Lightweight press-fit MTB handlebar plugs

thingiverse

There are already a lot of handlebar plug designs available on Thingiverse, and several of them are quite good. I've printed and used one that's particularly nice, and it's worked well for me on several bikes. My main issue with most of these designs is that they're too heavy, or they don't fit my bars properly. So, I set out to create a design that would address both of these problems. After trying out many different variations over the course of several months, I've come up with what you see here today. The design is very simple - it's just 22.2mm (7/8") in diameter on the outside, which matches the size of my MTB handlebars. This allows the plugs to stay in place when grips are installed or removed. The inner diameter of the plug needs to match the size of your handlebars, so you'll need to measure yours. If you don't know what size you have, you can try printing a few different sizes and see which one fits best. For example, my ENVE bars fit with the 17mm size, as do my wife's Bontrager XXX bars. My aluminum XC bike handlebars are thinner and use the 19.5mm diameter plug. The design is parametric, so you can make any changes you like. To make things easier for everyone, I've included STL files in a range of sizes from 16.5 to 20mm. If you want to make your own custom plug, I've also included the Fusion360 F3D file. Just be aware that making changes can be tricky, so it's not recommended unless you're comfortable with CAD software. These plugs are incredibly light - a current set of ESI plugs weighs about 4g, but these come in at just 2.5g for the 20mm ID size when printed in PLA. Yes, this is pretty ridiculous weight-weenie territory, but I'm not aware of any other option that's lighter. Of course, if you want to go all out and be fancy, you could always spend $20 on a set of carbon fiber plugs - they weigh over double as much as these ones!