[jdcamb]

Went riding today at one of our favorite places Spencer Park above Honoeye Lake. Kind of slippery from yesterdays days rain. We decided that a we should take it easy and pick our lines. First lap went fine. Ran into Echo and Victor from Trailblazers . Rode with them for a while. We got back to the truck regrouped and headed out for our second lap. Halfway down this crazy slick downhill (Rattler) my bud Mark clipped a tree and his Carbon bar just clean sheared off. He then slammed into the tree and tumbled down the hill. He is very lucky to have not gotten injured. Just knocked the wind out of him. He is fine but had to walk back up the hill and then back to his truck. Needless to say his day was over. Kind of weird as soon as he left us the sun came out.... Here is the pic.....jdcamb

 

[jdcamb]

Temporary fix??

 

[jdcamb]

Mark all smiles afterwards....

 

[jdcamb]

Conditions were kind of sloppy so I didn't take any trail pics. Its Mud season for sure. Still fun though!

Token muddy bike pic....

 

[Lefty]

Snap. Yeah i would do that to. A brench in it..for temporary fix.

And it even was a Easton Monkeylite sl. Thank goodness, they have a full lifetime warranty.

 

[Rip]

Damn

 

[splat]

WOW ! How fast was he going when he hit the tree ?

 

[jdcamb]

Originally posted by splat
WOW ! How fast was he going when he hit the tree ?

In my opinion... Crazy fast for the conditions. It was slick as snot and it is a super rooty downhill. You can fly down it when it is dry... But when wet... Well you gotta use your best judgement sometimes.....jdcamb

 

[Echo]

Yikes! That's about the worst trail I can think of for that to happen! Although I make it a point to not clip trees

 

[Echo]

Oh and nice seein' you fellas with your gaggle of Ellsworths out there

 

[jdcamb]

Originally posted by Echo
Oh and nice seein' you fellas with your gaggle of Ellsworths out there

Yeah we were out in full force today.....

More!

 

[jdcamb]

Another dirty Id!

 

[Skookum]

Gotta protect them knuckles, bar ends, carbon fiber knuck protecter gloves and/or tough brake levers have or could have helped me when clipping a tree.

i've never thought of carbon fiber handlebars as a good idea.....

 

[HRDTLBRO]

Wow, that sucks. Those damn Hope levers really make carbon weak. My lust for Hopes will be limited to that, hope and lust, those things are sweet but damn exensive! Is he going to get a second carbon bar, or switch to aluminum?

 

[Nate at RIT]

Yeah I've broken a CF handlebar before. It was a crazy endo, probably would've snapped a AL bar too. We were 15 miles from the car though, so I just ziptied it to the other side (it broke right by the stem), and I had to shift and brake with only hand. I just hung onto the stem with my other hand. It was actually pretty fun

 

[Lefty]

Originally posted by HRDTLBRO
Wow, that sucks. is he going to get a second carbon bar, or switch to aluminum?

I love my Protapers..

 

[johnbryanpeters]

What's the device on the bars inside of the shifter that looks somewhat like a spinning reel?

Iggerant

 

[splat]

Originally posted by johnbryanpeters
What's the device on the bars inside of the shifter that looks somewhat like a spinning reel?

Iggerant

Looks like a Bell to me

 

[The Jinx]

Must be the bell on the handlebar the caused of it!....

 

[LordOpie]

Originally posted by Skookum
Gotta protect them knuckles, bar ends, carbon fiber knuck protecter gloves and/or tough brake levers have or could have helped me when clipping a tree.

I second bar ends that wrap around in front. People give me crap for putting 'em on a riserbar, but I would've broken my fingers 3x by now.

 

[N8 v2.0]

Carbon fiber + MTB'ing =

 

[golgiaparatus]

Originally posted by Skookum
i've never thought of carbon fiber handlebars as a good idea.....

WORD! I'll never have them on my ride.

However, I will say, that is the first snappage I have seen from a pair of carbon bars. THe thing is thats what scares me, carbon fiber may very rarely brake, but when it does it really bad as opposed to aluminum that will give yoou a little warning by bending or denting or something.

 

[jdcamb]

Originally posted by golgiaparatus
....as opposed to aluminum that will give yoou a little warning by bending or denting or something.

Not always. Sometimes it just snaps off too. But Carbon Fiber bars on the other hand just snapped off in the 2 times I have personally witnessed them fail. I would never use a CF handlebar myself.....jdcamb

 

[JRB]

Originally posted by Lefty
Snap. Yeah i would do that to. A brench in it..for temporary fix.

And it even was a Easton Monkeylite sl. Thank goodness, they have a full lifetime warranty.

Mine didn't break, but has a crack. Called Easton and they said that since I think it was a crash, there would be some discount at best. I am not spending the $10 to ship it back. I like carbon, but don't like throwing $100 down not knowing if they will replace it.

