Just wondering – had a group ride tonight and we were discussing irrational biking fears – fear of handlebar snapping is mine! I havent ever snapped a bar but I did bend a few back in the lightweight 90s craze…

I guess not that many actually snap as it would be all over STW – I usually replace mine after 2 years or after a big spill…

whats the consensus?

cheers

paul

Never. Never.

up to 5 years ish depends. Bent 1 set

I’ve broken one, it was a 110(ish) gram carbon bar that bent after a couple of miles of its first use, so pretty sure it was a manufacturing fault. This was however in the early days of carbon components for mountain bikes so some stuff was of sketchy quality.

I’ve had plenty of carbon and aluminium bars before and since and they’ve all been fine.

Never replaced any after a set period of time although some have been gradually downgraded to the pub/commuter bike where I’d expect them to receive less abuse.

I’ve only ever replaced mine to see what different rise/ widths feel like..

As for the fear of breakages? Never really thought about it.

I’ve broken myself ( neck, back, both legs, ribs etc) more times than any component, and I’m no lightweight xc whippet..

I’ve never broke a modern bar, by modern i mean from mid 90’s onwards and i still happily run an Easton Carbon XC riser bar from 2004 despite having some major crashes with it. The only bar i’ve ever damaged was a narrow Titanium flat bar back in the very early 90’s and that just bent slightly so i bent it back and continued to ride with it for months, i’ve still got it or rather my mother has – it’s on her work bike that’s been pimped up with all my old trick bits and anodised cast-offs.

I bent an Answer DH alu bar earlier this year, quite surprised… I guess it just dug in badly or something. Folded a steel one on my old Carrera, back in about 1992, that was interesting.

I have bent a set of Burgtec Ride Wides, but I did hit a tree square-on and pretty fast.

I’ve never changed bars just because they are old…..fashion moves too fast.

Never catastrophically broke a bar. I did crack a lightweight carbon bar when the bar end hit a tree or something, causing the bar end clamp to crack the bar. The bar was still serviceable enough for me to use until I was able to get order some aluminum ones as a replacement, though.

Strangely enough, I managed to totally snap an alu bar on a mid 90s Carrera. Landed a small bunnyhop off a tarmac covered tree root and it went at the stem. Managed to stay on by leaning out over the front and rolling to a halt.

Most of my biking fears are completely rational; werewolves on night rides, etc.

Depends on your uses. Roughly 5 years or so for me.

I had a dream last night that the carbon bars on my road bike snapped, I remembered it when I went for a ride today, probably the first time I’ve worried about it! Got home safely thou 😀

There’s no need to randomly change bars for fear of age! Strange concept that one.

Never broke one,chaged bars last week to give more width.
Ian

never broke handle bars… mine are carbon monkey lite.. strong….and never cut down to size…. the wider they are the better leverage 😉

Never and never. Only changed because a wanted a new set (different width/rise/shape etc)

Never

my mate is riding some of my old flat alu bars from about 2001. these had a period of retirement from my bike during which time they were used as a banger based shotgun type implement. not snapped on him yet….

As fashion dictates.

Fit and forget.

You can break a modern bar if you try hard enough! Even Easton carbon has its limits.

Just like my dream, spooky.

Been running the same Club Roost bars since the late 90s. (On, so far five different bikes)

I think I’d better get a new pair judging by most of the comments above

Why is the clamp area out of the stem in that Easton pic and the right hand bar section still in the clamp?

May have been clamped unevenly in the wrong place and over tight.

Why is the clamp area out of the stem in that Easton pic and the right hand bar section still in the clamp?

For the purposes of taking the photo.

It was clamped in the middle when it went SNAP.

To be fair it was a decent crash, so i don’t blame the bar. In fact I went out and bought another and I’ve only just swapped it 5 years later for a wider OS bar

Broke a flat Ti bar (clean through at one side of the stem clamp) after about 6 years on a rigid HT. Went at the end of a muddy ride whilst doing little bunny hops to dislodge the mud (as you do) 😯

Other than that, occasionally change bars around from bike to bike but never consciously to improve their lifetime. Used to have a fear of carbonfibre seatposts until I remembered I’d been riding around on carbonfibre forks for yonks.

Broken a couple of cheap stems, and luckily got away with it. Always fails of the weld.
Running a 12yr old Synchros bar and stem at the mo.
I do always get the needle files out to make sure there is no edge on the stem to give a point where the bar can break, but no; never broken a bar.

Hmm, put a pretty big ding in my monkeylite DHs today… Considering that’s the same bars that took the blow when my bike fell off the gondola out of the sky at fort william, maybe it’s time to replace…

I blame this thread!

Didn’t break my bars but broke my Easton EA70 stem – lengthways! Thought my grips had worn loose until I realised my stem was just about holding my bars in place.

Never broken a bar. NEver bent one. Never been below 15 stone and often land nose first from big drops. Never worried about it.

I’ve snapped some forks though, but it was a 1970s road bike and I did try to ride up the kerb at full whack without lifting the front wheel.

I’ve snapped a crank arm too while bunnyhopping.

You could worry your life away, spend a fortune replacing parts preventatively (and pointlessly) or you could just get on with life.

Never broken a modern carbon bar, and I’m 6ft6 and 110kg.

Now, if we’re talking about frames/wheels/seatpost/seats then that’s a different matter…., but never the bar (thank god!)

I bent a set of bars in a crash once on a week old bike, but stupidly didn’t notice for another year…when I realised that the left grip was half an inch higher than the right!

Since then I check bars regularly, I do swap every now and again, mainly for fashion victim purposes though.

I thought I’d very slightly bent the bars on my bike due to a reasonable crash about 3 weeks after buying it.

About a year later, while measuring up for a road bike fit I realised that actually my arms are different lengths and the bar is fine…