I am wondering why you want to cut them? I have the HED bars with a similar bend. That bend is a great place to wrap your hands around and use them for leverage. I would try them before you cut them...

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Andy

'You'd be surprised how many people violate this simple principle every day of their lives and try to fit square pegs into round holes, ignoring the clear reality that Thinsg Are As They Are.'

well, according to steve hed at interbike, his bar has these same inserts to resist the forces of the wedges used to secure bar end shifters. however, he said that in his experience he has found that they are not actually critical. if you won't ever be using bar end shifters, i would not hesitate to cut the extensions to your liking. but if you will use bar end shifters, to be safe and to keep any sort of warranty, i personally would contact oval's US rep before i cut off the aluminum reinforcing collars, because oval may have quite differnent feelings about their necessity. you can probably find contact info for them on the web...

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Where would you want to swim ?