another type of bar end they are amaller and basicaly give you a
T- piece on the end of the bar,these are smaller and rubberized.they are becomeimg more popular than the horns.
PERSONALY I CAN'T RIDE WITHOUT BAR-ENDS.

__________________
It’s better to want what you have, than to have what you want.

Col_5632

I could live without them but i just think they might be useful

j.r.hawkins

I had a psycho pedestrian shove me into a bridge railing on a shared cycleway last year. I also had a spill recently at 50km/hr (~30mph) on some oil.

Each time the bar end saved my fingers and hand from from some potentially nasty damage - especially the last time, judging by the depth of the scoring on the bar end's outside face.

I don't seem to need them as much for alternate hand positions these days - maybe I'm getting stronger - but for flat-bar bikes I reckon they're a very useful safety device.

The other recommendation I'd make is to get a decent set of cycling gloves. They look after your hands both on the bike and in the event of a crash, and make it much easier to hang onto the bars securely when your hands are wet from perspiration or the weather.

When riding in peak-hour traffic as I often do, it can get quite busy with gears, brakes and steering all going on simultaneously. Trying to deal with that with wet slippery hands is impossibly risky. Forgot my gloves once and it got to the stage where my forearms got so fatigued from the effort of simply hanging on I just couldn't do it any longer, right in the middle of the steepest and fastest part of the route.