Fortunately I was near enough stationary when this happened. Just riding through a river, pulled up on the bars and *CRUNCH* the grip came away in my hand. Just seconds earlier I was hooning down a very rocky track so the only thing damaged is the bars thank goodness. They are KTM 'prime carbon' bars purchased 3 years ago from a KTM cycles dealer. They were on my HT Soul so they've had a fair old battering. How long would you expect carbon bars to last?
I think my next set will be Alu.😃
How tight were your brakes/shifter/grip clamps?
Apropos nothing to do with the reason for posting: Do you run your brake levers vertically or is just the camera angle?
Just because carbon failed, doesn't mean alu is going to be more durable. Alu also fails.
Clear case of overtightening. Also if my Google Fu is good, a 126g carbon bar? I'm not surprised. Scary.
I'd take the brake and gear selector off and see if the carbon's marked where they were clamped on.
As said, alu bars fail too.
I've got some steel 780mm one23 bars and although they're not exactly svelte, given I ride a rigid bike I'm happy to pay the weight penalty for the confidence I have in steel being a bit less brittle than alloy or composite.
that said, I am about to chuck some OnOne Geoff bars on, and they're alloy, but that's cos I want to see what loop bars are like 🙂
Clear case of overtightening.
Yep.
You'll be wanting to check the calibration on your torque wrench
Yup carbon paste and bolts just tight enough to stop slippage (loctite'd to stop them coming loose if necessary) IMO
Clear case of overtightening.
Agree.
But carbon bars are way too sensitive for this.
Great, great material - but quality control is hell. And internal damage is quickly done due to overtightening.
To my shame they weren't torqued at all. I had tightened the bolts just enough so they didn't move. Like I say I've had them on 3 years, up and down mountains in the lakes, Cannock, all over the Peak District and they've been great, no issue. On the ride on Sunday I did come off the bike twice so perhaps they had been succumbed then.
do you store your bike upside down?
standard are slipping around here just LOOK AT THAT PAVING!
I cant help with diagnosis, but for future reference I only tighten my controls so they dont slip on their own accord. I can move the controls with my hand so that in case of a crash, the controls move rather than snap. Well thats the theory. It would also prevent overtightening - not saying thats definitely the case here.
Paving doesn't look that bad. Could we have a picture without the bike to do a better assessment?
oooh, yikes. Looks like classic over tightening to me, although at 126g, there’s not going to be much meat on them - and IMO, it’s not a component to get weight weeny with, unless you’re very svelte. I agree with others as well, Alu can be just as prone to catastrophic failure like that.
Get theesen’ some Nukeproof Horizon carbon bars on there (and borrow a torque wrench😉) . The Horizons have a reinforcing fibre layer in them to prevent catastrophic failure, they’re also a reassuring weight for carbon.
