Carbon handlebars

evad

Likes Bikes
Looking for some light bars to upgrade the kids bikes both girls 6 & 10, found theses on Ebay.

www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-MTB-Carbon-Fiber-Bike-Handlebar-Mountain-Road-Cycling-Bicycle-Riser-Bars-A5/282581115485?hash=item41cb25a25d:m:m-eNH6E0SeGLXZgdAjnbUag

I've been researching horror stories on here and other sites regarding guys having horrific failures of the generic bars but these ones are $7 more and have extra brand stickers on them!

There's a thread from a couple of years back mentioning light bicycle manufacturing some but couldn't find anything on their sight, discontinued?

www.rotorburn.com/forums/index.php?threads/carbon-handlebar-stem-seatpost-from-ebay.289429/page-2

Anyone have anything nice to say about these, both kids ride off road with small jumps and stuff but I'm not imagining they create excessive force. I wouldn't ride them myself so I guess that should be my answer but thought I would throw it out there.

Looking for budget minded suggestions, don't have to be wide.
 

redbruce

Eats Squid
Irrespective of the risk with cheap carbon, carbon will take less abuse than aluminium.

By that I mean general scratching and point impact, etc things that will cause carbon failure, and kids are more likely to inflict on then.

Coupled with the risk of cheap carbon, and well....

If I wouldn't run them myself, I wouldn't put my kids on them.

Plenty of cheap aluminium around. Keep an eye out for second hand.
 
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mark22

Likes Dirt
Unless you have heaps of spares (kids) ...I wouldn't touch em, get old allys and cut em down to suit. Glad to see you wouldn't ride with em yourself though.
 

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
They would probably be fine and I see you point with lightweight kids riding them versus a heavy assed parent but some of these bars are just as heavy as their alu equivalents and these saying they are 120g +-20g would be the 660mm flat bars, the 720mm risers would be a fair bit heavier I would think

My boys run PRO components alu bars and posts and they are no light weight items, a better wheelset and well thought out tyre choice would make more difference than risking it with these.

BTW I have a 27.2mm Chi generic cheap seatpost that I ran on my singlespeed for quite a while with no issues, dont know where it is now but IIRC it was about $12-15 quite a few years back, still got it somewhere.
 

evad

Likes Bikes
Maybe I worded that poorly.

Has anyone actually tried the ebay carbon bars in the above link? How are they?

I would ride a light bicycle carbon bar, I've hammered their rims and had no issue but they don't appear on their website anymore.

Any recommendations for bars under $100 I'm trying to shave weight without the enve price tag?

Cheers
 

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
If you keep an eye out, you can get 'run out' brand carbon bars for under a hundy. Big difference though to $25
 

evad

Likes Bikes
If you keep an eye out, you can get 'run out' brand carbon bars for under a hundy. Big difference though to $25
Yeah I know, and I need 2 sets as the wife takes a dim view of favoritism. I've been looking at some second hand ones but I'm not sure that it's not a bigger risk than new Chinese stuff. You know how your expected price point can keep rising with this stuff.

The LB ones sounded good at around the $30 mark + postage but seem to not do them anymore.

I'm just at work killing time on a Sunday arvo buying bike bits and thought I'd throw it out there to see if anyone knows of suitable options.

I see your point with the decent alloys stuff not being much heavier, I think half the stuff they put on kids bikes is made of lead!
 

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
I've had LB rims and have many sets of Nextie rims, they make awesome wheelsets. I would not be surprised if the bars and seatpost are made 'next door' and sold by above company, not that the quality would be sub-standard, would just not like to be regretting it if something happened.

I feel your dilemma, I would also like to lighten my boys cockpit... seems strange when adding a 400g dropper post to shave 50g on a set of bars ;)
 

The Duckmeister

Has a juicy midrange
Most of the horror stories about carbon are frankly complete bullshit. Yes it will break rather than bend and stay bent (but it will bend first) like aluminium, but unless it takes a seriously massive hit, it will absolutely NOT just snap. Carbon components are made up of a considerable number of layers, laid in different directions, so they reinforce each other to an extent. A carbon breakage, unless the hit is massive enough for it to be instant at the time of impact, will fail progressively, giving plenty of warning that it is going.
 

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
Dunno Ducky, carbon fibre just bends catastrophically.

Some Chi carbon have no research, engineering, testing or QI, It can be straight CF tubing that is no lighter than basic alu, 1800g frames that are "CARBON' but a carefully worked out steel frame can be basically the same weight (my Indy fab is 1900g), nevermind the inconsistencies. Then from the same factory, strict QI is applied which makes some of the mosts expensive frames out there now.

When say, Syntace make a 200g bar at $200, at a certain spec, then the same looking bar appears on eBay for $50... why is it there. Might only be an imperfection, might be something else.

Yes I agree the expensive one may break before the Chi one... who knows, maybe piece of mind is keeping us buying brand names... gotta love marketing.

As I said above, I have a Chi no name 27.2 post from many years ago, still going strong.... just went down to the garage an hour ago to grab some beers, its on my Pub-Bike which I rode in Derby and round Tassis last year, it was on my singlespeed before that, still rock solid !
 
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teK--

Eats Squid
I think it comes down to Luck of the draw... The QC on anything but the most expensive and top end carbon is insufficient imho. Even then, do companies like Enve scan their products to ensure there are no voids or layup errors?

I don't think so, and hence they over design to make up for minor defects which inevitably occur, so there is a margin of error.

I've seen enough carbon bars snap JRA (prob some pre existing crash damage accumulated over time) that I don't think I'll go back to them any time soon. Have used 3 carbon bars previously (but not broken any) so can't say I didn't give it a shot.
 

Kerplunk

Likes Bikes and Dirt
A mates aluminum seat post snapped off jra... Left a sharp metal shard just below at his arse on a descent..
It was already fractured but he didn't know.. I reckon most jra carbon/aluminum failure is from previous damage..
I also cracked an alum road bike frame at the seat collar that was holding a carbon post. The post was fked from slipping around and ground out heap of the carbon but it didn't snap..
Suppose what i'm saying is everything breaks.. When I switched to carbon bars I waited for a crc run out and picked up some easton 35mm bars for $160.. Bars is not somewhere I would I would punt on a no name chi product.
 
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