[Closed] Carbon, as suitable for mtb stuff as cream cheese.....

Cable rub on your bars? 😕

Oh so it's not the cable rubbing that's at fault. It's the carbons fault.

I see....

Yup - sounds like poor set up to me - nothing wrong with carbon bars.

TBC +1

its a little known fact , but bikes do have cables.....

Not that should rub on the bars though...

Cables rubbing on handlebars is a new thing to me.

I've got a wee rub mark on one of my bars from my gravity dropper cable- because I set it up wrongly in the first place, then I neglected it afterwards. So that probably means carbon's unsuitable for bikes.

I've some EA50's you could have, but I'd not advise riding with them as the aluminiums suffered from cable rub so they'd probably snap.

Set your bike up properly so the cable doesn't run. I've got an alloy frame with rub marks on the linkages, also alloy...they will snap, frame and linkages.

It isn't carbon that is bad, just the op's inability to set his bike up properly. How short are your cables to rub your handlebar?

Single speed + brakeless = Zero cable rub (I took the chain off to reduce any chain slap induced carbon chipping too).
Simples innit.

as I said it is occasional cable rub at full fork compression and with a bit of bar turn. no cable rub in workshop situation. one wet gritty day at affan was all it took. I notice a very defencive tone to most of the replys. lucky for you you are all so fantastic, This will never happen to you. Sleep easy

NOt being funny but why are they getting binned for a bit of cable rub?...is it actually worn through the carbon? Or just the lacquer?

So lets re - write this
I set my bike up really badly and now its broken but its not my fault .
I should have known that the chocolate chain rings I bought from the Cadburys mini Egg Bird were dodgy

Not defensive - it's just something I've never experienced, and I was surprised cable rub had knackered your bars. Have a nice evening 🙂

I had cable rub wear a flat spot on one of my alloy frames. I better bin it in case it breaks. You should all throw out your alloy frames too.

Carbon is awesome, cables can wear through anything given the right conditions.

it has worn a flat on the front of the bars, through the laquer , graphics and carbon layers under that I would guess it is probably about 1mm deep. Not knowing the wall thickness it is impossible to say how much is left. It is on the front edge of the downward curve. anyway, just sounding off having found 100 pound plus bars wrecked.

Why not send a pic to Easton and ask them?

It's not in tension there, so may be OK

This thread needs pictures, having trouble imagining these abrasive cables.

100 pound plus bars

f*** me that carbon fibre is heavy shit

at least with ally bars you'll save nigh on 99.5 lbs

Could you check the wall thickness by taking out the bar plugs and looking? I dont know if wall thickness would be constant throughout, but might give you an idea of the minimum thickness and an idea of how far you went through.

I made the stupid mistake of riding my bike over the winter , in the wet and a bit of occasional cable rub as rubbed through the carbon .

one wet gritty day at affan was all it took.

So........which story is it?

I've had carbon windsurf masts for years. Sails rigged and downhauled under tension rub on the mast all the while, winter or summer with sand griding at it too and not just gently either. Only thing which ever broke one of those was a wave.
Sounds like the bar was made of black painted cardboard in the first place.

it's actually the epoxy that has very poor abrasion resistance.

There is a very well known material called polyurethane which is very good at resisting erosion and this is what so called 'helitape' is made from. I would suggest everyone, especially the OP, uses it in places where cables may rub - whatever your frame material as even steel is susceptible. The problem does not lie with the material but the poor set up and preparation.

Cable rub in an aluminium bar is actually likely to be more dangerous.

It is amazing how quickly cable rub will go through carbon though. IIRC one year Specialized had to replace the stays of most carbon Epics because the Brain cable was routed wrongly and rubbed through. I saw one with a big hole in the chainstay after just a handful of rides.

I guess it is a lesson in set-up learned the hard way for the OP, but it doesn't mean carbon isn't a good material when treated right. There are still a lot of old monkeylite bars out there that have been going strong for years.

