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Old August 6th 19, 06:33 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Frank Krygowski[_4_]
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Posts: 10,538
Default Handebar broke off - nasty cash

On 8/5/2019 4:20 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, August 4, 2019 at 5:16:31 PM UTC-7, Andre Jute wrote:
On Sunday, August 4, 2019 at 5:09:13 PM UTC+1, AMuzi wrote:
On 8/4/2019 10:14 AM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Saturday, August 3, 2019 at 11:31:40 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
Folks,

Had a nasty crash about three months ago. Long story short my handlebar
broke without any warning. There was no cause such as a speed bump or
pothole.

http://analogconsultants.com/ng/bike/Handlebar1.jpg

The handlebar was not cheap, an ITM Mondial. It seems they botched the
design in that they used a non-coated steel stiffener tube in the
center. This corroded the aluminum from the inside out, interestingly in
riding direction. Possibly because that's where the headwinds are
hitting it and maybe cause condensation:

http://analogconsultants.com/ng/bike/Handlebar1.jpg

Luckily it didn't happen 1/2h earlier where I was coming down a steep
hill at more than 40mph, with a rocky drainage ditch. It happened at a
leisurely travel speed of 15-17mph. Thanks to the fact that it was a
very wide bike lane I had space to roll and at the end I skidded to
avoid traffic. In the lane I'd have crashed into the path of vehicles.
About the only body part that wasn't hurt was my head, thanks to the helmet.

http://analogconsultants.com/ng/bike/Helmet1.jpg

I am back in the saddle. I no longer trust aluminum and certainly not
any kind of plastic stuff so the road bike now has a flat steel MTB
handlebar. Put MeetLocks ergo handles on it, rides nicely.

As a side note I cycled by the crash site a week ago. I still saw the
scrape marks on the asphalt and debris from my bike which I cleaned up.
Interestingly all the blood was gone. Maybe a wild animal has licked it
clean.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Very sorry to hear of your injuries Joerg. Let me again mention a product called Second Skin that does a remarkable job of speeding healing and reducing pain.

Also again, Trek through Bontrager is presently making a helmet called "Wavecell" where the padding, instead of Styrofoam is a three-D printed padding. The original documentation stated that it provided 28 times more protection against concussion but the latest documentation now says 48 times. Being printed it is easily changed so perhaps that wasn't a writing error but actual improvement. A helmet cannot save your life, but it could make your life a whole lot easier if you avoid a serious concussion like I had.

I have looked at tests of aluminum and carbon fiber bars. Properly constructed, the carbon fiber bar has almost infinite fatigue resistance whereas an aluminum bar does not. Strangely enough a steel bar is even less if it is stressed in the fatigue zone. The problem is that usually steel or aluminum will bend in a collision whereas carbon fiber will break.

Watch yourself. We can do without losing members of this group that have good sense. We're so few.


In theory, in a perfect world, full of perfect (not human)
beings, sure.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=carbon+han...es&ia=ima ges

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971


Steel handlebars do me fine. I really fail to see that there's a problem with steel handlebars that glass threads in a resin matrix solves.

Andre Jute
Of course there is a place for useless premium-price products. Just don't expect me to buy them.


If you have the effective mass of a steel handlebar in carbon fiber you would have better reliability. It's just that CF is used to get less mass.


+1

--
- Frank Krygowski
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