 

[Serial Midget]

Thank god the dingy bell survived -


Oh...and that he was not hurt.

 

[RhinofromWA]

Originally posted by LordOpie
I second bar ends that wrap around in front. People give me crap for putting 'em on a riserbar, but I would've broken my fingers 3x by now.

You need some of these...

 

[Horrendous Hack]

What actual bars were they?

 

[stuntmatty]

Dang! Glad he wasn't hurt.

 

[LordOpie]

Originally posted by RhinofromWA
You need some of these...

but I actually use my bar-ends for different hand positions when climbing.

 

[RhinofromWA]

Originally posted by LordOpie

but I actually use my bar-ends for different hand positions when climbing.

Well I can see a few different positions on these "bark busters"

 

[LordOpie]

Originally posted by RhinofromWA
Well I can see a few different positions on these "bark busters"

they look way more stylish than mine, but have you used them? Cuz they don't look like they're designed for hand positions, but strictly for protection. They look like they'd get very uncomfortable quickly.

 

[Echo]

All you folks who refuse to use carbon handlebars, please feel free to send them to me instead of throwing them in the trash

 

[binary visions]

Originally posted by Echo
All you folks who refuse to use carbon handlebars, please feel free to send them to me instead of throwing them in the trash

Yep, you can send 'em to me too.

Nothing wrong with carbon + MTB'ing. Any impact that will snap off a carbon bar would snap off a similar aluminum bar too. The drawback to carbon is you need to watch for deep scratches, but if you keep an eye out for those, you're all set.

It's kinda rediculous, people look at a picture like this and say OMG I'D NEVER USE CARBON FOR MTB'ING. If it were a picture of an aluminum bar, with the exact same breakage, there would be no such comments.

Aluminum doesn't give you all this warning people talk about - it snaps. If you guys were riding around with half inch thick steel handlebars, okay, well that'll give you some warning.

 

[RhinofromWA]

Originally posted by LordOpie
they look way more stylish than mine, but have you used them? Cuz they don't look like they're designed for hand positions, but strictly for protection. They look like they'd get very uncomfortable quickly.

No they aren't meant to hold on to. They are a thick bar of aluminum bent and bolted to a MC H-bar to protect knuckles levers etc from trees.

I just thought of them because of all the tree slapping everyone was talking about.

 

[jdcamb]

Originally posted by binary visions
Yep, you can send 'em to me too.

Nothing wrong with carbon + MTB'ing. Any impact that will snap off a carbon bar would snap off a similar aluminum bar too. The drawback to carbon is you need to watch for deep scratches, but if you keep an eye out for those, you're all set.

It's kinda rediculous, people look at a picture like this and say OMG I'D NEVER USE CARBON FOR MTB'ING. If it were a picture of an aluminum bar, with the exact same breakage, there would be no such comments.

Aluminum doesn't give you all this warning people talk about - it snaps. If you guys were riding around with half inch thick steel handlebars, okay, well that'll give you some warning.

If it was a aluminum bar I would have posted that too. IMO aluminum is less susceptible to scoring (whether by clamping components on to it or crashing) which is what usually breaks a carbon fiber bar. They even have guidelines on how to mount things to your bar and inspecting it after a crash (Easton does atleast).

Other then it being lighter and reducing transmitted shock what are the advantages to a carbon fiber bar? I have never seen a aluminum bar break at the outside, almost always at the stem. Whereas the 2 carbon fiber bars I have seen break have been at the outside (usually at the brake lever). I can't afford carbon fiber bars so that choice is made for me.....jdcamb

 

[binary visions]

Originally posted by jdcamb
If it was a aluminum bar I would have posted that too.

I didn't mean to imply that you wouldn't have posted the picture, I meant the reaction to it would have been far different.

IMO aluminum is less susceptible to scoring (whether by clamping components on to it or crashing) which is what usually breaks a carbon fiber bar.

Oh, there's no opinion about it - aluminum is much less susceptible to scoring, which is why I mentioned the scratch thing above. It is not for those who throw their handlebars on, torque the stem on until it feels "really tight", then forget about it.

Other then it being lighter and reducing transmitted shock what are the advantages to a carbon fiber bar? I have never seen a aluminum bar break at the outside, almost always at the stem. Whereas the 2 carbon fiber bars I have seen break have been at the outside (usually at the brake lever). I can't afford carbon fiber bars so that choice is made for me.....jdcamb

Carbon has the two benifits you mentioned, plus there are some strength advantages - I don't have the numbers, but carbon fiber is stronger than aluminum.

99% of the time if a carbon fiber bar breaks at the brake lever, it's an installation error - usually someone torquing the brake levers down too hard.