The importance of bar end plugs

[lightning]

l've sometimes lost a bar end plug in a crash and it's taken me time to get around to replacing it, after all they don't actually do anything...

Yesterday l came off on a technical singletrack and fell off the left side of the bike into a gully.

The landing was alright as it was moorland peat, but the bike fell on top of me and the handlebar hit me hard in the face, right above my left eye.

l got a bruise and a black eye but was otherwise okay.

But l dare not think of the consequences if there had been no bar end plug in the handlebar.

l know some grips have rubber ends, but if yours are damaged or the plug is missing, replace it now.

lt's a freak accident but l could have lost an eye. l wouldn't want it to happen to anyone else.

 

[steve_sordy]

Or a core sample being taken of your abdomen, or thigh!

My childhood friend (5-11) had one eye scooped out by his brake lever. Medical technology at the time could do nothing. His glass eye never looked right, even without the yellow gunge oozing from the corner of the socket (some sort of lubricant/infection control, not suppuration). But he was still my mate! He was a good looking lad apart from that, oh and the scar of course!

 

[lightning]

Yes and an ebike is twice the weight of course, the bar hitting me in the face nearly knocked me out.
Although it might have been the shock of it happening

 

[duk916]

Yes i still have the scare from a bar end in my leg from a soft crash going over the Alps.

 

[steve_sordy]

Yes and an ebike is twice the weight of course, the bar hitting me in the face nearly knocked me out.
Although it might have been the shock of it happening

Were you wearing specs?

It was a half inch diameter stub of a branch sticking out from a tree hitting my bony orbit that persuaded me to get some proper specs. Half an inch lower down and I too could have had a glass eye, just like my childhood mate.

 

[lightning]

No l don't wear glasses l was lucky the bar had a rubber end on it and it hit me just above the eye. l am going to get some clear riding specs now as well.

 

[Mikerb]

Glasses are as important as a helmet...................assuming you value your sight!! Never ride without them. I wear Oakley Jawbreakers with a lens Oakley call "low light" and it can be worn in virtually all light conditions except perhaps the more glaring. It is also a prizm lens so provides contrast enhancement. I originally baulked at paying Oakley prices for bike glasses but I have to say they are worth every penny. They have taken any number of thwacks from bramble and branches and stopped insects hitting my eyes and yet show no signs of scratching etc.
I mostly ride forest trails, so one minute in bright sunlight, the next in shade under the tree canopy. These glasses deal with both scenarios. I only default to goggles on stoney/dusty fast downhill trails.

 

[lightning]

Point taken

l will get some tomorrow

 

[Gary]

Yes and an ebiker is twice the weight of course

glad you're ok

 

[Gary]

My childhood friend (5-11) had one eye scooped out by his brake lever. Medical technology at the time could do nothing. His glass eye never looked right, even without the yellow gunge oozing from the corner of the socket (some sort of lubricant/infection control, not suppuration). But he was still my mate! He was a good looking lad apart from that, oh and the scar of course!

Did you dump your one eyed handsome friend when puberty hit so he wouldn't steal all your potential girlfriends?

 

[Gary]

No. BAM. not that one eyed handsome friend.

 

[RustyIron]

I wear Oakley Jawbreakers with a lens Oakley call "low light" and it can be worn in virtually all light conditions except perhaps the more glaring. It is also a prizm lens so provides contrast enhancement.

Jawbreakers are my primary riding glasses, too. I run a photochromatic lens. It gets clear enough for use at dusk and at night, isn't so dark as to hide the shadows as you come into them at speed, and they provide UV protection. Oakleys are also great because the exceptional clarity, and how they shed sweat and water.

 

[steve_sordy]

Did you dump your one eyed handsome friend when puberty hit so he wouldn't steal all your potential girlfriends?

Ha! Ha! Nope, the reason for the breaking up was not his one-eyed scarred visage, but the fact that I passed my 11-plus and he didn't. So we went to different schools. He made the football team and didn't get homework, I didn't make the team and got loads of homework. So that was Saturdays and evenings knocked out. We started to lead different lives. On the occasions I went round to his house (at least 3 miles to walk), he was either out on on away match or out with his mates, or worse, they were all round at his place when I arrived. No telephones you see, it was 1962.

 

[wkearney99]

40 years on and I still have a scar in my thigh where a seat post bolt left too long gouged into it. I still shudder thinking about the >schlorp!< sound it made pulling it out of my leg. But when you're a kid, broke, and don't have the pieces to 'fix it right' you tend to do dumb things like half-ass a seat clamp bolt with a left-over axle.

It's good advice to give your bike a once-over to make sure WHEN you crash there aren't things overlooked that could make the crash worse.

 

[OldBean]

This is what you want Just make sure it is a good brand!!