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Specialized Bar End Plugs

January 24th, 2008 by Arleigh

For once someone made an over priced bar end plug that has a use! Maybe even good enough to cough over the cash for. Using technology that has been used with carbon steer tubes they created a expanding plug that works by tightening a bolt which turns in and pushes out the sides evenly.

What does this do for you? Remember those $100 carbon bars you cut because they came 2″ too long? You couldn’t install your bar ends or lock on grips because the carbon started crackling and popping under the pressure? Oh yes.. those bars. No fear this will allow you to reinforce the carbon and run bar ends, clamp ons, and lock on grips. For $25 you can have a cool bar end plug that will allow you to do all those things. Check out your local Specialized dealer, I found mine at The Cycle Path in Cornelius, NC.

5 Responses to “Specialized Bar End Plugs”

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  1. 1 Ghost Rider  on Jan 24th, 2008 at 9:09 am

    This concept is nothing new…only resurrected from the heyday of MTB. In the 1994 Pedal Pusher Buyer’s Guide, Profile has a very similar model, as does ATI. Answer (Hyperends XC) even made a pair of barends that had the expanding plug built in as a retention device for the end of the handlebar.

    That’s a decent price for a little bit of extra security and durability for a fragile carbon bar, though.

  2. 2 Arleigh  on Jan 24th, 2008 at 9:11 am

    Ghost Rider -

    Thanks for the info!!

  3. 3 Ghost Rider  on Jan 24th, 2008 at 10:12 am

    It just so happens that I treated that Pedal Pusher catalog like the Bible for years…apparently, I memorized huge portions of it!!!

    I guess it just goes to show that there is very little “true” innovation in the cycling world…sure, we’ve got better shifting systems and BBs now, but a lot of the other stuff has been tried before (shaft-drives and other weird drivetrains were tried way back in the early 1900s, and didn’t work any better in the modern era, with a couple notable exceptions).

    In any case, keep up the badass tips and product reviews — I really dug your Dangerboy lever tutorial. Those levers shore are purty on your bike!!!

  4. 4 Quinn  on Jan 24th, 2008 at 10:32 am

    Things pop into my life for a reason.

    I have recently decided to put a carbon bar on my XXIX, even though I need bar end, And my favorite LBS just picked up specialized.

    Thanks for the info Arleigh!

  5. 5 Levi  on Jan 28th, 2008 at 3:28 pm

    Yeah, it’s about time they have nice versions of these for MTB. I’ve been running similar (albeit heavier) bar ends on my BMX bikes for years. Like Ghost Rider mentioned “what’s old is new again.” Cycling is turning into the fashion industry!

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