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Cutting a carbon handlebar
A friend of mine is giving me an Easton EC90 carbon mtb handlebar. It
hasn't been used but is slightly damaged at one end because he tried to put bar ends on it before knowing that you can't for that model. Anyways, its useless to him because he insists on barends and ended up buying another bar. The bar is a 23" and my bar is 22", so I was thinking of taking the bar and cutting a half inch off of each side and swapping them since it would amount to a free upgrade. He said the damaged part was less than a half an inch so it should workout. My current bar is fine but is one that would be found in the economy bin. Is it OK to cut a carbon bar, assuming I don't screw it up with a masking tape hack saw approach? I googled this and found something about moving the location of the brake clamps and shifters to a location on the bar that wasn't as strong, but it seems that shifters and brake clamps location would vary from brand to brand anyway? Any insight would be appreciated. Sarcasm is OK too, but should be of fine quality. Chris |
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#2
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Cutting a carbon handlebar
Chris Nelson wrote: A friend of mine is giving me an Easton EC90 carbon mtb handlebar. It hasn't been used but is slightly damaged at one end because he tried to put bar ends on it before knowing that you can't for that model. Anyways, its useless to him because he insists on barends and ended up buying another bar. The bar is a 23" and my bar is 22", so I was thinking of taking the bar and cutting a half inch off of each side and swapping them since it would amount to a free upgrade. He said the damaged part was less than a half an inch so it should workout. My current bar is fine but is one that would be found in the economy bin. Is it OK to cut a carbon bar, assuming I don't screw it up with a masking tape hack saw approach? I googled this and found something about moving the location of the brake clamps and shifters to a location on the bar that wasn't as strong, but it seems that shifters and brake clamps location would vary from brand to brand anyway? Any insight would be appreciated. Sarcasm is OK too, but should be of fine quality. Chris Here's an article, from Easton, that covers your question: http://www.eastonbike.com/downloadab...-05-Carbon.pdf Make sure you wear a mask and use good ventilation. Important. |
#3
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Cutting a carbon handlebar
Chris Nelson wrote:
A friend of mine is giving me an Easton EC90 carbon mtb handlebar. It hasn't been used but is slightly damaged at one end because he tried to put bar ends on it before knowing that you can't for that model. Anyways, its useless to him because he insists on barends and ended up buying another bar. The bar is a 23" and my bar is 22", so I was thinking of taking the bar and cutting a half inch off of each side and swapping them since it would amount to a free upgrade. He said the damaged part was less than a half an inch so it should workout. My current bar is fine but is one that would be found in the economy bin. Is it OK to cut a carbon bar, assuming I don't screw it up with a masking tape hack saw approach? I googled this and found something about moving the location of the brake clamps and shifters to a location on the bar that wasn't as strong, but it seems that shifters and brake clamps location would vary from brand to brand anyway? Any insight would be appreciated. Sarcasm is OK too, but should be of fine quality. The crushed end of the bar may have compromised the integrity of the bar further in, invisibly delaminating, causing crack propogation that may result in catastrophic failure during a hard downhill run, causing failure of the handlebar and subsequent personal injury and possibly death. I'd ride it anyways. -- Phil, Squid-in-Training |
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Cutting a carbon handlebar
"Chris Nelson" wrote in message
ups.com... Is it OK to cut a carbon bar, assuming I don't screw it up with a masking tape hack saw approach? Any insight would be appreciated. Sarcasm is OK too, but should be of fine quality. My experience is rather more with carbon kayak paddle shafts, which are supplied as a given length then cut as required. At the time I last did it, I was at college with access to the aeronautical eng. machine shop with a diamond cutting wheel, but I'm pretty sure I did a home job about 13 years ago without. I'd therefore say it'd be just fine to cut it down. But don't expect any warning of failure, it's brittle stuff. |
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Cutting a carbon handlebar
Phil wrote about carbon fiber "invisibly delaminating"
Simon Cooper wrote "But don't expect any warning of failure, it's brittle stuff." Sounds like a lousy material to make bicycles out of if there is no conclusive way to qualify the stuff for riding. |
#6
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Cutting a carbon handlebar
Chris Nelson wrote:
Phil wrote about carbon fiber "invisibly delaminating" Simon Cooper wrote "But don't expect any warning of failure, it's brittle stuff." Sounds like a lousy material to make bicycles out of if there is no conclusive way to qualify the stuff for riding. But it's a good way to get consumers to pay $$$ for plastic bikes. |
#7
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Cutting a carbon handlebar
"Zog The Undeniable" wrote in message
news:43f0d346.0@entanet... Chris Nelson wrote: Phil wrote about carbon fiber "invisibly delaminating" Simon Cooper wrote "But don't expect any warning of failure, it's brittle stuff." Sounds like a lousy material to make bicycles out of if there is no conclusive way to qualify the stuff for riding. But it's a good way to get consumers to pay $$$ for plastic bikes. It's quite possible to check the material out, but most people don't have an ultrasonic or x-ray based bit of testing kit around... I also don't doubt that anyone still in business is adequately over-engineering their wares for public use. If it does start to delaminate, it should start to get more flexible. Maybe you'd detect it... At the end of the day, that situation isn't so different than the way aluminium cranks fail after cracking first (that site of Jobst's has a good description). But well made carbon shouldn't spontaneously delaminate. |
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