Do handlebars have a maximum amount of hours before they expire?
I ask because I've got a set of triple butted Scott Pilot system handlebars which I love to bits, and would like to keep using, but the thought of them being 10 years old now makes me wonder if one day I'll hit a jump and they fail, causing face to ground/stem or anything else.
I've looked at them, and they have no stress marks, bends or alike.
Any help I'd be grateful.
the fact is you'll never know the answer to that until its too late!
I would personally advise changing them if you are getting airborne.
For light xc duties they may last another 10 years but for more aggressive riding I wouldn't risk my teeth to it!
Metal fatigue.
I had a saddle fail this week, titanium rail, must be 20 years old, just snapped in two.
If steel I'd say fine for many years. (But I may be wrong.)
I treat bars as consumables, had a 5 year old set of azonics fail going into the black run at Aston hill, broke my left wrist in 3 places and damaged ligaments in right wrist. Ok so fairly heavy riding but also heavy duty bars.
I change them every couple of years dependant on use or any crashes. I wouldn't entertain 10 year old bars unless they have seen very little use. Up to you but I will say its a nasty way to crash as they are most likely to fail on a landing or large impact when you really don't want to crash and it's a bit of a surprise.
Nice one people, made my mind up to not take the risk (especially from your tale James!).
If you're concerned about metal fatigue in the bars, then what about in the head tube? Or the seatpost? There's a hell of a lot more load going through those...
Unless you're doing anything mad on the downhills, i'd forget about it.
I'm 61 and I still use handlebars. HTH.
If you are asking the question, you already know the answer...
Funny this should come up I have a bike with a set of Carbon Answer pro taper bars on that must be several years old minimum and compared to a newer set of carbon bars feel more flexy(to be fair the new ones are oversize flatbars compared to low rise 25.4 bars).
Thinking it may be time to retire them?
If you're concerned about metal fatigue in the bars, then what about in the head tube? Or the seatpost? There's a hell of a lot more load going through those...
Unless you're doing anything mad on the downhills, i'd forget about it.
Not sure about that, the bars will most likely take a bash every time you crash, are only supported at one point, fairly long (over 30cm each side of the stem) so lots of leverage.
If jumping or hitting anything hard you hopefully won't be sat on the saddle, if you are the load won't be at right angles compared to the bars though I have seen seatposts bend.
In my experience frames tend to crack before catastrophic failure, though not unheard of.
It's obviously a personal choice and comes down to the sort of riding you do but bars are vulnerable to damage and I'd rather ride with no lid than ride with old bars.
Using old kit is irresponsible. It is going to fail at some point and you don't want that to be on a nasty downhill section or on road with a large lorry behind you. Do not get attached to bits of metal or carbon, use them, abuse them and then bin them. It should go without saying don't ebay stuff that is junk.
10 years old is far too old IMHO.
Really? I've got some Easton/Answer Hyperlites from 1995. Should I stop using them? Other bars are from late 90's and 2008.
Better call my dentist and warn him 😉
I had an Answer and bar stem and I'm pretty sure the guff that came with them said to replace after 3 years. That was a few years and several different bars ago.
When they make this noise
If that vid is at Llandegla I watched them do that
Its about fatigue cycles innit, vs how close you take the bars to their design envelope. Every 3 to 4 years for alu. Plastic ones should in theory last longer.
Haha yeah its llandegla the bars were bbb carbon bars about 10 years old and had been over tightenend.
BigJohn - Member
I'm 61 and I still use handlebars. HTH.
Brilliant. hahahahahha