Are Carbon bars ok?

[Seths Pool]

2 hours ago, throet said:

Definitely something to consider. Also I've looked at the Revolution Grips but can't bring myself to spend $90 for them. 

speaking of grips. the best grips on EARTH are the Ergon GS1 grips. it gives your hand/palm/wrist so much support, it feels like you're riding with a relaxed, open hands, rather than a death grip on a rubber coated pencil, basically makes hand fatigue completely disappear. I have them on all my bikes, including DH. basically everyone who ive gotten to try them has never gone back and now swears by them. especially for any bigger or older guys will probably see the most drastic difference in reduction of hand fatigue, but I recommend them to anyone.

 

[RidingAgain]

4 minutes ago, TheX said:

...until it isn't.

 

 

[RidingAgain]

I started using Ergon many years ago after suffering from hand numbness (had a fall back in mid-90s where I landed my hypothenar eminence area of my right hand on the sharp edge of a rock... Suffered from numbness ever since). Read reviews and thought I'd give it a try. It worked... Bought a set for my wife when I got her into mtbing... Been using them ever since... One of the best $30+ investments I've made.

This is the one I use...

Edited September 5, 2018 by RidingAgain

[olddbrider]

4 hours ago, Anita Handle said:

For those seeking vibration dampening, have you considered the Spank Vibrocore?

 

That sounds like something I wouldn't want my wife to find out I bought...

[Seths Pool]

11 minutes ago, olddbrider said:

That sounds like something I wouldn't want my wife to find out I bought...

sounds like you and your wife need to spice shit up! 😛 

[throet]

3 hours ago, Seths Pool said:

speaking of grips. the best grips on EARTH are the Ergon GS1 grips. it gives your hand/palm/wrist so much support, it feels like you're riding with a relaxed, open hands, rather than a death grip on a rubber coated pencil, basically makes hand fatigue completely disappear. I have them on all my bikes, including DH. basically everyone who ive gotten to try them has never gone back and now swears by them. especially for any bigger or older guys will probably see the most drastic difference in reduction of hand fatigue, but I recommend them to anyone.

 

Remember you gave me a brand new pair a couple of years ago, and I did swear by them for a year or so. In fact they eliminated some of the arm issues I was having at the time. I even bought a pair of the GX1's that have a slightly smaller wing and used them on my new bike for a good while. As my riding evolved though, I found that the wing was getting in the way of getting the right grip for certain maneuvers and went back to using wide diameter, rounded grips. I'll probably try the Ergon GA3s next time I need new grips, since they have just a very slight wing on them. I still have the GS1 and GX1 grips as well though in case I decide to revert back to them.  

[Chief]

I have the GA3's on my bike and like them a lot. As far as hand and finger numbness I attribute that to not having having enough back sweep on my handlebars. The less sweep on your bars the more of an angle your wrist has when holding the bars.

[Cafeend]

For those seeking vibration dampening, have you considered the Spank Vibrocore? They're aluminium with a dampening foam injected into them. Probably my next handlebar purchase.
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/spank-spike-800-race-vibrocore-handlebar-review-2014.html
 

I picked these up the last time my family CFO went out of town. I like them and no more shoulder or hand pain

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk

[throet]

6 hours ago, RidingAgain said:

Came across this...

(Not sure what happened... But if you click the FB logo at the top right corner it will open a tab to the person's comment).
 

 

I think the scariest part of this story is that you can get a traumatic brain injury falling from a seated biking position to the ground even with a helmet on (assume of course that he was wearing a helmet). People fall to the ground for any number of reasons, breaking handlebars probably being among the least frequent causes. The reality is that MTB is a sport that can cause you to fall to the ground, or worse off the side of a cliff, at almost anytime with potentially severe consequences. Fortunately most falls result in only superficial cuts and abrasions or non-threatening bumps to the helmet. Less frequently falls result in lacerations requiring treatment or broken bones (mostly clavicles and ribs) or joint injuries (mostly AC separations). And even less frequently falls result in traumatic injuries such as what is depicted here. Of those falls resulting in traumatic, life/limb threatening injuries, my guess is that going OTB or losing control while getting air is the prevailing cause, probably even exponentially more than failing carbon parts. I only say all of this to keep things in perspective, i.e. even if you run out and replace your carbon bars today, something else has a much more probable cause for killing or maiming you whilst riding your bike.   

[throet]

43 minutes ago, Cafeend said:

I picked these up the last time my family CFO went out of town. I like them and no more shoulder or hand pain

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk
 

Nice! Were you able to "cook the books" to conceal your purchase? 

[AntonioGG]

3 hours ago, Chief said:

I have the GA3's on my bike and like them a lot. As far as hand and finger numbness I attribute that to not having having enough back sweep on my handlebars. The less sweep on your bars the more of an angle your wrist has when holding the bars.

Which fingers get numb on your hands?  Since I got my new-to-me bike with wider Enve bars, I suffer terribly with all the fingers and thumb except the pinky.  Looking at anatomy books, I figured the only place this can happen is at the shoulder or neck.

My old bike had a narrower bar, and I think more back sweep.

[RidingAgain]

4 hours ago, throet said:

...Of those falls resulting in traumatic, life/limb threatening injuries, my guess is that going OTB or losing control while getting air is the prevailing cause, probably even exponentially more than failing carbon parts. I only say all of this to keep things in perspective, i.e. even if you run out and replace your carbon bars today, something else has a much more probable cause for killing or maiming you whilst riding your bike.   

