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Snapped Bars - I've got a new fear.

bdamschen

bdamschen

Turbo Monkey
Nov 28, 2005
3,377
156
Spreckels, CA
I drove the first shuttle run of the day after work, got bored waiting and rode up the road a little ways to play around on a super small table top. I hit it once and then was pedaling around the pavement next to it and as I take one good crank and pull on my handlebar, half of it comes off in my hand.:plthumbsdown:

Luckily I was doing like 5 miles an hour and pretty much just jumped off the side but now I've got a new fear- Having my bars snap for no reason. This bike isn't really abused, it's freakin 5" prophet that spends half the time riding XC and the other half shuttling smooth trails. I'm a smooth rider who isn't in to plowing into stuff and I don't usually blow landings on jumps or huck to flat or anything, especially not with this bike.

Here's some pics of the bars- I'm hoping someone will arm chair engineer this sucker and tell me there's a perfectly good explanation for this rather than they just wore out. These handlebars are just a little under a year old.











I'm bummed because I really liked the backsweep and angle of these bars, but now I'm kind of afraid to buy another set.
 
JewBagel

JewBagel

Monkey
Apr 22, 2008
229
0
oregon
That is scary, I have those bars on three of my bikes and love them for the price/weight/angles. I hope someone can prove it was just a fluke with your bars or something.
 
w00dy

w00dy

In heaven there is no beer
Jun 18, 2004
3,417
51
that's why we drink it here
It's not at the edge of any of your controls or stem. So that rules out external stress risers. Unless there was a deep scratch or they went through a big impact, I'm m thinking it must be a flaw in the material. That probably won't do much to ease your fears. All I can say is suck it up princess, or invest in better bars.
 
ianjenn

ianjenn

Turbo Monkey
Sep 12, 2006
3,001
704
SLO
bdamschen said:
i Drove The First Shuttle Run Of The Day After Work, Got Bored Waiting And Rode Up The Road A Little Ways To Play Around On A Super Small Table Top. I Hit It Once And Then Was Pedaling Around The Pavement Next To It And As I Take One Good Crank And Pull On My Handlebar, Half Of It Comes Off In My Hand.:plthumbsdown:

Luckily I Was Doing Like 5 Miles An Hour And Pretty Much Just Jumped Off The Side But Now I've Got A New Fear- Having My Bars Snap For No Reason. This Bike Isn't Really Abused, It's Freakin 5" Prophet That Spends Half The Time Riding Xc And The Other Half Shuttling Smooth Trails. I'm A Smooth Rider Who Isn't In To Plowing Into Stuff And I Don't Usually Blow Landings On Jumps Or Huck To Flat Or Anything, Especially Not With This Bike.

Here's Some Pics Of The Bars- I'm Hoping Someone Will Arm Chair Engineer This Sucker And Tell Me There's A Perfectly Good Explanation For This Rather Than They Just Wore Out. These Handlebars Are Just A Little Under A Year Old.



I'm Bummed Because I Really Liked The Backsweep And Angle Of These Bars, But Now I'm Kind Of Afraid To Buy Another Set.
Click to expand...

Buy Protapers
 
mrpercussive

mrpercussive

Monkey
Feb 11, 2007
318
0
CA
could there have already been a crack??? Either way, i would contact funn. Chances are they'll get you taken cared of...
 
Spunger

Spunger

Git yer dumb questions here
Feb 19, 2003
2,257
0
805
mrpercussive said:
could there have already been a crack??? Either way, i would contact funn. Chances are they'll get you taken cared of...
Click to expand...
That's the best advice there. Call FUNN and have them take care of it. I can't think of why that bar would fail at that spot. Usually it's near the stem more if they fail. Aluminum bars can fail......you just don't see it as much as carbon stuff.

Either way glad to see you're ok. You have to have bars on the bike so like others said......suck it up and get some new ones. I've always used Protapers or Easton EA70 bars (highest end alum. bars). Never had a problem yet, plus their warranty is nice.
 
bdamschen

bdamschen

Turbo Monkey
Nov 28, 2005
3,377
156
Spreckels, CA
New bars? yes. contacting funn to get these replaced? no. I'm not usually someone who stays away from a brand just because I've seen it break before, but I'm a little creeped out by these snapping the way they did, and looking at the walls where they snapped, it almost looks like the way the tube was bent might have weakened the metal.