"one day at Afan"- just so you know, I doubt anyone believes that for a second.

HTH.

I do actually believe it could happen in a day Northwind, I will get a picture of my cable rubbed carbon cube after approx 5-6 hours riding.

Well, I've been rubbing my cable since I started reading this thread and it's not worn through yet.

astormatt- he says he used it like that for the winter, yet it wore through in a day. It definately [i]could[/i] happen with bad enough setup but he's contradicted himself.

[IMG] [/IMG]

[IMG] [/IMG]

Hope the images work ok.

Oh nasty. But if it was mine just put something over it and get on with riding.
If this threads still going I shall dig out a pic of my old carbon giant hard tail which is almost worn through on the
Chain stay yet won't fail

Looks like that cable outer is too short. I'd just recable it and ride it.

Poor set up and lack of maintenance failure FAIL

I agree with what you are saying NW, to be honest I missed the bit about riding it over winter as half cut, but my point being I could believe it taking a day to rub through carbon as mine did. If you do know that you have rubbing why leave it? Asking for trouble.

Umm Iain it is a brand new bike so not my problem, luckily I decided to change tyres and catch it when i did cubes fault for the rubbing as whoever built it at factory made front mech outer too short.
Anyway it is currently in bike shop as warranty claim for new frame being sorted.

TMP...has too be.

This thread needs pictures, having trouble imagining these abrasive cables.

me too - just can't see how cables would rub the bars.

Mine was a shifter cable that exited at just the wrong angle and the cable rubbed on the 'riser' bend.

Have a look to what happened to my mates carbon bars, this was last week in the Peaks and no cable rub whatsoever!

[img] [/img]

cardo - Member
Have a look to what happened to my mates carbon bars, this was last week in the Peaks and no cable rub whatsoever!

Bloody Hell! WTF! What a fail! - hope he didn't hurt himself? I also hope he wasn't too far from the car/home? 😯

Feel for him, I really do...

He was lucky really and came off lightly after a quick tumble followed by the bike doing a few cartwheels... but scary all the same !!!! it's failed right next to the shifter too! 😯

lets be honest though, they are Sunlines and they did recall them all last year....

cardo - Member
it's failed right next to the shifter too!

cardo - Member

it's failed right next to the shifter too!

Coincidence or cause?

Looks like the oversized version? Sunline issued a total recall for those on safety grounds.

A naked flame would have those bars back together!!! That is my carbon version of the t-cut will polish out joke.

I wouldn't use carbon for a joke like that, not really up to such constant reuse.

I think what makes your indignation so amusing OP is that you'll spunk £100 on a set of posh bars but not the extra £5 for either some rub patches or a longer cable outer, can't be arsed to inspect the mechanical state of your bike over winter but its Eastons fault you've bolloxed you bars.... And we should empathise apparently, but don't, and hence we're being "defensive"?

God bless you, but you are a bit of a plum though...

Above picture of sunline bars surprises me, i've never seen carbon anything snap like that, it looks like a clean break whereas you normally see it just go kind of soggy but still attatched if you know what i mean,, the resin breaks but the fibres still run through

He was lucky really and came off lightly after a quick tumble followed by the bike doing a few cartwheels... but scary all the same !!!! it's failed right next to the shifter too!

Not really a great suprise then.

overtightened shifter, scored bar and a cartwheeling bike...

I take a file to the inner faces of anything clamping on my bars to chamfer the edge (shifter, brake lever, stem, reote post clamp, everything). run your finger inside your xt shifter clamps.. those things are sharp.. like a knife through cream cheese... oh, right 😕

He was lucky really and came off lightly after a quick tumble followed by the bike doing a few cartwheels... but scary all the same !!!! it's failed right next to the shifter too!

Not really a great suprise then.

overtightened shifter, scored bar and a cartwheeling bike...

