Carbon handlebars in the real world

[rpm]

I'm curious about people's experiences with carbon handlebars in daily use. Do they really dampen road shock when compared with aluminum? What happens to them if, say, somebody knocks your bike over while you're at a convenience store?

[jerk]

don't know.
the jerk only uses them on the internet.

jerk

actually here are some answers.

do they actually dampen vibration? not in anyway the jerk could notice.

what happens if someone knocks over your bike at a convienance store?

the bar tape might get a tear in it and you might yell and swear at the guy with the 40oz slurpee untill he apologizes and offers you a sip.

anyother questions?

[JohnS]

This has been discussed a few times and you may want to do a search, but here's a rehash of my experiences...It seems like they do dampen road vibratiion if you are sensitive to it. In my case, I have severe arthritis in my left shoulder, so it helps alot. Others, with no physical problems, say they don't notice. I guess you could compare it to someone wearing shoes that are slightly off in size. If your feet are normal, they'll be okay. If you have a bunion or something, they'll bother you, big time. My bike has fallen over several times and the bars (Easton) are still intact.

[swalburn]

I use Easton EC90 handlebars, and I like them, but I wish I would have saved the money and got a pair of Ritchey WCS aluminum bars. Don't get me wrong, they are nice but I don't notice any different between them and my aluminum bars. On an aside I recently swapped out my carbon seatpost for a thomson masterpiece, and I swear the ride is better. I think a lot of this stuff is really just hype. I'm sure I will get flamed for saying that, but thats my two cents. I will note that I was recently fit for my frame, and I am a lot more comfortable on the bike as a whole, but not due to a any component.

[Fixed]

bro most of this stuff is to show off i.m.h.o. most of you bros would be just as fast on your old bike as your new one . or old stuff if it ain't broken don't fix it . unless it makes you happy then go ahead cheers :beer:

[Grant McLean]

Ride a handlebar because you like it's shape.

ATMO

p.s. The "load" on a handlebar when you hit a bump at 40mph holding the
bars when you weigh 200lbs is a thousand times greater than your bike
falling over at the store. Likewise, people used to ask me if it's ok to hang
their bike by a hook on the wheel, like it would "bend" it over time...ahhh, no.


-gee

[JohnS]

bro most of this stuff is to show off i.m.h.o. most of you bros would be just as fast on your old bike as your new one . or old stuff if it ain't broken don't fix it . unless it makes you happy then go ahead cheers :beer:It ain't all about speed, bro...sometimes it's about comfort!

[Climb01742]

i agree with grant. a bar's shape has the most impact on whether you find it comfortable. but john s is right, too, i think. we each have unique sensitivities. for john it's his shoulder. for me, it's the transition to the hoods. if that's "off" just a bit -- meaning not as flat as i like it -- it drives me bonkers.

[sailorboy]

Only limited experience with them. Justified buying a set because of a nagging wrist injury that sometimes woud hurt after riding now and then. After they slipped in the clamp during a road race nearly causing me to crash I realized they weren't worth the risk of a much worse injury than the nagging wrist ache that goes away with Tylenol or beer. I have also heard stories of them failing more catastrophically than alu bars, but that's just anecdotal. I will not likely ever have another pair.

They were tightened to mfg. specs. using a torque wrench before they slipped BTW.

[Ray]

Ride a handlebar because you like it's shape.
Yup - I'm crazy picky about handlebars. The only one I like for road bikes is an old Nitto dirt drop that's like a normal drop bar down through the hooks, but then flares out 7 degrees on the flats at the bottom of the drops. They don't make 'em anymore and I have a bunch of them. They weigh about 350 grams or something - the only gratuitously heavy part I have on my bikes (except for the bikes with B-17s), but one that I wouldn't part with for anything. Vibration through the bars has never been an issue for me - the extra leverege in the drops and having my forearms clear the ramps when I'm out of the saddle in the drops are very big for me. And the more natural feeling position of my hands.

