chinese carbon handlebars: YES/NO ?
Moderator: robbosmans
With a 30% reject rate....at least they are throwing away 30% of the parts found to not meet the quality standards. Those no-brand parts that you buy on FleaBay....they have a zero reject rate at the factory
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After my experience this weekend I'd be in the no camp. Handlebar snapped where it was bar taped after hitting a relatively innocuous pothole at circa 40kph. Wouldn't want that to happen going 80kph+ downhill. Bars were very flexy too, I'll be sticking with alloy from now on. (eBay bar not a 'fake' as such, no brand)
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I bought a set off eBay from Hong Kong that arrived with Black 3T Logos all over them (fakes) and they made a cracking noise when i pulled the drops apart with ~5kg load , so I had a ~20kg pull and one drop broke clean off at the hole where the cables go internal .
pdlpsher1 wrote:Fake or real? Do you feel comfortable riding on that stem
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Fake Bars, real stem. I said "as long as the stems legit Ill be fine": Got that wrong! In hindsight, this type of bar with the holes (aka stress risers) in the bottom for cables was a recipe for failure. Hit a pothole hard, but not THAT hard. Back to Alu for me...
When it's made correctly carbon bars should be way stronger than aluminum bars by all measures. The real stuff go through rigorous testing (non-destructive and destructive). Pieces with defects are rejected at the factory. There's a reason why the real stuff cost more. The fact that some carbon bars break shouldn't be blamed on the material or technology, but rather lack of Q.A. or poor manufacturing methods.
IMHO, Chinese carbon handlebars are a gamble unless you buy them from a reputable seller. Even then you can get a bad one, I don't think the Chinese actually do force/pressure tests on all of the bars they produce, so a bad one could easily pass the (visual) 'QC' insofar there is any.
My + some friends experience is that bars + stem in one combos are ok, will not easily break under normal use (also not even in a moderately severe crash into a lamppost) but are quite heavy, about 100 grams heavier than the (already not weight weenie'ish light) BBB carbon stem and carbon/alu bars combination I used on my bike. One friend had a full carbon bar that collapsed/cracked as he got out of the saddle on a climb and put some weight on it. He was able to ride home, then the carbon of the stem cracked at the bolt when he replaced the bar and tightened it. I do recall he paid around +- 50 dollars for the both on alieexpress... Guess you get what you pay for. Finally, Chinese carbon/alu bars are fine but heavier than full carbon ones.
My + some friends experience is that bars + stem in one combos are ok, will not easily break under normal use (also not even in a moderately severe crash into a lamppost) but are quite heavy, about 100 grams heavier than the (already not weight weenie'ish light) BBB carbon stem and carbon/alu bars combination I used on my bike. One friend had a full carbon bar that collapsed/cracked as he got out of the saddle on a climb and put some weight on it. He was able to ride home, then the carbon of the stem cracked at the bolt when he replaced the bar and tightened it. I do recall he paid around +- 50 dollars for the both on alieexpress... Guess you get what you pay for. Finally, Chinese carbon/alu bars are fine but heavier than full carbon ones.
lee16 wrote:Lots of pro riders still use aluminum stems and bars.
The issue isn't the material but the way poor carbon bars are made. Properly made carbon bars should be as strong as aluminum bars. It's not easy to screw up making an aluminum bar but it's easy to screw up making a carbon bar.
Spend the money on a good quality bar like the 3T Ergonova and you could sleep well at night.
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I used a chiniese stem. but i throw away stem after three weeks.
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