chinese carbon handlebars: YES/NO ?

Back by popular demand, the general all-things Road forum!

Moderator: robbosmans

Post Reply
User avatar
dogma85
Posts: 43
Joined: Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:34 am

by dogma85

Marin wrote:I push up 25% hills in a big gear. Actually ripped out some freehub pawls. Bars were fine :)


Give me a link I'm gonna get one! ;-)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

dmulligan
Posts: 314
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:16 pm

by dmulligan

dogma85 wrote:
Marin wrote:I push up 25% hills in a big gear. Actually ripped out some freehub pawls. Bars were fine :)


Give me a link I'm gonna get one! ;-)


I don't think you can get a 25% hill on ebay.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



glepore
Posts: 1408
Joined: Thu Mar 28, 2013 4:42 pm
Location: Virginia USA

by glepore

I've had no issues with any of several carbon bars from China, but honestly any carbon part can fail catastrophically-forks, bars, wheels whatever. So can metal...

But seriously, whenever any vendor says something is "made in same factory as x: I just laugh... don't you think that 3t would instantly terminate their relationship with anyone doing this? C'mon.
Cysco Ti custom Campy SR mechanical (6.9);Berk custom (5.6); Serotta Ottrott(6.8) ; Anvil Custom steel Etap;1996 Colnago Technos Record

Marin
Posts: 4035
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:48 am
Location: Vienna Austria

by Marin

Again, I don't really know how this works, but from working with outsourced production I do know from personal experience that it's impossible to find out what your supplier is doing when you're not there looking over their shoulder, even when you're on the same continent.

Actually, it's impossible to know what they are doing 5m away from you in the next room, unless you own them.

FWIW, the supplier 3T uses might make bars for half the industry, and I don't see how I would stop them selling what they produce during the "night shift" at what is probably a _better_ profit that they get from Euro brands to Aliexpress dealers instead.

dmulligan
Posts: 314
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:16 pm

by dmulligan

This is the same story we non-Americans have been fed at resorts in Cuba for decades. The person will say something like I/my spouse/cousin works in the Cohiba factory and can get you the Cohiba Espléndido cigars for 1/4 the price. We are warned by the tour operator that sold us our vacation package that you are lucky if they are actually made from clippings swept off the floor at Cohiba and in all likelihood they are completely fake.
In the case of bike parts it is safe to say that someone in the chain, not necessarily the retailer, is lying about the origin of the product. The biggest reason is the authentic factories can barely keep up with demand. There is no downtime for moonlighters. If we are lucky the people making the counterfeit products were trained by the authentic factories.

Sent from my Oneplus One using Tapatalk

fabriciom
Posts: 160
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2015 8:42 pm
Location: Madrid, España

by fabriciom

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...

addictR1
Posts: 1878
Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2012 1:11 am

by addictR1

kulivontot wrote:I don't trust name brand carbon bars let alone sketchy chinese made ones. I've crashed a handful of times and have never needed to replace the handlebars. In addition, the fairwheel bikes handlebar test revealed that the three alloy bars they tested were stiffer than pretty much every carbon bar in the test. Their stem tests showed a similar trend.


that's interesting.. which three alloy bars did they recommend and are they lighter in weight compared to carbon bars? i am currently running a kestral EMS 42cm and would like to go lighter.

kulivontot
Posts: 1163
Joined: Sun May 16, 2010 7:28 pm

by kulivontot

Deda and two from Ritchey I believe.

User avatar
vejnemojnen
Posts: 406
Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2013 7:11 pm

by vejnemojnen

is there any chinese carbon bars with 70-75mm reach? I've only found longer ones, but I'd ideally need a short bar with a 130-140mm stem for the sake of handling-easier reach to the hoods-release thumbie buttons.

Any recommendations?

LenJ
Posts: 37
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2015 5:57 pm

by LenJ

Having been responsible for Product and sub assembly purchases from China for years, here is what is true IME:

- In general Taiwan China quality is different than Mainland China quality
- Most important variable in procuring from the Chinese is a.) specific specifications and b.) who is doing the quality control against those specs. Without knowing those two things, there is no way to evaluate the quality of the product.
- Even though the products are produced in China, if the company standing in front of the product (i.e. putting their name on it) is reputable and has a history of higher quality, it's a high probability that the quality will be high...that's what you are paying for.
- You get what you pay for. The devil is in the details, especially with something as variable and dependent on disciplined construction variables as carbon fiber.
- There are a ton of scam Chinese manufacturers ripping off IP and producing sub-optimal products. And no, just because the product is made in the same plant as the named brand product (and even with the same molds), the product performance and dependability can be significantly different based on the quality control, the lay-up complexity, the resin % etc, etc.

The key term in China is "Buyer beware" and "Trust but over-verify"

I wouldn't buy anything unbranded from China where the consequences of failure were as significant as a defective set of handlebars. YMMV

Len

User avatar
F45
Posts: 1077
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 6:08 am

by F45

Thank you, Len, and welcome to the forum.

When I got my aeronova knockoffs, I put my foot in the center and flexed them with my weight dozens of times. There was no cracking sounds. So I ride them.

Jmdesignz2
Posts: 272
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2015 2:27 am

by Jmdesignz2

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...

TheDarkInstall
Posts: 725
Joined: Sun Jan 26, 2014 3:44 am

by TheDarkInstall

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...


Yeah this is spot on.

Mackers
Posts: 482
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:02 pm

by Mackers

Exactly, the absence of proof is proof itself, right?

KarlC
Posts: 1028
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 2:08 am
Location: De Portola Wine Trail Temecula CA

by KarlC

There are the many lengthily threads on chinese carbon frames and wheels, with many pro users and great caution and advice.

Why would chinese carbon handlebars be any different ?
C64 My Sixty 4 SR EPS 12

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



Post Reply