My girlfriend has the same bars, so I'm replacing hers too. Probably with some sunline v1's since she's got them on her big bike and seems to like them a lot.

Just out of curiosity- how often do you guys try to replace your bars? I usually wait about 2 years, but I'm thinking of a lot sooner since this happened.
 
A

AZRacerX

Monkey
Mar 4, 2003
254
0
Kent, WA
That definitely looks like a fatigue fracture to me. Since you have only had the bars for less than a year (I'm assuming they were new when you bought them) that pretty much rules out low cycle fatigue due to just wear and tear alone (unless you ride like 12 hours of DH runs every day of the week). My guess would be there was a pre-existing flaw in the material that grew to the critical flaw size over the relatively small number of cycles that you put it through. I also do see a scratch near the place where they broke, but it looks superficial to me and I doubt that had anything to do with the fracture. Like someone else said, call Funn and if they care about their reputation they will replace them.
 
bdamschen

bdamschen

Turbo Monkey
Nov 28, 2005
3,377
156
Spreckels, CA
yeah, it sucks. For the record though, this is the first bar I've had fail on me in like 10 years, and the only bar that I haven't been able to explain as borderline stupidity on my part. The various easton bars I've had on my DH bikes always held up in some pretty gnarly conditions. I'm maybe wondering if the funn fatboys are for XC only or something?

I looked around on Funn's site to find contact information and it looks like they want people in the US to contact bti or qbp or whoever. I emailed bti to see if they had a way to contact funn directly.
 
A

AZRacerX

Monkey
Mar 4, 2003
254
0
Kent, WA
While this is pretty scary, if this was an internal flaw in the material chances are it is 1 out of maybe 10,000 bars. If these bars are made from aerospace grade aluminum tubing, most of the time this comes with certifications that they were inspected per some specification which should catch nearly all flaws in the material, but occasionally one is missed. Then again if these were made in Taiwan, who knows... If this were due to a design flaw we would have seen a lot more failed bars by now. I'd say you guys who are running these bars probably have nothing to worry about, but that's just my opinion.
 
DirtyMike

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
I havent seen those bars fail before, My guess is there was a small crack from a crash along the way somewhere. I can see two different ares of failure in the pics, one right at the top, then the rest. I will Especulate, that either 1. there was even a small crash somewhere along the lines, or 2. Somehting happened in transit before you got the bars.

Either way call fun, get them replaced, then do as you will
 
KavuRider

KavuRider

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2006
2,565
4
CT
bdamschen said:
New bars? yes. contacting funn to get these replaced? no.
Click to expand...
I'd contact Funn anyways, even if you don't want their bars.
Just because I think they should know about this failure - could help others.

Strange place for it to break...
 
Total Heckler

Total Heckler

Beer and Bike Enthusiast
Apr 28, 2005
8,171
189
Santa Cruz, CA
Dang dude. Good thing that didn't happen at the race last weekend.

I suggest Sunline, not just because I am contractually supposed to whore the name. Really.
 
F

FrontRangeDH

Monkey
Sep 12, 2007
591
0
15 sq. miles surrounded by reality
I had a set of Eastons snap on me in a flat out sprint a few years ago while heading down a fire road, I hit the ground so fast that the bike ran over me. This was a brand new first run sort of thing. Its a good thing yours snapped then rather than on a large gap or in a rock garden. Bummer, hopefully they take care of you.
 
bdamschen

bdamschen

Turbo Monkey
Nov 28, 2005
3,377
156
Spreckels, CA
Hahaha Josh- Yeah, for some reason I'm also gravitating toward sunline... hmmmmmmm...

One thing I didn't want to turn this thread into is a fear of all aluminum bars having scratches (we have enough worrying around here about carbon bars). I've run scratched bars for a while and beat on them pretty hard with no breakage, and the scratches on my bars that snapped barely show up unless you hit them with a camera flash (I didn't notice them until after I saw the picture I took).
 