 

I'm thinking that what he was getting at is if using carbon... Check it regularly... And employ a system of buying new every two or three years... Simply because the weakness that could be in carbon parts can remain hidden, even to the most intense visual inspection (not x-ray type suff).

[RidingAgain]

I've been looking at extender for some time now... Just saw this...

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/ibis-introduces-adjustable-width-carbon-handlebar.html

[Bamwa]

Imma so scared, imma loosen everything on my carbon bars right now. If I go down it will because they rolled on some hard breaking on Endo Valley no cuz they got all snappy with me. To throat, I imagine the break would most likely occur landing some hella air not some other random time, but I guess Seth's broke some random time so who knows.

I'm so ghetto my carbon bars are wrapped in duct tape.

[Chief]

11 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

Which fingers get numb on your hands?  Since I got my new-to-me bike with wider Enve bars, I suffer terribly with all the fingers and thumb except the pinky.  Looking at anatomy books, I figured the only place this can happen is at the shoulder or neck.

My old bike had a narrower bar, and I think more back sweep.

About same as you. Sometimes it's worse then others. Usually goes away during ride. Like I said I blame the angle that my wrists are at. If you're sitting upright you'll see that your wrists are put at hard angle, but if you lower your body more over the bars you'll see that when your elbows move outward the angle at your wrists becomes less severe. The downside to too much back sweep is steering input becomes weird like a boat tiller because it starts to move your hands behind your stem if you're running a short stem.

[throet]

11 hours ago, RidingAgain said:

I'm thinking that what he was getting at is if using carbon... Check it regularly... And employ a system of buying new every two or three years... Simply because the weakness that could be in carbon parts can remain hidden, even to the most intense visual inspection (not x-ray type suff).

Yeah I got that too, but like others, he seems to be using a very horrific experience to scare others into action. My point, which probably should have been more concise, is that nobody I've seen has presented real statistical data showing what the likelihood is of getting seriously injured due to a carbon failure. Even the author noted that he will never know what exactly caused the failure. If you employ a system of date stamping, what is the probability of failure 1 week prior to the replacement date vs. 1 week after? Guess I'm just not convinced yet to run out and replace my 2-yr old, banged up stuff, which of course will make me look really foolish if I end up seriously hurt as a result. 

[throet]

9 hours ago, Bamwa said:

To throet, I imagine the break would most likely occur landing some hella air not some other random time, but I guess Seth's broke some random time so who knows.

I wasn't even trying to speculate on what would cause them to break - just what scenarios could lead to the worst crashes, regardless of the exact cause. And "landing some hella air" would definitely be one of those, especially for people doing it above their pay grade.   

[AustinBike]

Maybe this belongs in the ghetto thread, but when you break a handlebar in the middle of a ride, find a stick that is about the same diameter as the bar. Put one end in the bar and then stick the broken piece on the other. It will not bear any weight but it will allow you to steer your way back to the trailhead.

[Cafeend]

19 hours ago, throet said:

Nice! Were you able to "cook the books" to conceal your purchase? 

She is driving a new car. Life is about compromises

 

[Chief]

I have a set of 3T carbon bars that got damaged due to a brake clamp not being as round as it should be. I replaced them immediately. After replacing them I tried breaking the damaged bars by hitting them on the floor of my garage and the brick corner of my house. They would not break. Once again I believe that these incidents are preceded by damage and ignorance. If carbon is failing it will usually be making noise before it happens. I had a carbon seat post on my road bike that was damaged and I wasn't aware until the post started creaking. Not saying we should ride with damaged carbon parts but carbon is exceptionally strong.

[Ridenfool]

For anyone suffering numbness the Ergons are great. That didn't quite do it for me.

The next step was purchasing On One Mary bars. These are the most comfortable bars, as they allow hands and wrists to interface with the bar in the most natural position. If you extend your arms and let the hands show you where they want to be that will be the way they land on these bars.

I've run them on three or four frames now, with the Ergons. The occurrences of numbness has been reduced significantly and control is improved as well. Hard to find in the colonies, but well worth looking for, or place an order for them from the UK.

... and no, they are not carpet fiber, they are Aluminium (UK speak).

 

Edited September 6, 2018 by Ridenfool

[AntonioGG]

3 hours ago, Ridenfool said:

For anyone suffering numbness the Ergons are great. That didn't quite do it for me.

The next step was purchasing On One Mary bars. These are the most comfortable bars, as they allow hands and wrists to interface with the bar in the most natural position. If you extend your arms and let the hands show you where they want to be that will be the way they land on these bars.

I've run them on three or four frames now, with the Ergons. The occurrences of numbness has been reduced significantly and control is improved as well. Hard to find in the colonies, but well worth looking for, or place an order for them from the UK.

... and no, they are not carpet fiber, they are Aluminium (UK speak).

 

Sorry, couldn't resist:

[AustinBike]

I run these (aluminum) on my urban singlespeed:

https://goo.gl/images/mdMwAA

 

[Ridenfool]

Yeah, I dig the Pee Wee street cred they give me.

After riding with them for years, trying to ride with straight bars is like a form of torture now.

Those AB posted are bent about the same, as are the Surly's on that link. I suspect that any of those would be an improvement over the status quo.

Edited September 7, 2018 by Ridenfool

[RidingAgain]

I was just looking for a short stem on eBay and saw some no-name items from China. Got me thinking about stem breakage. Only had this happen once to me — a Thomson faceplate broke by where the screw hole is, tighten too much possibly — but a Google search turns up all sorts of stem breaks. Anyone have this happen to them?