A chastening reminder of the risks of carbon

964cup

So I'm back from my summer break, and the bike I took with me is in need of a service. I decide to go the whole hog and strip it completely, ready for a thorough clean and leisurely rebuild.

When I remove the bar tape and shifters, I find this:




I've had no crashes, no big falls. At the start of the summer, I had one clipless moment while stationary. So I may have been riding like this for 700km. Erk.

As it happens, I'd already bought replacement bars for this bike entirely by fluke - I've got Zipp SLC2's in a traditional bend on my other bike and prefer how they feel, so when Wiggle had the Service Course at half price, I grabbed some, thinking that the extra 100g for alloy was no big deal, really.

Now I'm thinking hard about replacing the SLC2's with alloy bars as well.

jscl

I always always choose alloy for handlebars, it's such an integral part of the frame and provides more stiffness in a sprint, no flexing.

Had a similar experience, went out riding in Tenerife and had a race the day after landing. Morning after race, checked frame and there was a wonderful big crack on the drivesaid chainstay. It'd been crushed in transit quite cleraly but can't believe I'd raced on it with a crack like that. Live and learn.

MountainMonster

Any materials can and will fail, so this does not mean carbon is good quality.

OP: you say you just got back from holiday? Did someone handle your bike? If so it is possible it was damaged in transit somehow.

964cup

I wasn't suggesting carbon was poor quality; it was more that the crack was hidden under the bar tape and completely undetectable (the bar is still too stiff for me to flex).

As a matter of balance I had a Cannondale MTB back in the late 80's - the weld between the toptube and the headtube failed on a descent. Which was nice.

The only person who handled the bike was me. I think it's unlikely anything happened to it on the rack on the way home (although you never know, I suppose). I think this is either a consequence of the sack of spuds I managed in the workshop when checking that my reassembled cleats were working - they were, but my sense of balance clearly wasn't - or it might have been latent damage from the previous owner. I don't say that in any way to criticise the chap who sold them to me - they looked perfect when I got them - but that's the point with carbon: you can't necessarily see the damage initially.

Monty Dog

Lots of people still ride alloy bars for the reason you've just discovered.

MichaelW

CTC did a survey of handlebar breakage and found that aluminium alloy bars can and do break, mainly in France.

Alitogata

Everything can crack, but carbon cracks unexpectedly and gives no warning signs. The one minute a handlebar can feel and look ok and other minute can break in pieces. From the position of the damage I think that it was caused by the shifters which, perhaps, were too tightly mounted on the handlebar. ( I hope I wrote it well and you got the point).
I personally don't trust carbon on handlebars, stems or saddle stems.

Anyway.. 964Cup you were very lucky that you found out the damage before having any nasty accident.

Alitogata

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Alitogata

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giant_man

One of the reasons I don't ride with carbon bars or stem, when alu is similar weight and much cheaper ...

964cup

Alitogata wrote:

From the position of the damage I think that it was caused by the shifters which, perhaps, were too tightly mounted on the handlebar. ( I hope I wrote it well and you got the point).

The shifters were some way below the crack (you can see the textured area on the bar where they are meant to go) and were fitted using a torque wrench, so I doubt it. Or at least, that's where I put them and how I fitted them; these were second-hand bars.

I certainly won't buy used carbon bars again; I may stick to alloy from now on. Ultimately, though, while a stress fracture in alloy bars at that location is pretty unlikely, the other point is to check under the bar tape from time to time...

Barbarossa

I've seen broken aluminium bars too.

MountainMonster

People don't post threads warnings/reminders about carbon items if that did not indicate they have slight trust issues with the material itself. You only ever see watch out for carbon threads, never an aluminium one, even though aluminium breaks just as often.

lawrences

madasahattersley wrote:

MountainMonster wrote:

People don't post threads warnings/reminders about carbon items if that did not indicate they have slight trust issues with the material itself. You only ever see watch out for carbon threads, never an aluminium one, even though aluminium breaks just as often.

I see broken carbon frames / forks / bars / levers etc ALL the time yet hardly ever see similarly broken aluminium parts. If they are broken they're usually bent rather than having catastrophically failed.

A bent/buckled frame is just as un-ridable as a broken one and neither can be fixed either.

marcusjb

Yebbut, a bent component is less health threatening than a broken one should the failure occur on the road.

Alitogata

964Cup wrote:

Alitogata wrote:

From the position of the damage I think that it was caused by the shifters which, perhaps, were too tightly mounted on the handlebar. ( I hope I wrote it well and you got the point).

The shifters were some way below the crack (you can see the textured area on the bar where they are meant to go) and were fitted using a torque wrench, so I doubt it. Or at least, that's where I put them and how I fitted them; these were second-hand bars.

I certainly won't buy used carbon bars again; I may stick to alloy from now on. Ultimately, though, while a stress fracture in alloy bars at that location is pretty unlikely, the other point is to check under the bar tape from time to time...

Perhaps the previous owner didn't fit the shifters properly or had fell and the handlebar had already problem when you bought it..
Anyway the important thing is that you are ok and you found out the damage before having any accident your self.

