Carbon handlebars and jumps?

irvs
irvs Posts: 204
edited October 2012 in MTB general
Hi everyone, I'm looking to change the handle bars on my giant revel but need some advice please. It's my do it all bike from XC racing to light DH fun. I was planning on fitting a carbon flat bar but, now I'm wondering how they would hold up what with me jumping off everything I can lately.
I'm only getting the hang of drop off and jumps, biggest drop off is about 3feet will I still be ok with carbon bars or should I just get aluminium bars???

Thanks Neil.

Comments

  • They will hold up fine, carbon is very strong.
  • They make carbon bars for DH...
  • irvs
    irvs Posts: 204
    Thanks for the info chaps.

    Neil.
  • bennett_346
    bennett_346 Posts: 5,029
    They will snap and youll die.
  • jairaj
    jairaj Posts: 3,009
    any bar can fail if its not designed for purpose no matter what its made out of. make sure you get some thing ''trail tough'' rather than ''xc racer'' and you'll be fine.
  • irvs
    irvs Posts: 204
    Any ideas for something good that wont break the bank???

    Neil
  • bennett_346
    bennett_346 Posts: 5,029
    CarbonCycles do some pretty "reasonable" ones i think. Also i'm sure i've seen carbon wragley ones for £90 odd.
  • why do you want carbon anyway?

    I've had a few carbon bars in the past but wasn't keen on the feel of them. They do reduce trail 'buzz' but it gave a sense of vagueness in control.... its like super light power steering on small city cars, you just don't feel connected.

    And carbon isn't always lighter either.
  • benpinnick
    benpinnick Posts: 4,148
    Anything made by Easton will be fine.
    A Flock of Birds
    + some other bikes.
  • felix.london
    felix.london Posts: 4,067
    why do you want carbon anyway?

    And carbon isn't always lighter either.

    +1
    benpinnick wrote:
    Anything made by Easton will be fine.

    +1
    "Why have that extra tooth if you're not using it?" - Brian Lopes

    Votec V.SX Enduro 'Alpine Thug' 2012/2013 build

    Trek Session 8
  • EH_Rob
    EH_Rob Posts: 1,134
    There are some Raceface carbon bars in the classifieds.

    It may or may not be me who is selling them.
  • rockmonkeysc
    rockmonkeysc Posts: 14,774
    I have seen broken carbon bars & I have broken aluminium bars.
    Some carbon bars are stronger than some aluminium bars. Some aluminium bars are stronger than some carbon bars.
  • bennett_346
    bennett_346 Posts: 5,029
    I have seen broken carbon bars & I have broken aluminium bars.
    Some carbon bars are stronger than some aluminium bars. Some aluminium bars are stronger than some carbon bars.
    Wasn't that helpful.

    And in other news i have seen some win the lottery, and i have seen some not win the lottery.
  • Carl170
    Carl170 Posts: 99
    And in other news i have seen some win the lottery, and i have seen some not win the lottery.

    Ha Ha! I thought that was funny as f*ck!

    Regards

    Carl
  • Northwind
    Northwind Posts: 14,675
    It actually is pretty helpful- the point is that there's no sense in classing bars by material. You can get a racy lightweight alu bar or a sturdy carbon dh bar, and all points inbetween in both materials.

    I've broken- well, folded- a steel bar and the end result is the same as carbon or alu. some folks say that carbon fails worse- it snaps instead of folding or bending. Not very convinced, and in any case it's not the only difference, since different bars won't fail at the same point.

    But is carbon strong enough? Well, the set on my Ragley are Easton Monkeylite DHs. They've been jumped about a million times, crashed about a thousand times, and one time memorably the bike fell off the fort william chairlift and landed on the bars. Challenge accepted... Still going strong.
    Uncompromising extremist