Lazyass

Watch: Mechanic snaps counterfeit handlebars with his bare hands - Cycling Weekly

Gaur

I wouldn't want him to do the same with my full priced carbon bar, nor would I bet a single coin that it wouldn't crack.

rpenmanparker 

And before we go any further, let's remember that counterfeit isn't the same as reputable no-name.

Lazyass

He did.

Dave Cutter

Doesn't that carbon stuff assplode on it own?

Lazyass

Reputable no name

rpenmanparker 

Perhaps reputable Chinese-made would be less humorous.

Trsnrtr

I have 44 cm Profile carbon bars on my tandem and fear for my life when using the drops. Things are so flexy compared to my K-Wings that I fear they are going to snap. If Profile bars are flexy, I can't imagine what counterfeits are like.

Trsnrtr

Only when exposed to sun light.

700

Or days with vowels in them...

exmechanic89

Not sure what to make of that video, I mean the guy is breaking the bars in a direction not likely to happen hitting potholes. Would it have snapped off with a similar amount of force applied in a more riding-like direction?

Be that as it may I'd be afraid to use knock-off carbon bars, personally - that is the no-name kind coming directly from China and often seen on eBay. Breaking the bars or stem suddenly could lead to catastrophic injuries, I'm just too scared to risk it.

TrojanHorse

Man, brits are strong.

2manybikes

When is he going to do a fork? A frame?

Sorry Rpen.

hooCycles

Food for thought:

Elastic modulus + Geometry --> Stiffness/Flexy-ness

Yield/ultimate strength + Geometry --> Strength/Permanently bent

Fracture toughness + Defects + Geometry --> Fracture (what we saw in the video)

Of course in CFRP the fibre orientation plays a large role in modulus, strength, and fracture toughness.


All I'm trying to get across is that I could make you a $5 handlebar made from glass that is much stiffer than any CFRP handlebar you can buy.

TimothyH

Although his hands were bare, he didn't "break it with his bare hands." He used his whole upper body.

And who pays $32.50 just to "take a closer look at some of the fake parts that he sees regularly on customer's bikes?" Aren't the parts on customer's bikes close enough for him to look at?

It says he repeated the test with name brand bars which didn't crack even though "much more force" was applied. How do they know how much force was applied? Guy looked like he was flexing pretty good on on the bars in the video.Buying parts from any given source is no guarantee that they will never fail.

I'm not saying that the bars weren't inferior. I do however, smell BS somewhere. At best the article is an exaggeration and extremely poorly written.

rpenmanparker 

Don't look at me. I don't have any Chinabike bars and stems. My Kestrel bars WERE easily crushed, however, at 4 Nm torque on the stem bolts.

Homebrew01

I still haven't figured out what's wrong with aluminum bars.

2manybikes

I was wondering if he would try your frame. or fork.

dksix

I bought a set of CF bars off eBay recently, they looked much like those. I haven't used them yet but I have to admit that I'm weary of them. Maybe it's just because they are CF and I'm used to aluminum but these feel thin and weak. My no name China wheels and my brand name CF frameset both feel very rigid and solid (though very light). I know CF can be laid to give increased stiffness in one direction while being somewhat flexible in another, which would lead me to believe that it would be stronger one direction than another. Could that be the case with the bars from the video?

Just on a side note, the bars that come stock on most Japanese MX bikes can be bent almost as easily as those CF bars broke. I've seen them bend from simple falling off the stand onto the floor and once bent the steel will fracture in the crease.

Jiggle

My counterfeits are still going strong, but they were 70 euros, and I didn't overtorque the brake lever causing a crack in that location which made snapping the bars a snap.

Dave Cutter

I've been thinking about this. I've had phonebooks around the house my entire life. I've never had one actually accidently rip in half on me. But apparently it does happen:

3alarmer

...I broke some aluminum bars on a PX-10 once. That was when I was dialing it up to 400 watts and doing something with the hammer. It frightened me considerably, but they folded rather than snapping, so maybe that's what saved me.

Lazyass

If you read the article in the link, he heard a crack when he was tightening the stem, not the brake lever. If you can crack carbon by tightening the brake lever then carbon is even worse than I thought haha

rpenmanparker 

I find that 2 Nm is more than enough torque to secure bars to an FSA OS-99 stem even without assembly paste. A mechanic I have known for about 30 years told me most torque specs are stupid high and largely ignored by the pros. The stem in question suggested 6 Nm, which did crack the Kestrel SL bars first time around. The replacements have been fine at the lower torque for years.

TenSpeedV2

I have frying pans at home.