I take a file to the inner faces of anything clamping on my bars to chamfer the edge (shifter, brake lever, stem, reote post clamp, everything). run your finger inside your xt shifter clamps.. those things are sharp.. like a knife through cream cheese... oh, right 😕

He was lucky really and came off lightly after a quick tumble followed by the bike doing a few cartwheels... but scary all the same !!!! it's failed right next to the shifter too!

Not really a great suprise then.

overtightened shifter, scored bar and a cartwheeling bike...

I take a file to the inner faces of anything clamping on my bars to chamfer the edge (shifter, brake lever, stem, reote post clamp, everything). run your finger inside your xt shifter clamps.. those things are sharp.. like a knife through cream cheese... oh, right 😕

He was lucky really and came off lightly after a quick tumble followed by the bike doing a few cartwheels... but scary all the same !!!! it's failed right next to the shifter too!

Not really a great suprise then.

overtightened shifter, scored bar and a cartwheeling bike...

I take a file to the inner faces of anything clamping on my bars to chamfer the edge (shifter, brake lever, stem, reote post clamp, everything). run your finger inside your xt shifter clamps.. those things are sharp.. like a knife through cream cheese... oh, right 😕

He was lucky really and came off lightly after a quick tumble followed by the bike doing a few cartwheels... but scary all the same !!!! it's failed right next to the shifter too!

Not really a great suprise then.

overtightened shifter, scored bar and a cartwheeling bike...

I take a file to the inner faces of anything clamping on my bars to chamfer the edge (shifter, brake lever, stem, reote post clamp, everything). run your finger inside your xt shifter clamps.. those things are sharp.. like a knife through cream cheese... oh, right 😕
Glad he was ok though. Could've been pretty nasty!

One wet and gritty day at Gisburn caused some fairly deep gouges to the underside of the linkages on a new Wolf Ridge frame.
Cables were set up by the shop and I can't see where else they could go?

I do helitape my frames but I never considered the linkages ..

I am now sueing Lancashire Council 😉

my point being I could believe it taking a day to rub through carbon as mine did.

I think comparing the underside of your bottom bracket with handlebars is a bit apples and oranges on that front.

As for picture showing failed bars in recalled bar failure fail 😀

I have about 10 experience of using carbon in racing yachts, not a direct comparison but I've formed my own views from experience of what works and what doesn't and has broken (expensively).

Why would you use a product which was so sensitive to maintainence and setup ( unless you were a top end racer where weight was vital and durability less important) perhaps the OP didn't put helitape in the correct place but if the result is a rapid wear in my book that means its the wrong material.

Secondly (re broken bars above) not all carbon is equal there are big differences in strength, resins, manufacturing quality (often laid up by hand so huge potential variance) IME far greater variance than with other materials like Aluminium.

@nimo - your bars certainly could be repaired, whether it's cost effective to do so I don't know.

jambalya, you have much more articulatley expressed my viewpoint. I have lots of experience of carbon components in windsurfing and have a fair understanding of its general properties. abrasive contact is bad , impact is bad. I will not be buying anymore carbon for my bike.
I will not be repairing the bars as the wall thickness at the point of damage is unknown( it will be different to that at the end of the bars )the photo in this thread is enough to put me off that scenario.....
anyway thanks for all the advice , I now know the error of my ways ....

No photo yet?

Re cardos pic.... Never mind the bars, what happened to the rest of the bike?

^^That's exactly what I was thinking Houns.

jambalaya - I've seen aluminium frames cut right through with cable rub and I've had an aluminium seatpost shatter under me. Best avoid that material too then eh?

Houns - Member
Re cardos pic.... Never mind the bars, what happened to the rest of the bike?

The rest of the bike and rider got away with just minor scratches , nothing bent or broken... staggering really considering.... Just reading through some of the responses yes those bars were re-called by the manufacturer as they had a tiny fraction break so offered everyone who had bought them their money back... why this guy didn't is unknown TBH.

We fixed them with a stick and a piece of threaded rod (emergency pedal replacement) and duct tape.. he managed to get back to the pub and get a round in.. we also suggested he buy a lottery ticket!