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I am pretty fixated with roller nose bars because they are demonstrably faster and I am totally ate up with the faster thing right now 
So a few guys have asked different questions about them and I figured a few words and pics to help out the masses who may come across one in their travels (picking).
The bigger the better, any bar can be cut down but ya cant stretch them any .
The tail can be modified to fit the mount you need but the wider the tail then the more versatile your options.
When you upsize your sprocket you need to make sure the tail of the bar is large enough to provide a nice smooth transition from the bar to the sprocket or you will throw chains very easily, which really sucks if the chain is a hand filed masterpiece.
Before buying a used roller check the rails and the tip.
Rails like this mean the bar is junk unfortunately
The tips on these have a non-replaceable flat bearing inside and it seems like the modern ones are inferior to a nice vintage tip.
The tip should spin freely without any grinding or scraping and the tip should be tight with less than this amount of jiggle
If it jiggles this much it can still be used with a generous helping of grease but it getting near the end of its life and will not be as fast as a smooth turning bearing.
If the tip is frozen or tight there are a few tricks that work well to free them.
Don't force the tip beyond bare hand pressure, once something breaks, the tip is trash.
Using regular PB Blaster or any penetrating oil is an option as well as letting a solidly stuck tip sit submerged in tranny fluid for a few weeks.
once it turns it is good to clean it out as best you can while keeping it lubed and then to get the final bit of smoothness I recommend soaking the tip in olive oil and turning it a few revolutions daily by hand until it is silky smooth again.
I have paid as much as $100.00 for a vintage roller nose that was in nice shape and would pay more if I found a really large fat belly example.
So a few guys have asked different questions about them and I figured a few words and pics to help out the masses who may come across one in their travels (picking).
The bigger the better, any bar can be cut down but ya cant stretch them any .
The tail can be modified to fit the mount you need but the wider the tail then the more versatile your options.
When you upsize your sprocket you need to make sure the tail of the bar is large enough to provide a nice smooth transition from the bar to the sprocket or you will throw chains very easily, which really sucks if the chain is a hand filed masterpiece.
Before buying a used roller check the rails and the tip.
Rails like this mean the bar is junk unfortunately
The tips on these have a non-replaceable flat bearing inside and it seems like the modern ones are inferior to a nice vintage tip.
The tip should spin freely without any grinding or scraping and the tip should be tight with less than this amount of jiggle
If the tip is frozen or tight there are a few tricks that work well to free them.
Don't force the tip beyond bare hand pressure, once something breaks, the tip is trash.
Using regular PB Blaster or any penetrating oil is an option as well as letting a solidly stuck tip sit submerged in tranny fluid for a few weeks.
once it turns it is good to clean it out as best you can while keeping it lubed and then to get the final bit of smoothness I recommend soaking the tip in olive oil and turning it a few revolutions daily by hand until it is silky smooth again.
I have paid as much as $100.00 for a vintage roller nose that was in nice shape and would pay more if I found a really large fat belly example.
