Hey what's up fellow cyclists!
Just ended a customer service chat session with Bontrager customer service but unfortunately there wasn't a clear answer for this. I hope someone here either with a similar situation as mine, or with materials engineering knowledge can shed some light on this:
A couple years back I bought a set of alloy Bontrager RL stem (100 mm) and handlebar for my hardtail mountain bike.
Now, as I also use my bike for commuting duties, I sometimes carry loads hanging from my bike's handlebar. The most I've carried is
10 kg (5 kg on each handlebar end). Most of the times I'm only carrying say 3 kg on only one side.
I've grown a bit concerned that by doing this I may be surpassing my handlebar's or stem's (or both) weight tolerance, and as I also ride my bike on trails, I want to make sure I haven't compromised those components' safety by carrying excessive loads on them when commuting. I don't want the handlebars or stem snapping on me during a fast descent.
I asked Bontrager customer service what weight carrying or load limit do the RL handlebar and RL stem have, but their only answer was:
"
we rate them as able to handle all normal riding conditions of a rider up to 300lbs, as that is the max weight limit for our bikes. Unfortunately we do not have a specific weight limit for our stems, nor we do specifically test them for bike packing or hauling purposes"
So what is your opinion on this? I would suppose the load forces applied on a handlebar are pretty big during trail, big step descents, and they are manufactured to perfectly sustain without fatigue those forces, but then again I really don't know how does that compare to loading a CONSTANT weight of more than 5 kg on the bars' ends.
Thanks for reading!
EDIT: My body weight is 84 kg.