Carbon and falling off.

[Pesty]

Been looking at carbon bars and seat posts.

Say somebody fell off a lot(not me obviously ) how would they stand up? just worried that I fall off in the middle of nowhere and have the handle bars snap

[pawsmcgraw]

Only thing to remember is, if you bought them new, look after them, only you will know if they've seen a bang.They do fail, buy the best you can afford, use carbon assembly paste and dont over tighten things.If you don't crash or lend them out you'l know they are fine.
I've ridden on them for years and not had a problem, but i take great care with them and try hard to eliminate the risk of damage.Exactly the same as carbon frames and more so forks.I have changed forks before simply because of some big holes in races where they have really gone bang, i cut them up and then bin them so they don't get used again.If in doubt, bin em!
Ever noticed that nearly all pro tour riders use alloy bars and stems?They just cant keep a log of whats happened to them with so much transportation, constantly been banged and bashed about.....same goes for seat posts to a lesser degree.

[snotrag]

As above.

Carbon bars ARE strong enough.

They are great on road bikes and on for Pro's that get new kit every month, and never crash.

However, they are NOT so suitable for mountain biking IMO.

If you dump your bike off a drop off and tt your alloy bars, you get some nice scratches in the anodising, but the overall strength of the bar is not noticeable compromised.

If you take a chunk out of a Carbon bar, its as good as ruined. And think how easy it is to do, how many times have you scraped your bike simply trying to prop it up outside the pub and moving it round the garage.

Carbon has a place, but not on MTB's that get kicked about, dropped and crashed...

[Pesty]

Ok fair enough and since I fell of twice today Ill stick with alloy. thanks for the advice

[Parrot of Doom]

Instead of buying carbon parts, just go for an extra large st before your ride. You'll save just as much weight.

[mat205125]

Parrot of Doom said:

Instead of buying carbon parts, just go for an extra large st before your ride. You'll save just as much weight.

Best advice there is.

Everyone loves the carbon look, and the "Wow! That's light" feel, but what are you really gaining from fitting it?

Planning to race and need to save hundredths of a second?

My bike is a lot faster and handles a lot sweeter than it did when I bought it 18 months ago. Upgrades? Only replacing wear and tear with the next step up in the groupset when required. The major mod has been to the sack of meat clinging onto it .... Get out, Ride as much as poss, as often as pos, get stronger and healthier, learn new techniques, and have fun .... Save the component willy waving for the weezing, RS4 Avant driving estate agents that don't think they can ride a bike unless it's cost then £4000

[pdV6]

I have a carbon seatpin. It's still fine despite a fair few crashes but then when you're crashing you're unlikely to be seated at the time and your body hits the hard stuff before the seat / post does, which affords a measure of protection I guess.

[Rico]

Seatposts - go for Thomson. Stronger than carbon and virtually as light.

Bars - DH go for Scandium... so Azonic B52 or Burgtec. Pricey though. Or good old Azonic/Sunline etc. For XC try Easton.

[anniesdad]

Rico said:

Seatposts - go for Thomson. Stronger than carbon and virtually as light.

Bars - DH go for Scandium... so Azonic B52 or Burgtec. Pricey though. Or good old Azonic/Sunline etc. For XC try Easton.

I've got Easton DH monkeylite's that have stood up to a few spills on mainly XC rides with some descents thrown in. I'd recommend them but then, what do I know about MTB'ing?

I agree with the Thomson seat post recommendation as well.

O/T Andy, what's the latest on T.T.?

S

[hughjayteens]

I had a lovely Answer Pro-Taper carbon bar on my Klein, but managed to snap it last week at Bracknell Forest (thankfully at the end of the day) after a heavy landing doing some jumps, so am now going back to an aluminium EA70 bar as I enjoy doing jumps more than I enjoy being 70 grams lighter up hills!

I think carbon is great for general XC use which is all I previously did, but a big crash or some inadvertent jumping could be a cause for concern IMHO.

[GnuBee]

I've got a Trek STP400 which is carbon soft tail frame, run it with carbon monkey lite bars and have come off numerous times and not done any damage.

I wasn't quite that brave when it came to the seat post though - thats a Thomson Elite job which in the end worked out so close to the weight of the carbon one it wasn't worth the premium for the carbon one or the mental images of just what a carbon fibre enema may actually do...

[mat205125]

GnuBee said:

I've got a Trek STP400 which is carbon soft tail frame, run it with carbon monkey lite bars and have come off numerous times and not done any damage.

I wasn't quite that brave when it came to the seat post though - thats a Thomson Elite job which in the end worked out so close to the weight of the carbon one it wasn't worth the premium for the carbon one or the mental images of just what a carbon fibre enema may actually do...

So the images of a face plant into the the stem as a result of a failed bar caused by an invisible hairline crack from a previous knock, doesn't scare you?

I like to push quite hard, and accept that the occasional stack is gonna happen. Carbon ain't for me and a teeth to stem encounter of the American History X "bite the kerb" magnitude just isn't worth thinking about.

[jerwatt]

I have a carbon frame, bars and seatpost and I've come off a number of times though and all my riding is XC stuff in Scotland so some of it's pretty rough but it's all been grand. I tend to avoid large jumps so if you stack a lot might be best to avoid them.

[dubbs]

Most of the carbon stories about one knock and it's ruined aren't necessarily true - it used to be the case but latest technology is a different story.

Carbon isn't just for lightness - it's also FAR more flexible and as a result provides some shock absorbption - good for seat posts and rear triangles/forks.

Handlebars are debatable but a carbon bar being lighter is useful on a MTB for maneouvring and lifting the front.

[choc]

carbon isnt really worth it on an MTB, one bad off and 'SNAP', and even if it dosnt break, they can be considerably weaker post-crash (carbon forks are notorious for this) get a nice thompson one instead

[Sir Jonny]

I had some klein kevlar resin bars on my old bike. They were about the best (most expensive) available at the time (a long time ago) and were seriously light.

I had them on for a couple of years and then slipped on a root at very low speed. My bar end hid the floor and sheared half way through the end of the bar, leaving only about half an inch of the circumference intact.

When I got them off there was serious splitting of the surface under the grips and shifters so could not have been far off a huge stack.

I understand that the latest stuff is far better (Easton EC-90) but have no personal knowledge.

For over £200 (RRP seat pin and bars) it is a lot of money to save not really that much weight. That said if it is the final touches then go for it, as I probably will in a fair while.