Bar Ends

BMX bar ends: race-day safety and grip retention

An open handlebar is an aluminium or carbon tube with a sharp edge: in a crash it works like a hole punch. That is why bar ends have to be plugged before you take the gate, and why officials check them alongside wheel security. The bar end also does a mechanical job: it holds the grip against its stop and keeps it from sliding outwards.

The different types of bar end

• Nylon push-in plugs with ribbed barbs, supplied with most grips, tapped home with a mallet
• Expanding aluminium bar ends, tightened by a central bolt that spreads a cone or collar
• Wide-flange bar ends that cover the edge of the grip and lock it in place
• Flush, low-profile plugs for riders who cut their bars to width

Diameters and dimensions to check

A BMX race handlebar measures 22.2 mm outside diameter at the ends. What matters for a bar end is the inside diameter, and that varies with wall thickness: a butted aluminium bar or a carbon bar leaves a narrower bore than a plain alloy bar. Nylon barbed plugs cope with that tolerance; rigid aluminium expanding ends make it worth checking the figure quoted by the manufacturer. A bar end that only goes halfway in will not survive the first hard pull.

Compatibility with grips

The choice is always made together with the BMX grips. A flanged grip finishes with a lip, so the bar end has to be flat or slightly recessed. A plain grip cut square accepts a wide-flange bar end that caps it. Lock-on grips usually come with their own plug, but an aluminium bar end is a direct replacement. If you cut your handlebars to width, deburr the inside of the tube before fitting the bar end.

Materials and service life

Nylon absorbs impacts and deforms without breaking: it is the racing choice, replaced for a few euros after a crash. Machined aluminium lasts longer and lets you match the colour to the rest of the cockpit, but can get scuffed against the concrete of a berm. Either way, a split or ovalised bar end, or one that moves by hand, gets changed before the next moto.

Use by rider category

In Micro, Mini and Junior, soft nylon plugs are preferred: less aggressive on contact and easy to replace over a season where the bars change often. In Expert and Pro, the expanding aluminium bar end is valued because it holds the grip firmly during standing sprints, when the hand pulls outwards.

The BMX RACING advice

Always keep a spare pair of bar ends in the pit bag: it is the part riders lose most often and one of the few that can stop you taking the gate. The rest of the cockpit is in our BMX cockpit category. Dispatched within 24 to 72 hours.