What a dilema……
I use a carbon rigid fork on a SS hardtail which I love but, been thinking about some new bars but I just cant convince myself that carbon bars are safe, the thought of holding on for dear life with carbon bars just fills me with dread !
I dont have any issue with the thought of breaking carbon forks but I just cant do carbon bars !

Am I alone ? 😆

Yes. I wouldn’t have a any CF in a structural place on a bike.

Why forks are OK but not bars puts you in a very weird place

No, you’re not alone. There are other idiots out there too 😉

I have carbon bars. Crashed them loads, never worry about them breaking.

Nah, I’ve had Easton CF bars on all of my bikes for at least 5 years. better than thin aluminium!

I used to have this same fear, until I started using carbon bars. There’s something about the whole catastrophic failure face-bar-stem-interface worry thing that put me off a bit.

Later I remember reading on the Raceface website and seeing that they gave their aluminium Deus XC bars a warranty of 1 year or 2, whereas the lighter carbon Next XC bars had a warranty of something like 10 years! It sort of brought the point home that carbon, if treated sensibly, is a lot stronger than ally.

IIRC carbon has a way higher fatigue strength than ally, but suffers bigtime if its ultimate strength(?) is exceeded. So it’ll last for ages if taken care of.

(No doubt there’ll be someone along to tell me how wrong I am in a minute)

I’m quite happy to use carbon bars now.

Carbon stems do give me the proper plural feacal matter though..

TJ, it seems would like a carbon fibre flag, perhaps, for his bike?

As you can see. Carbon bars are the strongest bit 🙂

Nope, there’s very little metal on one of my bikes ;o)

http://www.singletrackworld.com/reviews/long-termers-daves-kona-kilauea-2/

Carbon seatposts worry me more. I had one on a Stumpy a few years ago and was always concerned when it flexed. Still, never had any problems with it after a few years of using it.

I worry more about my stem breaking, having seen the smashed up face of a guy at a Gorrick who’s had…

In fact the stem bolts are the only ones that I’ve not Ti’d.

ahhh, you have carbobarbophobia

no problem with carbon forks. however having scratched a couple of my carbon bars, on rocks, in the alps, i’ll probably not go back to them. (althoguh the kevlar wrapped ragley bars are interesting…)

the carbon forks don’t live in the alps anyway… they’re back in the uk.

have also damaged a carbon post before.

not a massive fan of the stuff personally.

I do, but not on the trail – too much going on to worry about them. Where I really panic with them is on steep downhill road sections where all your weight is on the bars. I really panic and put my weight really far back to try and go weightless on the bars. Stupid I know, especially as I throw my Mojo SL down rock gardens at silly speeds…….

I had carbon bars and stem On my full sus. Crashed them loads including a head on into a tree (yes I know). The carbon stuff has always been fine. that said I still feel odd about carbon down tubes and bb shells and with some of the gouges ive picked up from rocks, I can’t see me getting a carbon frame anytime soon.

On and on have I seen that picture somewhere else like a magazine or something?

I’m pretty comfortable that my carbon bars are stronger than my alu bars were. But I’m generally paranoid about breaking any expensive parts

Nope, always expect pilot error to strike long before equipment failure!

been riding with carbon bars for 5 months done plenty of jumps, crashes etc and there fine crashed my carbon mtb into a motocross bike and thats fine.

carbon seat post has no problems either. Easton stuff seems pretty spot on in carbon imo.

I vary between 15 and 16 stone. I’ve had carbon bikes & bars for the last 7 years. I’m not gentle.

I did break my first carbon frame after 6.5 years in a big crash. I punched the aluminium hanger for the e-type mech off the frame with my ankle (it was bonded on). I bought another carbon frame to replace it.

The only other thing I’ve broken are aluminium seat posts and aluminium wheels (regularly). Never broken bars, carbon or otherwise.

snapped a set of steel bars, never snapped carbon.

In my experience, and limited knowledge of materials, ally is more likely to fail catastrophically than carbon. I’ve had ally road bars fail at the union with the stem, and its not pleasant. No worries in my mind with carbon unless there is some signs of imminent failure such as cracks or damage.

My carbon easton cnt thingies are ok for me at 15st and doing reasonable drops with them. Still ok but i just dont like them. There is something in the back of my mind.

