New grips

[FleaMike]

I finally got around to replacing the godawful harsh OEM grips with some Scott off-road grips. Much better! For the record, the bar ends were a major pain to remove (numerous whacks with an impact driver finally released the screw). Question: what do those bar ends do? I’ve ridden dirt bikes my entire life and have never had them and haven’t put them back on my CT. Thoughts?

 

[dmonkey]

Other than capping the ends of the bars so they don't go through your leg like a straw through a potato in an accident, they provide very light crash protection at the end of the handlebars, and they function as bar end weights. Bar end weights help keep the bars steady, useful for how the bike steers, but also dampens vibration since it's a 1-cylinder thumper that's capable of a lot of engine vibration.

 

[MisterB]

Other than capping the ends of the bars so they don't go through your leg like a straw through a potato

Your imagery is impeccable!

 

[SneakyDingo]

I've seen handlebar vs. legs, usually with MTB's but motorcycles aren't different enough for it to matter... and it's spot on.