velonista

Yet another real-life account of a catastrophic failure of a well-known branded carbon fiber product:

Just one more in a litany of such real-life failures. We hear all the time about these same kinds of real-life failures of name brand carbon fiber stuff. While - for all the alleged "non-existent testing" Chinese carbon fiber bike makers are accused of - the only thing we ever hear of the so called "untested" Chrek or ChipoRini or SpeChiRized reproductions is third-, fourth-, fifth-hand urban myths.

I myself can attest to the durability of cheap Chinese carbon fiber bars I bought through aliexpress. They survived a mega G-force SLAM! to the ground, unscathed!

The take-away there for me is: in regard to Chinese carbon products versus carbon products from anywhere else, there is NO correlation between price and fallibility.

"Why are you even posting this?", I hear you ask. Well, consider it a Public Service Announcement for the edification of the blinkered, the naive and the misinformed

hammond9705

The take away there for me is to buy aluminum bars.....

BillyD

Chin-strap fastened, locked n' loaded.

Rowan

Really, you need to take the post on the other forum with a grain of salt. There is no explanation of where the break was. If the bars had been fitted with only 200 miles on them, then I would suggest one of the possible scenarios involved human error in fitting them... likely that the trusty torque wrench wasn't used, and the face plate was overtightened enough to cause crush damage without the owner realising it.

Still, your thread-starter was a good attempt at justifying your buying choices.

shelbyfv

This thread shouldn't go anywhere. So tiresome, these generic Chinese fanboys, and so defensive. If you like them, ride them! In my experience, there is a place for every economic level in cycling. If cheap is what you can afford and it gets you on the bike, it's all good.

gc3

WhyFi

*yawn*

BillyD

RollCNY

I admit it: I blinked.

kiwimatt

Cheap Chinese cages can't kill you.

David Bierbaum

To be fair, the brand name stuff is probably over-engineered for the weight-weenie crowd, and the cheap stuff is sturdier and heavier.

Let's keep that tank driving toward the impending threadpocolypse!

gc3

rjones28 

Custom steel rebar. I'm having my next bar made from heavy-duty steel, just to be safe.

fuel0707

One unsubstantiated claim with no background on the assembly of bike in question? Sounds like a strong basis for a recall and also an immediate ban on the importation of any and all foreign-made products.

datlas 

The following video, inspired by the title of the thread, is going to be more entertaining than the thread:

LesterOfPuppets

We have a large pile of steel road bars in the back room of the shop, jonesey. Yours for the cost of shipping!

rpenmanparker 

Since the report is of the drop failing, I suspect the overtightened part was the brake-shift lever.

velonista

What you're really saying is there's a double-standard. If that post hadda been about a cheap Chinese carbon bar, stem, fork or frame, people would be all, "Tough! That's what you deserve for buying that untested Chinese crap! And I hope you were horribly injured to teach you a lesson!"

Ask yourself: Why is it that the majority of people who buy name brand retail-priced carbon fiber products would never concede that any failure of a cheap Chinese carbon handle bar, stem, fork or frame could be attributed to misuse or human error?

And I'll ask myself: Why - when presented with irrefutable evidence - do people get hostile and enraged at the person presenting the irrefutable evidence? Why do people always want to shoot the messenger?

M.J. has the best answer to my question:



The reason you suspect my post is an "...attempt at justifying [my] buying choices...", is because a lot of users of forums are seeking approval. They're dying to fit in. Many of them won't make a move unless they get comittee approval - from a forum of thousands - on decisions that they should arrive at only through subjective personal prefereence. A lot of people can't function without group-think. We agree on that point.

But I'm not that kinda guy. I don't long to belong. If there's a new bike part I want, I buy it (at the cheapest price I can find on aliexpress ). My own, independently-arrived-at, subjective personal preference is the only justification I need. The opinions of a billion strangers somewhere out in the ether plays NO part whatsoever in my buying decision. Trust me on that!

To paraphrase my "PSA" mission statement above: The point of me posting my original post, is to do my part in lifting the scales from peoples eyes.

rpenmanparker 

Cute, OP. I see what you did with the title there. I do love Queen.

Homebrew01

Or maybe the bars were counterfeit ?

v70cat

My Cervelo is made in China, maybe I should give it away and get a real steel bike.

rpenmanparker 

So they will see things as well as you do?

dmcdam

If you don't care what others think, why are you trying so hard to convince others to think the same way you do? I mean, your post above advocates people using their own personal preference to make buying decisions, then you criticize anyone who doesn't buy the same as you for somehow being duped.

Regarding Aliexpress, if you're so convinced it's all legit, why don't you buy one of those high quality Ultegta equipped $600 carbon bikes and if it's genuine, I'll gladly pay you $650 for it. Maybe even $700 for your troubles.

SpeshulEd 

This is my guess.

I have no issues with my 3t carbon bars, but I also know how to tighten nuts and bolts.

gc3

righty tighty, lefty loosey...