Carbon bars - I SEEK THE TRUTH...

[hamster]

The simple fact is that anything will break if there is not enough of it. Badly-engineered carbon will break, so will stupidly light stuff whether it's made of carbon, aluminium, steel or anything.

However, there is enough design experience now to know what works reliably. Personally I'd avoid any Chinese / no-brand stuff as I don't have confidence in their quality control or testing. But big names like Easton, Deda, Race Face will have done their homework and I will use confidently.

 

[Tazio]

If its good enough for F1 designers, its good enough for me on a bike. I mean, when was the last time any of our components were subjected to lateral loading at 5G? Let alone deceleration impacts of several hundred G at up to 200mph.....


G

I always remember watching the F1 on telly and they were saying that an adult could stand on either end off the front wing and it wouldn't break, but if you kicked the side of it then you could snap it. All to do with the way the weave runs.

 

[Andy R]

I'm using Easton CNT Monkeylites on three bikes, two of them rigid. Obviously I like them
Pay attention not to over-torque faceplate bolts and check that there are no sharp corners on the faceplate or stem body. Quality makes won't be like this anyway but cheaper stuff might.
Brake levers and shifters shouldn't ever be so tight that they won't rotate if they receive an impact, of course.

 

[Khane]

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/santa-cruz ... t-lab.html

i trust carbon more than i trust aluminium now.

 

[02gf74]

Personally I'd avoid any Chinese / no-brand stuff as I don't have confidence in their quality control or testing. But big names like Easton, Deda, Race Face will have done their homework and I will use confidently.

.... except in many cases the big names are selling the Chinese no/brand stuff with a big name sticker so it is quite a dilemana.

not had CF bar on rigig but my daily commuter has CF bars as well as most of my other bikes, no problems as yet; suspension does absorb a lot of the shock.

 

[wynne]

Thanks for all the responses. They confirm what I was thinking. I'll be putting the Atom bar on tonight.

Thanks

Rich

 

[hamster]

Personally I'd avoid any Chinese / no-brand stuff as I don't have confidence in their quality control or testing. But big names like Easton, Deda, Race Face will have done their homework and I will use confidently.

.... except in many cases the big names are selling the Chinese no/brand stuff with a big name sticker so it is quite a dilemana.

I agree, but they have verification processes in place to make sure that what is being delivered conforms to what was specified. They would have to be a combination of hopelessly naive and optimistic to do anything else with your reputation and product liability risk.

 

[BertR00t]

Been riding some Profile low rise carbon bars that I bought in 98 for my Zaskar and they have been on it ever since. Had countless crashes, some of them quite bad and they are still in use now. Got front sus but only 90mm. They have been in a Ringle stem and two X-Lite Fly stems.

Also have some RaceFace SixC on my full sus and trust them totally.

 

[dbmtb]

+1 for Easton Monkey Lites(bought new). And +1 for USE(bought S/H).

 

[Neil G]

Never used any so can't comment on their durablity

Being a fisherman though I've experienced how much carbon can take in bending without snapping with rods, I imagine it's the same with bars as well.

Doesn't like compression though got to be careful tightening bar controls & stem!