Got into the accident during today's ride. Nothing to serious, just stupid tricycle driver being oblivious, so we collided and I fell off the bike. I was okay, checked that the bike was visually okay and that all was working properly. Only after some time I've noticed that the right side of the handlebar is slightly less hard than usual, so after coming back home took off the bartape and found what you can see on the photo.
Never broke anything carbon before. Trying to understand – is this completely wasted or there is a hope? Even if it can be repaired – would it worth it?
And while I understand that this is not normal state, still interested – how risky would it be to ride with it couple of times until I install the new one?
by Arkafon_
14 Comments
not worth it, new bars time
Nope. Can’t risk your safety while riding with a crack bar, especially that wide. New bar i guess. Use aluminum for cheaper option instead of cheap carbon.
Yea theres isnt much weight savings in carbon anyway
Carbonrepair shops wont touch handlebars, and if they would the price would be higher than new once.
it’s toast. throw it away, unless you’re suicidal
Don’t ride that! it can fail pretty dramatically. I would give a carbon repair shop a call maybe they can give you a quote. But it’s definitely repairable.
Would you ride with a cracked helmet? Would you ride at night with lights that could die any minute?
New bars aren’t even very expensive, as bike components go. Maybe if you want a fancy integrated bar and stem, but otherwise. If you don’t mind alloy bars, at least to get by for now, deda sell some good options really cheap.
Don’t ride with broken bars, no matter how well you think you’ve repaired them. It could literally kill you if they fail on a steep descent or on a busy road or something!
If carbon breaks once it’s irreparable
I was in a large group ride sprint around 20 years ago and I hear this loud crashing behind me. I quickly looked back to see a guy sliding on his stomach on the road and smashing his face into the curb. Turns out his aluminum bar snapped at the stem when he sprinted. We got him an ambulance and continued the ride. Later he speculated that the bars probably got compromised in a previous crash. The crazy part was I was actually riding my race MTB on that ride because I had a cracked stem on my road bike. He asked me why I had the MTB at the start of the ride and I said there’s no way I’d ride the cracked stem, lol.
No, it is not smart to repair safety critical parts that can easily be replaced, that would be true if this was carbon or another material.
If this was a carbon fishing rod you might get it repaired but a fishing rod is not going to send you face first into the ground if the repair on it fails
As we say in Australia;
Yeah , no
Just go new bars
Ask the CEO of Oceangate…. Dang mouth-breather
Carbon bars are relatively cheap compared to other carbon components…..get it replaced. That’s cooked.
Don’t ride this any more. Your handlebar could snap off any moment.
Carbon repair shops could fix it but they likely won’t accept it and even if they did it would be more expensive than a new one.
Time to buy new handlebars.
If you really need your bike fast, then just buy any handlebar that will fit from your LBS while you order and wait for your desired carbon handlebar.