Which do people think are stronger, Carbon or Alloy?

varies between brands surely? and composition of the carbon. I vaguely remember a test being done for mid-high end bars both alloy and carbon a little while ago on one of the websites.

I’m struggling to find it now but on a German “enduro” online mag thing I seen a proper machine breaking point test.
Some of the batch results are shocking… If my memory serves crank bros snapped with a damp fart and I think renthal didn’t break upto the test rigs max pressure… I’ll keep looking!!!

if you are talking a ‘like for like’ comparison of the same product in carbon or aluminium alloy, then carbon should be stronger.

Easton have always claimed their carbon DH bar is substantially stronger than their best aluminium alloy DH bar, I have no reason to doubt their claims bearing in mind their heritage in aluminium alloy and carbon fibre. They also claimed their carbon fibre bar will not fatigue like aluminium alloys does.

Bearing in mind that not all carbon fibre is by any means equal, so we have to be talking about quality carbon fibre

Aluminium however, does not exhibit ‘notch sensitivity’ like carbon fibre does, and is also locally elastic meaning over tightening a shifter clamp or stem clamp will not cause the same problems you can experience with carbon fibre bars (i.e. fracture damage leading to catastrophic failure). I have seen bikes come into the shop with the carbon bar snapped exactly along the edge of the brake or shifter clamp

Aluminium alloy bars in the real world will take knocks, scrapes and even gouges without much complaint, so ideal if you crash regularly or like transporting your bike in the bar of a car with other bikes on top of it!

Carbon fibre bars are also poor value, but can have a very good ride quality, probably more noticeable on a road bike.

But I have them on both my bikes (road and mountain) because I got them for free, and use torque wrenches whenever working on the bikes, and try to stay rubber side up.

This vid shows the Enve Carbon bar being tested against some others – you can see the Renthal aluminium bar at the start – from the video and the quote below it was the Renthal Fatbar aluminium, and the RaceFace SixC Carbon they tested against.

“We tested a popular Brand A aluminum bar at 345 grams and a Brand B carbon bar from a competitor that was 785 wide and 225 grams. The Brand A aluminum bar at nearly 100 grams heavier bent to unrideable proportions after 40 or so drops. The Brand B competitor’s carbon bar broke at 32” or after 5 drops and never made max height.”

So in shot – there are very strong carbon bars, and less strong carbon bars.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcSqTlkvkj0[/video]

I’m running alloy Havoc’s at the moment, thinking of going to Carbon for the ride quality.

I don’t crash alot and look after my kit well, but I’m quite heavy hence wanting to now strength of them. Interesting about torques as i would miss that one, i have a torque wrench but being a mechanic i don’t use it too often.

I’m a big lad, and ran 750 carbon havocs on two bikes for years, no issues at all. Still have a set on the hardtail – I graduated to wider (carbon) bars.

I have crash tested my carbon Havoc bars extensively and they’ve passed with flying colours. Lovely combination of stiffness and comfort too.

If you’re after the 750mm version drop me a line, I’ve just upgraded to 780mm (and have an uncrashed one to sell on too).

@extremenik

I’d always advise using a good torque wrench on a carbon bar, or seatpost (and in general, especially for lighter weight aluminium alloy components)

the problem with carbon fibre is that its not ‘locally elastic’ meaning you don’t get the same feedback that you get when tightening against an aluminium alloy product using an allen key

the elasticity in the aluminium alloy is what allows you to “feel” the fitting being tightened, as experienced mechanics know you can get a good “feel” for how tight things should be even using a hand tool like a Park P-handle

with the carbon, this feedback does not exist, until the point the carbon fails with a sudden “crack” and you have a damaged or broken component. I’ve sold too many carbon components to customers who have come back the next day with it broken, and then admitted they did not use a torque wrench

Thanks for the info, I’ve never used carbon before, as you say 30 years on spanners help with the torque wrench. but i would have missed that one.

Chakaping, i have sent you a mail!