Salsa has designed a bar end set that they have manufactured in Taiwan. The Mangos de Amor bar ends are made from of Cro-Moly steel tubing with a complex set of curves in the grip section, giving varying grip positions. The cinch assembly is made from a one inch length of 1.5mm wall thickness tubing. The cinch fitting is machined from Cro-Moly rod, that is drilled to recess the cinch bolt head, then tapped with threads as a single piece. The cinch fitting is welded to the cinch tube after the grip tubing has been welded to the cinch assembly. The grip tubing section has a 7 1/2" total length. It's TIG welded to the cinch tube at a 90 degree angle, so it sets out straight forward. At 1 1/2 inch mark the tube turns at a 45 degree angle inward, toward the front tire. Past this first bend, the grip tube extends for 2 1/2" where it turns once more at 45 degrees so it now parallels the handlebar. At the point of the second bend, the tubing is twisted so it drops slightly as it turns upward at a 25 degree angle for the final 1 1/4 inches. After TIG welding the grip tubing section to the cinch assembly, the cinch fitting is TIG welded on. The cinch assembly is sawn through to make the clamp mechanism. The cinch bolt is nickel plated with a 5mm hex head. It's threads are 6mm by 1mm thread pitch, and is 21mm long with a 6 1/2 gram weight. Mangos de Amor are wet painted in a matte Black color, and have four Rodon Black press-in end plugs included with the set. The plugs for the grip tube come already installed. A pair of Mangos de Amor bar ends with steel bolts and all end plugs weigh 310 grams. An aluminum version of these was also made. Both models were discontinued when Ross Shafer the then owner of Salsa found it too hard to keep the Taiwan factory making the bar ends honest and accountable for how many they made and where they were being sold. Taiwan factories are well known for accepting work from American designers with promised deliveries and promised royalties for the designer on a per piece unit sold if they are specified as original equiptment on a complete bike made in Taiwan. In most cases, the Taiwan factory makes and sells the goods with no royalty because they are able to make "genuine" counterfeits. This behavior stifles development and Ross abandoned dealing with Taiwan factories altogether. We sold these for $32.99 a pair. In aluminum we sold them for $42.99 a pair.
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