Can anyone confirm whether bar end weights actually do anything worthwhile.? Most bikes have them, the one on my Triumph are really heavy but on my 998 they came without any and it dosent seem to adversly affect anything. So are they just not needed on a perfecly balanced bike like a Ducati 998S whereas more mundane bikes do need them ? :wink:
The weights can dampen the vibration of a twin.....but my DP ones are just finishing touches of beauty for me!
More relevant on a high reving multi-cylinder bike than a L twin really, but you can get the same results by changing the handlebars, different wall thickness and tapers also can tune out unwanted vibes. I took them off my Multi when i fitted the hand guards, made no difference whatsoever
It always appeared to be more of an issue for singles or twins when I looked into it, but hey I'm no bar end expert...like I said mine 'look' nice :tongue:
they effectively plug the end of the bars which in the case of an accident could punch a lovely hole in either the rider or possibly the petrol tank bar ends reduce this possibility somewhat
Or in the case of an accident the end of the handlebar tube could get burred over, jamming the twistgrip throttle on. Again, the bar ends reduce this possibility.
Are we getting mixed up between bar end weights and bar end crash bungs here? Some bar end weights are weighted tubes that slide inside the bars, obviously this would offer very little in the way of crash protection. The R&G bar end crash bungs offer very little damping property's, but will help in a crash.... I can't see Ducati's standard plastic bar plugs doing either of the above. But my aluminium DP ones still look good ;-)
i see certain companies selling protection bar ends, crash bungs and wheel bobbins which probably cost more to replace than the actual bike
+1 that is their primary function. Ive got the standard bar ends on the Ducati which im sure are plastic, but some proper R&G's on the Ninja.
I've got Motovation weighted bar ends on my 1098S and they reduce vibrations a bit. They look similar to the Sato ones above. I wanted heavy bar ends so they actually work and while most weight somewhere around 40-70 grams (aluminium isn't exactly heavy) the Motovations ones are about 170g.
Mine do neither except look better than the stock plastic ones Ducati gave me. I'm just pointing out there is two different things for two different applications. Three if you count looking pretty...like mine ;-)
I have seen enough dropped bikes to know a large bar end weight or crash weight like the R&G ones can save a fortune in plastics, as they at least give a bit more clearance between the car park and the fairing ;-)