-Ray

[stevep]

put me in the camp of no carbon bars.
the stem clamp mechanism is not well adapted to a carbon bar.
needs too much careful adjustment...too easy to ding...and a tiny fault which makes no difference in an aluminum bar will be a fatal flaw in a carbon one.
it is marketing only that brings us this product. they weigh more, the clamp is imperfect, the life span is questionable and they cost a lot.
get bars that you like the fit of. forget carbon bars.
they are a bad idea

[Bruce K]

The TTT Prima 199 geometry worked about the best for me reach/drop wise, but on longer rides I started getting some numbness.

I now use the Modolo Curvissima carbon bars and have no more issues. I find them to have a little less road buzz and the shape gives me a flat area that seems to take the pressure off the spots causing the numbness.

I have never had slippage issues, but I do use a torque wrench to mount them.

The downside is I have cracked a set through overtightening (no torque wrench) while traveling.

BK

[saab2000]

It has been my observation that carbon bars do nothing do damp vibrations. That said, some of them can be molded into nice shapes. I agree with those who say carbon bars are a gimmick. They weigh no less (more in some cases), cost a lot more and are a constant source of worry. There may be a future for one-piece bar/stem combos, but like SteveP said, the clamp compromises the strength of the carbon.

FWIW, my opinion of both carbon seatposts and most carbon seatstays (Serotta ST stays excepted) is that they are a marketing gimmick as well and have no impact on ride quality at all. Same for the bars.

[e-RICHIE]

i love posts like this - that's why i boldfaced the important stuff!!

put me in the camp of no carbon bars.
the stem clamp mechanism is not well
adapted to a carbon bar. needs too much careful
adjustment...too easy to ding...and a tiny fault
which makes no difference in an aluminum bar
will be a fatal flaw in a carbon one.
it is marketing only that brings us this
product. they weigh more, the clamp is
imperfect, the life span is questionable and
they cost a lot.
get bars that you like the fit of. forget carbon bars.
they are a bad idea

[Bruce K]

I just wish a you guys who bought Modolos and now are posting them in the Classifieds were a bit wider in the shoulder.

I also wish there was an aluminum bar with some flat surfaces near the shifters that didn't have such long reaches or drops.

There 2 sets of brand new Modolo 42cm c-c for sale and I need the wider ones!

Drat! :crap: :crap: :crap:

BK

[saab2000]

I just wish a you guys who bought Modolos and now are posting them in the Classifieds were a bit wider in the shoulder.

I also wish there was an aluminum bar with some flat surfaces near the shifters that didn't have such long reaches or drops.

There 2 sets of brand new Modolo 42cm c-c for sale and I need the wider ones!

Drat! :crap: :crap: :crap:

BK

If mine don't sell I might just use them. I wish mine were the 31.8 diameter though.

[OldDog]

Can't carbon bars be "tuned" to reduce vibration frequency? Use of an inner honeycomb or something for strength, maybe smaller diameter and then build to a good OD with a damping material, rubber or urathane.

The bike world is too busy trying to make and market low volume light parts cheap to then sell at outragous retail prices, rather than make functional parts for the masses at volume pricing.

[e-RICHIE]

The bike world is too busy trying to make and market low volume light parts cheap to then sell at outragous retail prices, rather than make functional parts for the masses at volume pricing.


Howard Beale: I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth. Banks are going bust. Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's no one anywhere that seems to know what to do with us. Now into it. We know the air is unfit to breathe, our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had 15 homicides and 63 violent crimes as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad. Worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy so we don't go out anymore. We sit in a house as slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster, and TV, and my steel belted radials and I won't say anything." Well I'm not going to leave you alone. I want you to get mad. I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot. I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crying in the streets. All I know is first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, "I'm a human being. God Dammit, my life has value." So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out, and yell, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" I want you to get up right now. Get up. Go to your windows, open your windows, and stick your head out, and yell, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Things have got to change my friends. You've got to get mad. You've got to say, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open your window, stick your head out and yell, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!"

[saab2000]

Funny how "road buzz" didn't really become a problem until some marketing company came up with a solution.........