I think that we must check the whole bike from time to time, not only under the tape but the whole frame and parts. No matter how strong or new are supposed to be, we never know were a damage can occur and I'm sure that nobody of us wants to find it out during his/her bike ride..

Alitogata

Barbarossa wrote:

I've seen broken aluminium bars too.

All materials can break. The problem with carbons is that they don't give any sighs before this happens. They don't bend or rot, or show any wear.. just crack suddenly.. Anyway I never manage to trust carbon handlebar and saddle parts.
I think that if someone wants to invest on something equally strong, light, flexible and trustworthy can buy titanium parts and have them for long long time.

craker

Alu. bars break without warning too - there was that case a couple of years back when a guy riding on a new bike suffered a bad head injury after his handlebars failed (he sued and won as the bike was new). Something to do with stress raisers around the clamp point; I've heard it recommended (?) that alu. bars should be changed every couple of years because of this.

(Edit - found this reference - https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/uk.rec.cycling/Y-2_V_DaQns)

Alitogata

craker wrote:

Alu. bars break without warning too - there was that case a couple of years back when a guy riding on a new bike suffered a bad head injury after his handlebars failed (he sued and won as the bike was new). Something to do with stress raisers around the clamp point; I've heard it recommended (?) that alu. bars should be changed every couple of years because of this.

(Edit - found this reference - https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/uk.rec.cycling/Y-2_V_DaQns)

From what I've read on the link you gave here, there was a crack on the handlebar which caused fatigue and made the handlebar of this FS bike to break. If the rider had checked the handlebar he would have seen the damage. And he should have check it as his bike is an FS one.

diy

Any possibility that they were fake?

MountainMonster

marcusjb wrote:

Yebbut, a bent component is less health threatening than a broken one should the failure occur on the road.

I fail to see this argument. A bent component can throw you off course and cause a crash much the same as a broken carbon component.

Riding down the road and your Ali bars bend when you've got pressure on them, you may save it, you may not. Just like carbon cracking.

marcusjb

I think I'd rather take my chances of coming to a safe stop with a bent handlebar still attached to the bike than with a piece of snapped handlebar in my hand that has no effect on steering.

nochekmate

Alitogata wrote:

Barbarossa wrote:

I've seen broken aluminium bars too.

All materials can break. The problem with carbons is that they don't give any sighs before this happens. They don't bend or rot, or show any wear.. just crack suddenly.. Anyway I never manage to trust carbon handlebar and saddle parts.
I think that if someone wants to invest on something equally strong, light, flexible and trustworthy can buy titanium parts and have them for long long time.

So titanium never fails?? Queue the Litespeed owners!

lawrences

marcusjb wrote:

I think I'd rather take my chances of coming to a safe stop with a bent handlebar still attached to the bike than with a piece of snapped handlebar in my hand that has no effect on steering.

Fails occurring while you "just ride along" are incredibly rare on any material including carbon. Most of the pictures of carbon damage is from crashes. It just tends to look more horrific than a piece of bent alu.

rolf_f

craker wrote:

I've heard it recommended (?) that alu. bars should be changed every couple of years because of this.

Where? On the net? Quote from alloy handlebar manufacturers who want you to bin stuff so you can buy some new? Some stuff on the net isn't true so I've heard. I have my doubts about this for example. I'm not going to worry about it though as my alloy bars are clearly past their sell buy already - 26 years and 33 years old on the steel bikes and about 4 years each on the carbons. Look fine to me.......

slowbike

Nobody else has commented on the fact that the OP only found the crack AFTER he removed the bar tape ... ie didn't notice the break before.
Is Carbon that bad that when it fails it falls into pieces ... no, it's not ... the layup is stranded - so a break is a break - but doesn't always end up with a complete break - sure you wouldn't really want to ride it - but in this case the OP found the problem before it became an issue.

When ally does fail it tends to quicky split into two ...

bianchimoon

my aftermarket carbon bars have cracks where the clamp was overtightened before I bought a torque wrench, have been keeping a careful eye on how the carbons behaving/deteriorating for last 18 months and doesn't seem to be getting any worse even given the state of the roads around here.

cougie

You are riding round on cracked bars ? It's reassuring to know they've lasted 18 months or so - but you are a braver man than me ! Any plans to replace them at all ?

bianchimoon

keeping a close eye on them, as i say don't seem to be getting bigger, not sure cracked is the right word, more like crimped with hairline cracks. Must admit if i come to a bumpy section of road, my hands go to middle of bars to save undue stresses. They are comfortable bars to ride on so am loathed to ditch them till cracks deteriorate further

dennisn

For every cracked piece of carbon someone posts I can find a similar piece of cracked steel, aluminum, or titanium.

The other day I discovered that my carbon seatpost clamp had a crack in it. Doesn't prove a damn thing other than "my carbon seatpost clamp" has a crack in it.

bianchimoon

dennisn wrote:

For every cracked piece of carbon someone posts I can find a similar piece of cracked steel, aluminum, or titanium.

The other day I discovered that my carbon seatpost clamp had a crack in it. Doesn't prove a damn thing other than "my carbon seatpost clamp" has a crack in it.

Gotta agree with you on that, guess some are more cautious/nervous than others