I’m currently Bar Shopping ( Christmas is coming!) now I have looked at the Rental bars in Carbon and Ali, and others but I can’t get my head around Carbon bars due to their survival post crash and the way Carbon fails with out any warning post impact. I know it’s as strong maybe stronger than Ali, but having seen it fail ( Spinnaker pole a 65 ft racing yacht and it was user error that resulted in it breaking but it bloody exploded) it gives me the hebe jeebies!!

Am I totally wrong???

If using a carbon bar is going to make you uncomfortable and ride differently then don’t buy one. Do you always want to be thinking “what if”?

Had carbon rims for over 3 years with no problems (although not rocky round here) and a few carbon bars. Got a carbon roadie and have no problem with carbon main triangles on full suss MTBs but I have an aversion to carbon chainstays and also cranks on MTBs. Not owned either though.

I did have a carbon Stumpy with alloy stays but killed it by following my mate who was jumping off a ramp that turned out to be a seesaw. Doh. Can’t really blame the carbon for that one, think it would have wrecked an alloy frame too

All material fails eventually, Carbon, metal, wood, whatever.

I think the days of super lightweight thin bars that snap are pretty much over. Buy from a reputable company and forget about it.

I’d say it isn’t 2003 any more, carbons come a long way since then.

But you know how you ride, and where, and for how long..

[/quote]following my mate who was jumping off a ramp that turned out to be a seesaw.

Any video of that as sounds comical to say the least 😉

I’m sure it was but alas not. Killed a set of Pikes too!

Here’s one I made earlier:

I’ve done that twice, back on aluminium bars now…

Nice. I have a set of SixC’s in that colour that I quite like…

Given where they have broken, does that not indicate that you over-tightened the clamps (twice)?

It indicates he likes to break carbon parts given his carbon crank failure.
Good luck with warranty on that bar that has had the brake clamps and gear clamp overtightened.

Seeing that is why I use a torque wrench. It may not stop it but it will take the blame a bit away from my hamfistedness.

TheGingerOne I haven’t over tightened the clamps, I always under torque them so they can move round in a crash rather than chew the bar up. They’re just tight enough so that they don’t rotate under normal riding conditions but way under the recommended tightening torque.

Carbon has it’s limitations, if you crash get ready to inspect and replace as necessary. The failure mode is very dramatic.

JRA warranty replacement then there you go.

[scotroutes – Member
If using a carbon bar is going to make you uncomfortable and ride differently then don’t buy one. Do you always want to be thinking “what if”?

POSTED 5 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST[/quote]

So right mate! I’d kind of come to the conclusion myself, but thought I’d see what the general thoughts were on here,

Stompweaver……blimey mate!! 😯

Had multiple carbon bars and many crashes, no breakages yet.

Wouldn’t bother with a carbon stem myself, though that’s cos the £££ spent to grams saved ratio isn’t very convincing and carbon bars provide enough comfort.

Controls rotating on the bars can cause a failure if it’s repeated.

Cranks and bars

tdog more like “getting smacked into the ground with a large amount of force while riding along”. As stated I didn’t over tighten the clamps. Torque wrench used and set below manufacturers stated values.

For obvious reasons I didn’t try and claim under warranty. This was damage caused by crash not a random failure. Silverfish were very good and sorted me out under the crash replacement scheme. They had a new bar out to me within two days which cost £80. When that was damaged in not so drastic fashion, a crack again caused by a seemingly innocuous crash, I moved back to an aluminium bar.

Mountain biking is hard on parts. The more you ride the more kit gets broken and wears out. That’s the way it is, I’ve no complaints about that.

As an aside my three and a half year old carbon Enduro is still going strong as are my Light Bicycle carbon rims that are a similar age. They’ll break in the end, I’ll make sure I post up pics when they do. 😉

When your bikes all alloy apart from cranks and bars. 😐

You will loose the ‘what if’ sensation once you have spent some time riding them and trusting them. Carbon is really durable now. I have had endless strikes on my cranks and they are still solid and I have put my easton havens through a lot and still confident. I have rotated my brakes and gears shifter but never seen any indentation on the bar but I try to minimise it.

chakaping – yes and me. This came as bit of a surprise! I do miss the added comfort of a carbon bar. Aluminium does have a harshness that wasn’t there with carbon ones.

The crank that broke was old and obviously reached its fatigue limit. It had led a hard life and was several years and several thousand miles old.

Scotroutes – the controls weren’t spinning round on the bars wearing a groove in it causing the bar to snap. The surface of the bar was straight and free of anything that could be considered a stress raiser when I removed the levers from the bar.

Sounds nasty scenario. My thoughts go out to all riders present and future who this will inevitably happen to 😛

Fair enough, yeah would like to see how bad you ruin up your rims so pics as usual. 😛

Scotroutes – the controls weren’t spinning round on the bars wearing a groove in it causing the bar to snap. The surface of the bar was straight and free of anything that could be considered a stress raiser when I removed the levers from the bar.

Cool. I’ve seen bars affected like that, hence the general warning.

tdog – Law of averages, use anything for long enough and it’ll break. Whacking it into the ground just speeds that process up. 😆

I’ll get some pics when the inevitable happens, wouldn’t like to disappoint. 😛

You know aluminium can fail without warning too right? I’ve had stem bolts fail simultaneously due to fatigue (now use a torque wrench as that may have contributed) and Al bars fail on a road bike I’d never crashed that wasn’t even that old (luckily the bars bent from a crack opening up rather than failing in a brittle fracture).
Bars failing in a crash is something I can live with.