Crashed, wondering about my carbon bars

[scottfa]

The crash at 20MPH removed the tape around my carbon handlebars in one spot(skin from me in several spots :mad: ). I am wondering if I need to get them checked. I finished another 40 miles after the crash and did not feel any problems, but I do not want to emulate George Hincapie on the cobbles if you know what I mean.
How does anyone check the structural integrity of carbon?Any suggestions?
Thanks

[Peter P.]

To get your carbon bars checked, check out:

http://www.calfeedesign.com/howtosendrepair.htm

I'd contact Calfee Designs and see if they can inspect bars as well.

Kind of makes you wish you had aluminum bars; doesn't it?!

[RPS]

Glad you were not seriously hurt.
Were you riding a carbon fork?
If so, are you as worried about it?

[manet]

send 'em to vino

[scottfa]

Hmmmmmm carbon fork. Great, didn't think about that. Maybe I will put the old aluminum bars back on.
Can't seem to find Vino :)

I can't believe that I didn't break something when I fell. When they ashphalted the road they did a poor job right where the yellow line was painted on. You just could not see problem with the line painted over it. This defect turned my handlebars perpendicular to my bike, effectively stopping it. I, of course, did not stop. Scraped up my leg and arm pretty good and bruised both shoulders. I have been off my feet for the last few days waitng for my swollen leg to heal up, but nothing is broken so I am pretty lucky. My wife wanted to make sure the bike was alright so we didn't have to purchase a new one :D

[3chordwonder]

Lucky that you escaped more serious injury.

As an side - don't alu handlebars have the same warning attached after a crash as carbon bars? Not only that aren't you meant to change them every 4 years or x km/m so metal fatigue doesn't snap them, whereas carbon has a longer lifecycle in that regard? And isn't carbon easier to inspect for damage than Alu because stress damage leading to potential future breaks is more visible?

I ride alu bars only so I'm not invested in carbon being better, the above is just what I read, ymmv. And as another aside, after years of reading dire warnings about the fragility of things, my personal experience in riding with others is that most bikestuff is much stronger and resilient than the panic epidemic makes us all think.

[William]

You know the old saying:

"When in doubt, throw it out."

They might be fine, they might not. For your own peace of mind, replace them. I would anyway.....with Alum but thats just me. ;)





William

[Kevan]

if CF hides fatigue? Are there any hairline cracks? Has the clearcoat turned color, blistered, chipped? Are there always signs of distress?

Is a perfectly good looking CF bar a good bar?

What guarantees are there that AL doesn't have its own idiosyncrasies?

This not a challenge, just a question.

[scottfa]

Hi Kevan:
These are the same questions I have. I suspect that it may be impossible for the layman to tell if any bar, and especially carbon, has a problem unless it practically in two or more pieces. That being said, I believe that carbon is stronger than we might think. It seems kind of crazy that we can just slap this stuff on without some way of determining if it is safe.

[3chordwonder]

Isn't the usual line on inspecting carbon that if the item doesn't exhibit any visible stressfractures or scratches through the clear coat, that it's fine? If so it'd be easier to trust a good looking bit of carbon than a metal part that might have fatigue issues.

Even then, a good friend of mine rides a carbon bike with carbon bars and seatpost that's been crashed a few times and has a number of scratches through the clear coat, and it's shown zero inclination to break so far.

Bottom line though is that if you're a worrier, you'll never enjoy riding that bike again until you replace the bars - in which case it's a relatively cheap ticket to peace of mind.

I just replaced some perfectly fine looking 4 year old alu bars on my cyclocrosser after crashing it fairly heavily - they still looked fine (the brifters took the hit) but since they were coming up to the manufacturer's recommended use-by date, plus the crash, I figured I'd save the worry and replace them.

[scottfa]

You are right that I can't trust the bars now. I finally got the bike out of my car(couldn't ride until now) and the bars are definately scratched below the clear coat, in fact, it is gouged for about a inch throug a couple of layers. So, time for new bars :(

[Kevan]

I'd hang those horns over the hearth instead.