chinese carbon handlebars: YES/NO ?

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Alpine318is
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by Alpine318is

I accidentally bought a fake set of Specialized Aerofly on ebay. I ended up getting a refund and sending them off to Specialized to be destroyed. The looked great and before I sent them off I tried to do my best to crack them or damage them. It took a ton of force but eventually i heard them start to creak and splinter. Would riding a bike put that much force on them? I have no idea but my face is worth the money.
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Skunkworks
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by Skunkworks

I saw many chinese bars had poooor quality of cable routing holes... I dont have any ideas about stiffness of these bars but quality is not good

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mpulsiv
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by mpulsiv

I think it comes down to quality control by brand (e.g. Zipp, 3T, Specialized). When it comes knockoffs its non-existent.


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BRM
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by BRM

oopssk8 wrote:No it's dangerous


Based on what? bellythinking?

Ofcourse there is rubbish here and there but according many reviews on many forums, Chinese handlebars are strong enough to use. When you are interested google on reviews for a particular product/seller.



mpulsiv wrote:I think it comes down to quality control by brand (e.g. Zipp, 3T, Specialized). When it comes knockoffs its non-existent.



Maybe you overrate the quality control of the established industry. Its a joke imo . . .

nathanong87
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by nathanong87

Yes if u have a dental insurance plan.

im chinese and i dont trust them

r_mutt
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by r_mutt

nathanong87 wrote:Yes if u have a dental insurance plan.

im chinese and i dont trust them



+1

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BRM
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by BRM

Jmdesignz2 wrote:A lot of what is going on with people saying - "this chinese carbon bar is fine...I have not broken it" that seems like survivorship bias.

It's more probable that You won't hear from the folks who were injured catastrophically when the bars broke catastrophically, they are either brain dead; plain dead or can't type their keyboard.

There is really nobody to take to court. Also, none of these factories are going to start; much less publicize any kind of recall. Thus, if there are any issues, there is little to no publicity.

Just look how long it took for people to piece together that certain airbags were hurting / killing / maiming people. That was with a very high volume of sales, high profile companies.

Now think how may people actually buy a chinese carbon bar on ebay. Then whittle that down to how many actually post about it on the internet.

When one of these bars fails catastrophically it will have the highest statistical probability that its in the hands of an enthusiast penny pincher that is riding hard.
That rider is going to go down very hard in most cases. Then of course, it becomes hard to discern what part of the bike broke first.

My thoughts on this...


Stop sniffing glue . . . .

excremanwu
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by excremanwu

I have 2 of them used for more than 2 years. I find they are stiffer (and heavier) than the 3T LTD in my other bike.

The biggest problem is that the size (reach & drop) of chinese carbon handlebars is not accurate (normally the reach is ridiculously long).


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vejnemojnen
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by vejnemojnen

excremanwu wrote:I have 2 of them used for more than 2 years. I find they are stiffer (and heavier) than the 3T LTD in my other bike.

The biggest problem is that the size (reach & drop) of chinese carbon handlebars is not accurate (normally the reach is ridiculously long).

:) im staying away due to the fact that they offer neither RHM nor ITM compact replicas. Those are my favourite bends and shapes.

And for bars, the shape is paramount.

Junior7
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by Junior7

Chinese pieces are strong, sometimes it works and other times do not last anything.

There is no standard of quality.

I do not trust.

dmulligan
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by dmulligan

I wonder if avoiding the lightest Chinese carbon bars would improve reliability.

Until two years ago I was sketched out by carbon manufactured by anyone. I researched that and now believe that Carbon can be better in almost every way so and after that I soon got a Cervelo R3. I love it and baby it in part because it is carbon and in part because it is my precious. Last summer I got a set of Light-Bicycle RRU55C02 rims and a light Chinese carbon saddle. Both have been reliable and seem trust worthy so far. The saddle's finish could be better but to be honest the saddle is barely tested. My rims have ~1500KM on them. More recently I've been feeling more and more sketch about Chinese carbon and won't likely trust anything else that doesn't have a proven quality and warranty track record.

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ultimobici
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by ultimobici

fabriciom wrote:Chinese copies are that, copies. They are not made in the same factory or by the same people. Stop trying to kid yourself. This topic has been beaten to death already.

Those that mean they are bad, not everything is bad you have to buy from sellers with positive feedback and lots of orders on the item you are purchasing.

My ride, all Chinese except the group (2015 chorus), tires, pedals and the tape on the handlebar. Also the headset is from ritchey and the BB is from praxys works. I have had 0 problems with this bike. Had it for 1 year and half and use it every day.
Image

So why did I do this. Simply because I had never done a bike build. My next project will be wheel building...

So you bought counterfeit Look & Mavic product? While I have no problem with someone buying an open mold frame or rims, what you have done is support counterfeiting, in other words theft. That's theft from the guy working for Mavic in France, theft from the Look employees in France & Tunisia. Hope you are proud of your small part in enabling crime.


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nathanong87
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by nathanong87

that's what we call 'fakin the funk'

Bridgeman
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by Bridgeman

Have you ever witnessed a bar failure? It's not pretty. Because of the potential for massive injury, or even death, I won't risk it.

by Weenie


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