Next they'll be telling us that carbon cranks cut the vibration and leads to less numb feet and better "power transfer". :beer:

[e-RICHIE]

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showpost.php?p=183703&postcount=18
hand's down potm atmo

[rpm]

I also wish there was an aluminum bar with some flat surfaces near the shifters that didn't have such long reaches or drops.
BK

Thanks, folks, for confirming my suspicions about carbon bars. I think I'll stick with the old rule, "Make it stout, out of stuff you know about" But I do agree with Bruce on the kind of aluminum bar he'd like to see. FSA was showing a new bar at the Tapei show that might fit the bill:

http://www.velonews.com/tech/report/articles/9588.0.html

[Bruce K]

OK saab, I'll agree the term may be a marketing "ploy", but call it whatever you like, some people have issues. They may come from bad positioning on the bike(I don't think that's the case here), bad bar shape relative to hand position/shape (a big part here), or natural vibration of a bike over the road surface.

Hands going numb enough on a 100 miler to not be able to shift was a problem for me.

The problem was solved with the Modolos.

Would I be just as happy if they were aluminum? Maybe. But it's the only choice I've got (so far) that has solved the problem.

BK

[saab2000]

Probably it is the shape much more than the material which has solved the hand numbness problem. I am not insensitive to these issues, but if I can get in a cheap shot I always will......... :D Nothing at all against you. I myself have favorite bars and have purchased a set of carbon bars. I am now selling their warranty replacements because the originals had some issues. I thought I would like the shape of the Modolos and in some ways do like them, but in other ways did not and found that I was getting numb hands. Switched to round Dedas and the numbness went away.

Thankfully, there is variety.

My point is that there has been a lot of electrons wasted on the vibration damping characteristics of carbon components, specifically bars, seatposts and carbon stays, but my personal experience is that there is no vibration reduction from these components. You may have a different experience. But I stand by what I said - that if you had an improvement in hand numbness it was probably more the result of a different shape of bar than the material.

[Grant McLean]

Thanks, folks, for confirming my suspicions about carbon bars. I think I'll stick with the old rule, "Make it stout, out of stuff you know about"

I guess people tend hear what they want to hear.

Personally, I have no "suspicions" about carbon bars. I've been riding
the ITM carbon millennium bar for about 4 years, and never given it a
second thought. Like I said before, the shape is by far the most important
feature of any bar, and the fact that there are so many variations of
size and shape today, it should be possible to find something you like.

In terms of slagging a component based on what material it's made from,
I feel is just folly. Nobody here on this forum ridicules Serotta for making
bikes with a carbon fork or a carbon downtube. For some reason, handlebars
are singled out as something special that for a mystery reason can't be made
from anything but aluminum.

-g

[93legendti]

...I also wish there was an aluminum bar with some flat surfaces near the shifters that didn't have such long reaches or drops...

Doesn't Easton make such a bar?

[davep]

I had some Easton carbon bars and knocked it over at a stop. While later I noticed some flex when in the drops. After taking the bar tape off the bars were cracked about half way through.

[sspielman]

........ For some reason, handlebars
are singled out as something special that for a mystery reason can't be made
from anything but aluminum.

-g
I remember when frames made from the newly available aluminum alloys started to become popular in the mid 90's.....People predicted that their "finite fatigue life" would result in the collapse of western civilisation... Their aluminum handlebars were somehow not subject to the same physical laws as these frames....and they never worried about them....(even though as they became stupid light, they should have!)

[Grant McLean]

I had some Easton carbon bars and knocked it over at a stop. While later I noticed some flex when in the drops. After taking the bar tape off the bars were cracked about half way through.

I had some 3TTT alu bars on my cross bike, and fell over and bent the
left side in about 2 inches. Bar was toast.

The shop where I work had a Giant model a couple of years ago with an
aluminum Cinelli oem bar that we had about 6 bikes have the bar break off
right at the stem.

What's the lesson? Nobody's perfect, stuff can break, check out yer bike
often, try not to crash, use a torque wrench, follow the directions,
look both ways before crossing the street.

-g

[e-RICHIE]

What's the lesson? -g


have a good time - all the time.

[Grant McLean]

have a good time - all the time.

sure, easy for you to say,
the planet you live on is oval.

-g