The broke because of the crash or you crashed because it broke?
BreakfastShart on
Don’t blame carbon for your ignorance.
That’s a lightweight XC bar. Breaking in a crash doesn’t seem too surprising.
Paddock5280 on
Damn that’s a bummer but your stem faceplate looks incorrectly installed/torqued. That could certainly lead to a failure.
maniccanuck on
6nm. How many uga dugas is that. This is why you always torque carbon to specification. What brand was that?
aquatone61 on
I feel like some things just need to be metal.
epilepsyisdumb on
Uh… you know alloy handlebars usually snap when they fail too right??
Practical_Iron_5232 on
Ahem, Despite what everyone else is saying. FUCK CARBON. Overpriced,styrofoam with a heavy varnish, it only fails completely, never a bend, and its trash when it fails with no repair, plus its a great way to get really hurt during failure. Chromo or aluminum for me plz.
QLC459 on
That looks like you overtorqued the stem faceplate, aside from how buggered the faceplate is. I’m going to take a wild guess that you didn’t use a torque wrench?
angrypoohmonkey on
I wish I could show you all the aluminum alloys bars I’ve broken.
PonyThug on
So you incorrectly installed them, over torqued the piss outta the side that failed, and now are mad at a material in general instead of the installation, brand, model etc??
Ok cool?
Chokolite on
Just curious, how did you break it? I thought non cheap chinese carbon are stronger than aluminum.
Classic_Barnacle_844 on
Worst crash of my life was an aluminum handlebar that snapped right at the stem.
PaddleFishBum on
And here I am still riding on steel 🤘
Inevitable_Rock_2046 on
My buddy and I were riding DH at snowshoe, he followed me off the cupcake road gap. Upon landing his carbon bars (enve brand) broke immediately. Not near the stem/faceplate, but further outboard where the OD tapers down, broken on both sides. Several broken ribs from the crash. Carbon handlebars should exist in road and XC world only and I’ll die on that hill.
_FireWithin_ on
Never ever i would ride carbon bars (and cranks).
RoboJobot on
Yup, bars and cranks will always be metal on my bikes. I loved OneUp bars, but after mine got a chunk taken out of them in a minor crash they’re now in the junk box in my garage.
Northwindlowlander on
You can be completely confident here that the shop fitted the bar carelessly- check out the gaps at the faceplates. The fact that there’s a wide gap on one side and a narrow on the other tells you they weren’t paying much attention when they fitted it.
(for other people, these stems have 2 small faceplates rather than one big one)
Whether that was actually a problem, I can’t tell you. Some stems have pretty specific setup instructions, like “no gap on one side”, others don’t, I had a wee google and couldn’t find anything for this stem. And it’s completely possible that they fitted it carelessly and a bit ineptly but still got the torque settings right, some stems like this are completely agnostic about the gaps, fitting etc so it’s just cosmetic. But anyone paying attention and doing a careful job it it will make it equal, and anyone doing it for money should.
Aside but I bent a steel one like it was a twig and had a bruise shaped exactly like my flexstem in the middle of my chest for weeks. Anything can break if you hit it right.
Yougotthewronglad on
Over-torqued. Womp womp.
othegrouch on
Out of curiosity, what is the blue thing below the stem? I can’t figure it out. Is it related to the plastic ring on the right side of the stem?
In any case, looking at where it broke and the stem it seems like the shop crushed it. And it snapped.
Aluminum will fail in a similar manner if you fatigue it. You may see some cracks before it goes, but more often than not it will snap clear and without warning
19 Comments
The broke because of the crash or you crashed because it broke?
Don’t blame carbon for your ignorance.
That’s a lightweight XC bar. Breaking in a crash doesn’t seem too surprising.
Damn that’s a bummer but your stem faceplate looks incorrectly installed/torqued. That could certainly lead to a failure.
6nm. How many uga dugas is that. This is why you always torque carbon to specification. What brand was that?
I feel like some things just need to be metal.
Uh… you know alloy handlebars usually snap when they fail too right??
Ahem, Despite what everyone else is saying. FUCK CARBON. Overpriced,styrofoam with a heavy varnish, it only fails completely, never a bend, and its trash when it fails with no repair, plus its a great way to get really hurt during failure. Chromo or aluminum for me plz.
That looks like you overtorqued the stem faceplate, aside from how buggered the faceplate is. I’m going to take a wild guess that you didn’t use a torque wrench?
I wish I could show you all the aluminum alloys bars I’ve broken.
So you incorrectly installed them, over torqued the piss outta the side that failed, and now are mad at a material in general instead of the installation, brand, model etc??
Ok cool?
Just curious, how did you break it? I thought non cheap chinese carbon are stronger than aluminum.
Worst crash of my life was an aluminum handlebar that snapped right at the stem.
And here I am still riding on steel 🤘
My buddy and I were riding DH at snowshoe, he followed me off the cupcake road gap. Upon landing his carbon bars (enve brand) broke immediately. Not near the stem/faceplate, but further outboard where the OD tapers down, broken on both sides. Several broken ribs from the crash. Carbon handlebars should exist in road and XC world only and I’ll die on that hill.
Never ever i would ride carbon bars (and cranks).
Yup, bars and cranks will always be metal on my bikes. I loved OneUp bars, but after mine got a chunk taken out of them in a minor crash they’re now in the junk box in my garage.
You can be completely confident here that the shop fitted the bar carelessly- check out the gaps at the faceplates. The fact that there’s a wide gap on one side and a narrow on the other tells you they weren’t paying much attention when they fitted it.
(for other people, these stems have 2 small faceplates rather than one big one)
Whether that was actually a problem, I can’t tell you. Some stems have pretty specific setup instructions, like “no gap on one side”, others don’t, I had a wee google and couldn’t find anything for this stem. And it’s completely possible that they fitted it carelessly and a bit ineptly but still got the torque settings right, some stems like this are completely agnostic about the gaps, fitting etc so it’s just cosmetic. But anyone paying attention and doing a careful job it it will make it equal, and anyone doing it for money should.
Aside but I bent a steel one like it was a twig and had a bruise shaped exactly like my flexstem in the middle of my chest for weeks. Anything can break if you hit it right.
Over-torqued. Womp womp.
Out of curiosity, what is the blue thing below the stem? I can’t figure it out. Is it related to the plastic ring on the right side of the stem?
In any case, looking at where it broke and the stem it seems like the shop crushed it. And it snapped.
Aluminum will fail in a similar manner if you fatigue it. You may see some cracks before it goes, but more often than not it will snap clear and without warning