[Closed] Am I becoming obsessed or is this a 'faulty' item?

It's not central?

Well you need to centre it for a start, then we can talk about your OCD and the ()

Assume you are referring to the dusty green crates - suggest the chief hooverer is educated to the error of their ways. Afterall if you allow those sort of slack standards, not sure why a misprinted white line is bothering you!

If it is the Z not being at the same height you need to get out more.

It's a drop bar bike?

First 2 posters are in the right area but not quite there. Did take me a little while.

Spot it? It nearly poked my eye out.

That would do my head in, but I would probably still live with it.

The cross hairs appears to be central to the grip area with the elevation lines about a yard to riders right.
But is the grip area central to the bar?

The "grip" section isn't equal to the markings? Wouldn't bother me

The riders perspective left-hand bar tape has been poorly applied?

That would irritate me. What is off, the grippy bit or the markings?

Either the printing is off-centre, or they've applied the rough texture wonky donkey (see the amount of rough bit beyond the edges of the printing).

I'd centre it by eye or using a measure if I was being a bit anally retentive.

But TBH i'd be worrying about that sawdust more.

Horizontal white lines on left of pic go right up to the shiny section, on the right they don't?

That's bad but st the same time not bad. If it's a £20 bar fair enough. How much did they cost ?

Something about quality control ?

Measure from the outside edge of the bars for perfect obsessive's set-up.
Now then, is your stem straight? 😉

Yes.

The swoosh/bracket on the Z not being mirrored annoys me.

If the QC hasn't spotted that what else have they missed! 😯

My OCD wouldn't allow that to stay on my bike.

Yessssss, you have it. The centring markings are not errrrr... centred.

I sent the same image to the 'large online retailer' last night. Their 'technical team' told me I had simply misinstalled the bar. Grrrr.

I am a cabinet maker and work to fine tolerances so unfortunately I do find this irritating (and yes the workshop does need cleaning).

It does raise QC issues. This is a £50 bar and i expect it to be made and finished to a high standard.

Is it the poor application of the electrical tape to the bar tape, which is partially touching the bars?

They were the recall ones , I suggest a quick google just to check

Yes, but your rough peened bit isn't central to the stem either. Either the markings are off, or the peened bit is off. But not both, surely?

Remove white markings from bar with nail polish remover, refit. Job done.

I sent the same image to the 'large online retailer' last night. Their 'technical team' told me I had simply misinstalled the bar. Grrrr.

I would politely reply suggesting they are wrong.

if this is one of the Zipp bars that everyone was knocking out at half price i'd suck it up

Focus is a bit soft in your photo. You need a smaller aperture and longer exposure to get all the interesting bits in focus.

Sorry that would not even get as far as the bike

I paid £50 for this which is I think full rrp. I did so because it was exactly the shape I wanted very few places had them in stock.

I could remove the markings but I sort of feel I shouldn't have too modify it.

If this was part of a recall I would expect the retailer to know that. Hmmm.

The markings are only there to help you. Yes, they are wrong and it is visible if you look hard enough, but not the end of the world. Given you probably bought them discounted, is it really worth the hassle / cost / environmental impact of returning them if that is what you are considering?

As long as you centralise them based on their width, there is no issue. Irritating yes, but not faulty enough to worry about in my opinion

Life is too short.....just ride your bike!

The swoosh/bracket on the Z not being mirrored annoys me.

Cross hair guide looks central, right set of white lines have been placed further away from end of abrasive clamp area, clearly a cheap fake. 😉

It would annoy me if they had ignored their own logo design format just to be mirrored on a bar

Good point, well made.

I can't even see what's wrong. I hate to think what some of you would think of the bikes I ride... 😕

Would the bars be butted, so lining up in the clamp is important? Either way it would annoy me enough to return it.

If you can see that when your on your bike you're sitting on the wrong end.

If I noticed that whilst fitting I'd probably say 'hmmm', fit it and then completely forget about it.

I'd be well peed if I'd built the bike then realised after. On a cheapo bike it wouldn't bother me but after spending a load of time and money getting a bike right then it'd have to come off and go back.

I'm not losing sleep over this and it's not stopping me riding my bike, but I do think it's slack quality control.

I am grateful for everyone's views on here. What peeved me most was the retailer's technical team telling me it was my mistake.

I shall take it up with them again. I am not generally a difficult customer and I have spent a fair wedge with this shop over the years.

I shall take it up with them again. I am not generally a difficult customer and I have spent a fair wedge with this shop over the years.

I'm not sure what you are hoping to achieve. A new, non-"faulty" bar, a partial refund on the one you have or an apology from the large on-line retailer?

