Some people love riding scooters, and they associate themselves as bikers. Nothing wrong with that; and the biking fraternity respects them equally. But then the comparison between bikes and scooters begin, and that is where things get confusing. Nothing wrong with comparing, but since scooters and bikes are a bit different machines in terms of build and utility, there are going to be things which a bike has but the scooter doesn’t, and the other way round. One of those things is handlebar ends. Bikes have it, but scooters don’t. Let’s discuss why.RELATED ARTICLE: Importance of Motorcycle Handlebar End Weights
The Handlebar ends also known as 'weight balancers' are used to nullify the vibrations coming at the entire front handlebar assembly due to resonance. Balancing the front assembly of the vehicle being the primary objective of the handlebar end installation. Since the handlebar assembly of a typical scooter comprises of headlight assembly, meter console, switchgear and rear view mirror mounts all encapsulated in one large body, the entire assembly automatically gets the 'mass centralized' structure. This anatomy of the headlamp or handlebar assembly of any typical scooter eradicates the requirement of any handlebar ends, which otherwise would have done the same job at the end of the day.
The other aspect of utilization of handlebar ends or their omission could be- that the motorbikes have narrower bodies as compared to scooters. Which mean, in case of a fall, scooters are susceptible to greater damage on the body, while bikes are susceptible to damage to the handlebars. Unless of course, if you have scooters with really long handlebars. The purpose that handlebar ends serve is to protect the handlebar in case of a fall. The reasons are simple; if you fall off a bike and the handlebar ends are absent, the handlebar itself will be taking the damage. The cost of repairs hence could mount substantially high if you will have to replace the throttle body, the brake levers, and in a rare case, even the entire handlebar, if it is a single piece unit.Handlebar ends on the other hand are cheap and two minutes of effort to change in case of any damage. And the peace of mind with which you can ride ensuring that the bike is safe is priceless. Comparing the same situation to the scooters, with their wide bodies, scooters will take a hit to their bodies whilst the handlebars are going to be largely untouched; unless the contact point is near the handlebar. Also, scooters have smaller handlebars compared to bikes. So if handlebar ends were used in the first place, their purpose would not be met as already discussed above, and it will also result in added weight for the scooter to lug around, even if they are of mere grams.
Of course, most of the times, there is a provision given by the manufacturers for owners to add handlebar ends to their scooters if they wish to have some for the purpose of aesthetic appeal. But manufacturers refrain from it for the aforementioned reasons, which they make it up to with a metallic railing around the body of the scooter to keep it safe from untoward incidents. These metal protective fencing fulfills the secondary purpose of handlebar ends in scooters.So all in all, scooters do not require handlebar ends, but if an owner wishes to have some, he/she can definitely get them fixed on the scooter without much trouble. But it would be recommended to not go for it as it does add on weight to the scooter handle and hence can make it a slight bit more difficult to navigate it around, especially in peak hour traffic where two wheelers shine the most. Hit us up for any further queries regarding handlebar ends, share the article with family and friends, and stay tuned to BikesMedia for more two wheeler automotive content.
By: Pratik Patole