The disappearance of bar ends & liver injuries

Varaxis

Varaxis

Well-Known Member
Central liver hematomas caused by mountain-bike crashes.
Author information: Nehoda H1, Hochleitner BW, Hourmont K, Weiss H, Lanthaler M, Tschmelitsch J.

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Mountain biking, one of the most popular sports in recent years with more than 10 million riders, is implicated more and more in severe bike accidents with complicated injuries. In addition to head injuries, which are common and account for most of the fatalities, we have observed an increase in liver trauma over the years.

METHOD: Approximately 19000 bike associated accidents were reported in 1998 in Austria. A total of 52 patients were admitted to our trauma ward between 1995 and 1997 with mountain-bike associated injuries. Of the 52, eight presented with subcapsular hematoma of the liver sustained by falling while riding. In all patients, nonoperative management was successful. These injuries were associated with a special form of bar-ends used on the mountain-bikes. After a broad response from the industry, facilitated by many articles in newspapers, life-style magazines, radio and television stations, this type of bar end has nearly vanished from the market.

RESULTS:As a result, in 1998, only one case of liver injury was observed, and from 1999 to August 2000, no such injuries have been reported thus far.

Source: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11325363" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11325363</a>

On a related note, why you should plug the open ends of your handlebars: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.ijcasereportsandimages.com/archive/2014/006-2014-ijcri/CR-10391-06-2014-fichadia/ijcri-1039106201491-fichadia.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.ijcasereportsandimages.com/a ... chadia.pdf</a>
 
Re: The disappearance of bar ends & liver injuries

Jennifer loves hers! Can't get them away from her!
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When I bought my 2012 Yeti I asked the LBS when I picked it up..."Hey, where are my bar ends?"
It looked naked without them... ;)
 
Love my bar ends. Didn't see exactly the kind of bar ends they were talking about. Curious cause it sounded like they were talking about a specific kind
 
It's times like these when I think about doing something about how I get peeved when people to state that they're part of the other odds, when something bad is reported which is related to what they do. :lol:

10,000,000 riders, 19,000 MTB-related accidents reported in a country comparable in population to New York state (8,000,000). Of 52 mtb accidents served in one med facility, 8 had liver trauma injuries. Clearly the odds are low enough that it's not surprising that there are a vast number of people who haven't suffered liver injuries using barends, but odds were high enough that the bicycle industry acted, responding by making them essentially disappear. I know they're not totally gone from the market, as I've seen Ergons with them. I didn't catch this news as it came out, and only now was curious what the reason(s) behind the disappearance was. I thought this was interesting as odd but true trivia. I never would have guessed that was the reason behind their disappearance. I was expecting something more, uh, scientific regarding how useful (or useless) they were, like the reasons behind various old standards being replaced by the current accepted ones.

It's been so long, that I forgot what they were good for. Are wide bars essentially a replacement for them? I see photos of ultra-marathon guys actually putting their hands close together by the stem/handlebar clamp area on climbs, like Todd Wells in the Leadville 100. When do you guys use yours?
 
Back when I was racing, Bar Ends were standard equipment and the thought behind them was primarily for climbing leverage. Bar Ends are what put Onza on the map big time! Secondary, was a place to put your hands to keep them fresh in a alternate position. I know I had them on every bike, but to be honest, I did not use them very much. I would like to note they are outstanding at catching branches and vegetation and ripping you off your bike un-expectantly.

I am interested in the type of bar end "type" grips that scan uses. It places your wrists in a more ergonomic comfort zone as oppose to what typical grips do which I feel is quite unnatural...

To Add: I would have thought they were dropped from the market due to the tree grabbing feature more than liver damage. Go figure...
 
What Mikie said... regardless of liver or some other kind of body damage, I think enough people had "the bush grabbed my bars and yanked my bike out from under me" phenomenon that they would no longer use them. At least that was my case, last time I used them (90s) was cruising down San Juan trail and suddenly the bike was standing still in a bush and I just kept on going...
Oh yeah, After I took them off I also enjoyed having the extra 10mm on each side of my 635mm wide bars... maybe the demise of bar ends started the wide bar trend? :lol:
 
The bike industry did not make them disappear. My bar ends are actually "Ned OverEnds", currently made by Specialized in carbon and aluminum.
I think that bar ends were really in their prime when bikes had steep head tube angles and short top tubes. Handle bars were also very narrow. This left us old timers with sore hands, looking for additional hand positions.
I use my bar ends on long fireroad ascents for a relaxed position while climbing.
Now what was dangerous was a bolt-on brake lever extension that allowed you to brake while holding the bar ends. Those things were dangerous!
 
Bar ends allowed us to climb without pulling up on the bars. With bar ends, you actually pulled towards your hips instead of straight up. I loved them, but I gave up when we all went to riser bars and bar ends were no longer fashionable. I still put my hands in that position frequently, at the ends of the bars, mostly for relief.
 
Whew, I was concerned there for a second, there was no mention of bar middles ;) . And Varraxis, mine being in closer to the stem allows me to use more core while climbing and I never worry about hooking them.
 
You guys sure that bar ends hooking vegetation wasn't the cause of falling and liver damage? Like that x-ray of the handlebar impaling that unfortunate girl, maybe these guys just took a good punch to the center of the chest by the end of their handlebar. I guess it's a liver strike or else something like that Cedric Gracia accident (at La Reunion Island).
 
Mikie , below is the link for the bar end /grips I use. The ends are kinda more minimal than others. Neutral forearm position is more comfortable and your grip strength is a little stronger than in the pronated position of handlebars. They are great for climbling and give your hands/wrists a break, change in position. Herz, function trumps fashion IMHO, of course you don't want to look dorky :roll:


<a class="postlink" href="http://www.ergon-bike.com/us/en/product/gp2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.ergon-bike.com/us/en/product/gp2</a>
 
scan said:
Herz, function trumps fashion IMHO,
Click to expand...

BLASPHEMY!!!! It's all about trends and appearances. That's why I ride my $10,000 carbon 27.5" wheeled baby blue and magenta bike with 1x11 and carbon wheels! :wave:

Wait, what? I don't? Aluminum 26er you say? With aluminum wheels? Oh God... not that! Next thing you'll tell me is I don't own any day-glo shorts or an easter-egg colored helmet! :oops: :oops:
 
Bar ends were kind of nice for the alternate hand position on old school (narrow) flat bars. Once rider bars came out, one of the things that differentiated the riser bars was the increased backsweep. When you put bar ends on a bar with 8° or 9° backsweep, they angle out and besides looking downright weird, they are more adept than ever at snagging bushes and trees. Once you had that extra backsweep, having extra hand positions became less important for me. Bar ends can be nice for climbing steeps, especially when out of the saddle, but I'm more of a seated climber, so that wasn't that important for me.

I do have some on my old 1991 GT Backwoods that I have converted to what I call 'The Paseo Pounder' that I use for casual bike path riding. Those are definitely there only to give me an extra hand position.
 
I ran some Control Tech barends in the late 90's. I think they were called the Control Stix. I was also running a narrow steel bar. The barend gave me more leverage getting out of the saddle on steep sections. They felt real good when I got them. I'm really not sure why I stopped using them in the first place. I just stopped using them when I got new bars. I think they were 560mm. :mrgreen:

I still do see people with them every once in a while.
 
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