I’ve just transferred across the kit from my old bike to a nice new frame and bought a pair of Ritchey WCS bar ends to finish everything off.

I’ve always used bar ends (the Ritcheys are the most expensive) and you’d think that there wasn’t much that you could get wrong designing them. However, despite every other bar end I’ve ever bought having a clamp tha’s 90 degrees to the bar (to fit snug against the grips) with the body of the bar end angling in from there, the Ritchey bar end are completely straight (bar and clamp in line) with angle inwards achieved internally within the clamp.

As a consequence when the bar ends touch my grips (lock ons) at the front there’s a good half inch of bar showing at the back between the bar ends and grips; I also have to move my controls and grips in by half an inch to get the back of the clamp over the bars.

They look ridiculous. Since I’ve had to take them out of the packaging I’m not sure I’ve got any option to return them.

picture?

Looks like a non-issue to me – the clamp is narrower anyway, so the angle aspect doesn’t matter.

I used ESI grips when I had those bar ends. I liked the angle of them, it put my hands at a nice angle when I was honking on them.

Initially (with the bolt upwards) it looks like the Ritchey is on upside down, however it is the right way up (to angle inwards with logos on the outside and the right way up).

they’re not a poor design, they’re probably designed that way to be as light as possible for the given material/price

what you’re saying is they don’t meet your handlebar aesthetic, which is a completely different thing

Looking at the website it appears that the clamp design is meant to reduce stress on carbon and light alloy bars; it’s a shame I couldn’t spot that they’d fit like that when I bought them.

Personally the sets up looks uncomfortable with the amount of metal around with the lockons and then the gap.

Buy some grips with an inboard only clamp and trim them? Or take them back and get some EC90 bar ends. They are very light and have a proper clamp.

i had the ritcheys…as above i trimmed my grips, looked fine. I used foam grips for even less weight!

Besides, since you have bar ends you clearly dont care how your bike looks 😉

That’s a very common design.that you’ll find under various brands. Nothing wrong with them, just fit foam grips or lock-ons with an inboard camp only.

FWIW, Cane Creek Ergo bar-ends will fit in place of the outer lock-ons ring if they are the “standard” ODI type and thus give a nice finish.

What are they for? Have never seen them on a bike.

You really need to position them inwards a bit more – at least until you get a bit of bar out of the lower area of the clamp. Ideally the bar should be flush with the upper section of the bar-ends.

You really need to position them inwards a bit more – at least until you get a bit of bar out of the lower area of the clamp. Ideally the bar should be flush with the upper section of the bar-ends.

I’ve taken them off and put the old Tioga’s back on. I did mention in the original post that to fit them properly I had to move the controls and grips in another 1/2 inch.

I guess that I should have paid more attention when I ordered them but I’ve never had bar ends that didn’t have a clamp that fitted 90 degrees to the bars; the reasoning on the Ritchey website site for the angled clamp is that it distributes stress for lightweight alloy and carbon bars; their lower spec bar ends have the type of clamp I’m used to.