Arkayne

Arkayne

I come bearing GIFs
May 10, 2005
3,738
15
SoCal
I usually run parts into the ground before replacing them. However, I wouldn't want use that rule for handlebars! Damn, now I'm freaked out.
 
S

Spokompton

Monkey
May 15, 2005
321
0
Spokane WA
I would think that softer alloy bars are better than harder ones even though they may weigh less.

A soft metal bar will bend pretty far before snapping clean off. I've seen them bend a good 6 inches and not snap clean off.



Want ultra backup safety? Maybe try wedging a couple of wood rods into both ends. :)
 
J

JRogers

talks too much
Mar 19, 2002
3,785
1
Claremont, CA


Hmmm....this happened to me on my last DH run last season. Granted, I was crashing anyway and the bars snapped at some point (the breakage didn't cause me to crash). I was surprised they broke, but it seems to have been from the force of the crash whereas yours looks more like a defect. My only real evidence for that is that my bars are bent, crushed and split unevenly at the broken end and yours are snapped clean.

I didn't bother contacting Funn since it was in a crash. Just bought a new set of Deity Dirty30s and really like them. Bar breaks are just a freak thing. The Fatboys aren't a cheapo bar in the big picture.
 
bdamschen

bdamschen

Turbo Monkey
Nov 28, 2005
3,377
156
Spreckels, CA
Glad it didn't happen while you were riding.

Does anyone have a good way to contact funn? I tried emailing various distributors that they have on their site, but can't seem to get a direct contact to them. What else should I try? Myspace?
 
P

Pbody

Monkey
Oct 30, 2003
341
0
bdamschen said:
Glad it didn't happen while you were riding.

Does anyone have a good way to contact funn? I tried emailing various distributors that they have on their site, but can't seem to get a direct contact to them. What else should I try? Myspace?
Click to expand...
Sounds like you are trying to contact FUNN, so my point is a bit moot now, but even if you are not looking for a replacement set of bars, I think you should definitely contact FUNN thinking they will definitely want the bars in their hands so they can look into why this might have happened in order to make safer bars for all us (including you) in the future.
 
bdamschen

bdamschen

Turbo Monkey
Nov 28, 2005
3,377
156
Spreckels, CA
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I already have two sunline bars(one for my bike and one to replace the bars on my girlfriend's bike just in case) on the way. Only problem is it seems to be freaking impossible to find contact information for Funn. Anybody know somebody who knows any email address or phone number?
 
dan-o

dan-o

Turbo Monkey
Jun 30, 2004
6,499
2,805
bdamschen said:
Only problem is it seems to be freaking impossible to find contact information for Funn. Anybody know somebody who knows any email address or phone number?
Click to expand...
Company: MUCHACHOS INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD.
Address: 21Fl-1, 789 Chungming S. Rd., Taichung, Taiwan 402
Telephone: 886-4-2260-1181/3
Fax: 886-4-2263-4378
E-Mail: info@muchachosintl.com
 
D

DHDreams

Chimp
May 11, 2008
59
0
I also wanted to get in contact with them. I need a new pedal spindle. It bent, in my mind, prematurely. But, I also have Funn bars and stem and am freaked of that happening to me. That would totally SUCK! A whole lot can go wrong if it did.
 
dan-o

dan-o

Turbo Monkey
Jun 30, 2004
6,499
2,805
bdamschen said:
I can't tell if that's a serious answer or a joke:brow:

I was hoping maybe someone on here who has dealt directly with Funn could point me in the right direction?:clue:
Click to expand...
That's the company that owns Funn. They can point you in the right direction for a local/USA contact.
 
NateH

NateH

Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
438
0
I've been running these bars on all my new bikes for three years and have had three pairs bend on me. That is why I still run them, I weight 200lbs and they bend, that makes me happy. My theory is that you possibly had a small bend that you couldn't feel and after riding them bent for awhile they broke.
 
roamingoregon

roamingoregon

Monkey
Apr 10, 2004
250
0
Wilsonville
all bars with break. It's just at how many cycles before they go. Maybe someone should design bars that have a counter and says how many cycles it's been through and the number of cycles the bar are rated for. no more guessing and no more broken bars with bad results...
 
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