Also they arent wide enough for me at 685mm – I fancy some nukeproof warhead flat 760’s 🙂 after xmas.

what you really need to consider, from my limited engineering knowledge, is the quality (=cost) of the bars / other carbon components. A good set will be properly layered weaves and bonded, cheaper probably won`t be. Carbon may well be stronger than alloy because the strength can be built in through correct use of the carbon layers. Having used both MTB and road carbon bars (also carbon forks, chainset, seatpost and road frame) I have no fears about them breaking. However i would not use a carbon MTB frame due to worries about impact damage, ie stones thrown up onto eg downtube section

I’ve seen a couple of carbon bars break (both FSA actually) but only in crashes where the riders were off the bike and in the undergrowth anyway.

Hasn’t put me off, I love the feel of them.

Carbon is perfectly safe. The only reason I don’t run more of it on my bike is the cost of decent stuff.

i would not use a carbon MTB frame due to worries about impact damage, ie stones thrown up onto eg downtube section

I guess it’s for you and me that trek started putting ally armour on down tubes of the bigger bikes 😉

Carbon bar phobic here – won’t use them. Have carbon forks on my cross bike which I’ll happily lash down most things off-road. It ain’t rational, I know.

Saying that, I’m (very) scared of spiders in doors, but don’t mind them outdoors. Phobias eh?

This blog collects broken carbon bike photos.
brokencarbon.com
There don’t seem to be many wear and tear handlebar failures. Which is reassuring since I use carbon bars. Seatposts on the other hand…

I’ve just bought a carbon frame on which I will be running carbon bars, a carbon seatpost and carbon fork lowers.

I wish I hadn’t opened this thread 😉

Yes. I wouldn’t have a any CF in a structural place on a bike.

From what 1st hand experience makes you say this?

Or is it completely irrational?

Hint: TJ is completely irrational.

Too late .I just got off the phone to Lopes. Was letting him know he shouldn’t be on a carbon frame. I’ll just text Peat and send a group email to the majority of competitive cyclists too so they all know carbon should not be used .

Ha ha! That is proper get mash-up an ting!!

What on Earth happened to that? 😯

Too late .I just got off the phone to Lopes. Was letting him know he shouldn’t be on a carbon frame. I’ll just text Peat and send a group email to the majority of competitive cyclists too so they all know carbon should not be used .

I guess I’d use one if I was racing and longevity wasn’t an issue because the team would just give me a new frame.
But I’m not, and they won’t
So I’ll stick with overbuilt/ cheaper steel or ally

I have a possibly irrational fear of running anything carbon on a bike that’s made to be thrashed off road. Just doesn’t seem right.

No more carbon bars for me

Because I OVERTIGHTENED the front brake lever not silly over tight but the bar snapped when I pulled away I had the grip and lever in my left hand.

OK so it was my fault but it was done too easily

That’s probably why I wouldn’t get on with carbon stuff. I tend to crank down unnecessarily hard on my bolts. Always paranoid about stuff slipping.

although i know its strong enough i wouldnt want my handlebars made of it, i can understand the not minding carbon forks but not using carbon handlebars, it’d hurt more if your handlebars failed at speed. I wouldn’t even buy light Aluminum bars, reasonable weight Alu Easton EA30’s is where i feel safe.

(not that i could afford carbon handlebars anyway….or light alu ones)

The “I will run a fork but not bar” theme is interesting to me.
A composite (carbon) fork relies more on the resins used to bond the laminate than the carbon fibre constituent for it’s strength as it’s subjected to continuous compressive loads and carbon fibre works best in tensile and torsional load environments.(these control the lateral stiffness in these products to minimise deflection during sprinting etc.)
Carbon bars are designed to utilise the strengths of the carbon costituent of the composite.
And as a result, are stronger by comparison and design for the application.
The reason some brands are found to fail more, is that they use more resin and less CF in the composite and the fatigue life is reduced.
Other failures are due to incorrect fitment.
Good quality Carbon bars are stronger than alloy bars generally, s there’s no need to worry about them.
I’d rather have a good alloy bar than a cheap carbon bar, but I’d prefer any bar fitted at the correct fixing torque to the most expensive bar that’s overtightened.

My Easton Monkeylite carbon riser bars will be celebrating their 10th birthday in January!
They came as original equipment on a Scandium Kona Explosif which I later cracked.
Were transferred onto a Rocky Mountain ETSX70 which I later cracked and then put onto the warranty replacement ETSX Team which I still have.
During this time I have snapped a set of Truvativ Aluminium bars I was using on another bike.
Just because metal is shiny doesn’t mean it’s better than carbon!

I guess I’d use one if I was racing and longevity wasn’t an issue because the team would just give me a new frame

There is not a magical supply of frames. They simply don’t break like people think they do.

Many brands are producing carbon frames now that are stronger than any metal ones they have ever made.