Funny that you can buy some £20 Planet X bars and they have perfectly centred markings, but a "high quality" brand like Zipp can't get it right.

if it was that much of a bother i've have made a fuss about it before i'd set the brake levers and wrapped the tape

Ah yes, well the bar was a replacement for an old carbon one that had developed a crack. It arrived on the morning of a day that I had planned a long ride with friends so I installed it and went out riding.

The outcome I would like is a replacement bar and an apology for telling me that it was my error. Don't get me wrong I make plenty of mistakes and happily admit them, but on this occasion it wasn't my fault.

I'd have sent that back, life's too short to have a bar on your bike with badly applied graphics.

That bar tape is badly finished though, the finishing tape/electrical tape shouldn't touch the bars, just wrap neatly round the end of the tape.

but a "high quality" brand like Zipp can't get it right.

I have a set of zipp bars, the graphics are spot on. Just because one bar isn't perfect doesn't mean they're all like that, and of course planet x never churn out any product that isn't rubbish, although to be fair they know it's rubbish, its not a mistake.

[i]I'd have sent that back, life's too short to have a bar on your bike with badly applied graphics[/i]

I'd say life's too short to bother which packaging it up and sending it back!

[i] the finishing tape/electrical tape shouldn't touch the bars, just wrap neatly round the end of the tape.[/i]

Gawd, I hope you never see my Thomson bars! 😆

Well as they're not on my bike it wouldn't bother me.

wynne - Member

Yessssss, you have it. The centring markings are not errrrr... centred.

From that photo, it cannot be ascertained whether the centre markings are not central, or the 'roughened' grippy section is different widths either side of the centre line (of the bar).
It looks like you would only have to move the bar a gnat's chuff to reveal the missing white line to the right of the stem, which would instantly make the whole thing look more symmetric (you'd probably end up with the second line in on both sides being partially hidden by the stem).
The centre bullseye looks to my untrained eye to be very slightly to the left anyway, so the bar could do with moving a whisker to the right.

How do you know that the 'fault' is to do with the markings & not the roughened area?
Have you measured the bars, or are you assuming the roughened section is central?

I spotted it straight away
Your work place looks well used your bike looks too clean and unused, I diagnose the problem as work life imbalance, 🙂

**** all wrong with that, just ride it and stop worrying

Get a black sharpie marker and correct the longer ones

**** all wrong with that, just ride it and stop worrying

I think the OP is more miffed the shop he wont name for some reason, insist he's installed it wrong.

Exactly that.
Anyway, it was WIGGLE who remain stubbornly unable to see the discrepancy in the photo that so many on here have spotted. It matters little because I also sent the photo to Zipp who have told me it is a warranty issue and my retailer should replace the bar.
I didn't want to get into slagging off Wiggle as I've generally had good experiences from them, but on this occasion their service has been terrible. Thank you all for your views.

Funnily enough I've just come off a painful email exchange with Wiggle. Assume their CS is still UK based, but they continually managed to answer questions I had not asked, and not answer the actual question I was asking. Like something was being lost in translation.

Wiggle seem to be going down the brilliant if you have no issues, but if anything goes awry you're in for a bad time, route.

Does it pull to the left when you're riding?

Yes, but it's always done that.

The thing is you (and Wiggle) don't know if it's a manufacturing fault. Only Zipp know what the inspection criteria is for that part, so, strictly speaking, it may be 'ok' as far as Zipp are concerned.
Whether you can return it because you don't like it is down to Wiggles return policy, (I guess).

Take a photo without stem in the way.

For Wiggle not for the thread!

if this is one of the Zipp bars that everyone was knocking out at half price i'd suck it up

I'd mask the overlong end and scratch off the extra 3mm of white markings gently to match. Just get on with it - how much is your time worth?

In truth it really wouldn't bother me. What does, however, is that the centre circle mark shows above the clamp.

I'd also add that if I was really concerned about getting the bars centred I wouldn't rely on a bit of white paint applied by someone who isn't going to use it. I'd get a ruler out.

Don't Wiggle/CRC offer free returns anyway (with carriage paid by them) so it doesn't actually make any difference whether it's a fault or no-fault return? You can send them back for exchange or credit at no cost to you either way.

You're right. they're wrong, but other than them admitting that I'm not sure it makes any difference?

You're right. they're wrong, but other than them admitting that I'm not sure it makes any difference?

Guessing the OP had fitted them before noticing?

Not sure you could still use the regular change your mind returns if you've marked them by screwing levers, clamps, stems etc to them.

[img] [/img]

For benefit of Wiggle, take photo again, but with a measuring tape under the clamped section of bar.

How can you tell if the centre markings aren't centred? Have you measured them from the ends of the bars?

From your pic, it looks like you've not centred the bar properly - it needs shifting over to the left (or the right if you're looking at the picture); the dot isn't in the middle of the clamp and the lines are even.