Bar End Rubbers

happens all the time to me and I often just turn them down in a drill rather than send them back. Problem is that sellers (particularly Ebay) can't be bothered to tell you internal bore of bars that they fit (and some even struggle to tell you when you ask them) so when they quote O/D for steel bars (thinner wall) they won't fit any aluminium bars of the same O/D.

 

LOL - no chisel but yes, put a couple of nuts on and lock them up and a three jaw chuck will work. you can experiment with various files/carborundum paper of different grades plus drill at different speeds until you find the combination that won't tear the rubber to pieces - i.e. achieve a smooth surface. I am guessing your 'anchor' method is rubber?

 

Or shave the rubber down with a Stanley knife (carefully!). Put the rubber on a block of wood, preferably not your dining room table, and go round and round shaving off thin downward slices all the way round until it's just big enough to fit in the bore of the handlebar.

If neither of the methods that have been suggested work out then you can make up your own "rubbers" by winding a strip of gaffa tape which has been cut in half lengthways around the bolt. Use a longer bolt if necessary as it's easier

 

Have turned down at least half a dozen pairs over the years – it works a treat.

 

Yep. I've used your method too but I suggested alternatives in case OP doesn't own a drill

 

sorry, only picking up on "If it doesn't work out". plus
you surprise me as if you have ever turned one down then you would never consider using the Stanley knife method as bar ends will soon resemble a pigs ear.

 

I was actually trying to be diplomatic and avoid saying that perhaps OP might not think it is safe to be putting his fingers so close to a moving handheld drill (although he has since posted that he will be using a pillar drill so that maybe isn't such an issue anymore).

I've actually shaved bar end rubbers using the same method, although with an angle grinder, but for the same reason I didn't want to encourage someone to do something which probably wasn't very safe!

 

Yep. Me too. Mummy is that you????



Joking aside though, it'd be ok to use a cordless drill as they are light and not all that powerful, but if someone decided to have a crack at doing it by holding a heavy high speed mains powered drill in one hand and a piece of sandpaper in the other, then it could very well end messily.

By way of credentials: I've not always been a silky handed softie lawyer. In my 20s I worked for 2 years in an architectural metalwork shop, drillin, cuttin, grindin, weldin and fittin and stuff. If you've ever been to that London you've probably seen some of the things I helped make or fit on the outside of quite a few iconic buildings. I also did a bit of casual part-time work in a mechanic friend's business for a year or two, and have tinkered with cars and bikes in my spare time for about 20 years.

 

Is this thread going to turn into that scene from Jaws where they all compare scars? Unfortunately I can't match Quint's story about being torpedoed by the Japanese and getting bitten by a Tiger shark, but I have had a few interesting injuries over the years, including a fractured skull and a shattered elbow which causes the dangle angle of the bottom half of my right arm to be off kilter.