Performance Bike / Forte CORSA carbon road bar - WARNING

[Starter]

Thought I'd post a little warning concerning these bars.

Picked up a pair from Performance the other day, because they weighed nothing and were on special for $119, and I had a credit anyway. Got them home and weighed them... very impressive at 187g in a 42.

Put them on a CX build I'm doing, flexed them to gauge their stiffness... And they immediately cracked, just above the right drop curve. The crack is in the outer layer of carbon, and at least another structural layer below that. Based on the flex, I have no doubt that I could break it all the way through pretty easily... Or if rather than testing the bars on my bike, I had just gone over a course divot or obstacle hard, that the entire bar would have immediately failed. I'm 5' 11", 165, btw.

Funny, I'd thought I found a gem... Performance doesn't usually sell something that can get them sued- they're generally more cautious in that department than many bar manufacturers, just because Performance is reaching so many more customers, and the risk of something failing, even something well-designed, is statistically higher. So Forte stuff in my experience is generally built to be bomb-proof... Guess something slipped through the cracks.

Anyway, I definitely wouldn't buy this bar in it's current iteration. There's a reason why the majority of euro regulation-compliant bars come in at 195g-215g these days...

link and pic below..

http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Pr ... 1___000000

[Jmdesignz2]

so what did performance say?

[hornedfrog]

How exactly did you test "flex"?

And forte stuff bombproof? Had quite the opposite experience with their cages.

[goodboyr]

Looks more like impact damage to me........I'd like to know details of your flex test too.

[Starter]

so what did performance say?

They were understandably concerned. Gave me my money back, no questions asked. Performance may not be cool with the Rapha-wearing macchiato slurpers, but they are a pretty decent company and a good resource for cheap bits for guys who actually put miles in. I don't fault them for this bar... Anybody can get a bad batch of carbon.

How exactly did you test "flex"?

And forte stuff bombproof? Had quite the opposite experience with their cages.

The same way you do, assuming you work on your bike. I mounted the bars, torqued to spec. Then I stood over the top tube and put a little weight and pressure on them. Nothing crazy... The average out of the saddle climb or sprint would be much more forceful.

Forte stuff is all contracted. If handlebar-maker X produces a bar, Performance might order the same bar from them with an extra layer of carbon. Reason being that they are a large company, with sales many times that of the average component maker, and they don't generally like to flirt with potential lawsuits... So they try and get overbuilt stuff. That's why every once and a while a thread will pop up that Forte/Performance/Nashbar component A is actually famous-maker component B, but for some reason it's a bit heavier, or whatever. Of course, there are exceptions... This thread is about one. Apparently your bottle cages are another. I remember a stem a few years back that I felt was too light and flexy to trust, although I never heard about it breaking on anyone...

Looks more like impact damage to me........I'd like to know details of your flex test too.

You've seen a lot of impact damage on bars that have clearly never seen a shifter mounted, have you? Weird.

[gravity]

^ +1

One crack does not warrant a dedicated thread.

[goodboyr]

Yup. Despite your sarcastic response, its possible those bars were dropped, and had impact damage at that spot. Your flex test opened up the damage. What the shifters have to do with it is beyond me. I'm not blaming you. Of course the drop could easily have happened before you got them.

[Starter]

@juanmoretime & gravity... Just to be clear, your position is that if someone experiences an unusual and potentially dangerous failure, they shouldn't talk about it. Until enough people have experienced similar failures. At which point it's an established issue, and okay to post a thread about. Cool.

But... Unless everyone who experiences a failure is in telepathic contact, how does one know that enough failures have occurred for them to be the first to say something?

[gravity]

@Starter

Really apologize if I offended you. I just think it is really unfair for a vendor/manufacturer to be put in a such bad light just because one person had a bad experience. I may be wrong but if you were happy with Performance's other products, I didn't see any ringing endorsement thread about how good they are... Anyway I hope Performance can get this one sorted for you.

[AJS914]

It seems like at 187 grams these bars were too light to begin with. That seems lighter than most high end $300 handlebars.

[Hawkwood]

@Starter

Really apologize if I offended you. I just think it is really unfair for a vendor/manufacturer to be put in a such bad light just because one person had a bad experience. I may be wrong but if you were happy with Performance's other products, I didn't see any ringing endorsement thread about how good they are... Anyway I hope Performance can get this one sorted for you.

Well to be fair he did also say this:
`They were understandably concerned. Gave me my money back, no questions asked. Performance may not be cool with the Rapha-wearing macchiato slurpers, but they are a pretty decent company and a good resource for cheap bits for guys who actually put miles in. I don't fault them for this bar... Anybody can get a bad batch of carbon.'

Which to me sounds like the company is a good one and is worth using.

[spookyload]

That looks to be the exact place the top part of a brifter would sit when installed. Maybe someone installed one too tight, heard a crunch, then returned them to performance. They throw them back on the shelf none the wiser and you were the unlucky one to buy a returned/broken product. Glad you found it in the garage and not on the road.

[HammerTime2]

That looks to be the exact place the top part of a brifter would sit when installed. Maybe someone installed one too tight, heard a crunch, then returned them to performance. They throw them back on the shelf none the wiser and you were the unlucky one to buy a returned/broken product. .

I guess not all those no questions asked returns end up in the bin.

Well to be fair he did also say this:
`They were understandably concerned. Gave me my money back, no questions asked. Performance may not be cool with the Rapha-wearing macchiato slurpers, but they are a pretty decent company and a good resource for cheap bits for guys who actually put miles in. I don't fault them for this bar... Anybody can get a bad batch of carbon.'.

Well to be fair, the OP didn't say that in his first post, nor was it reflected in the tone of the thread title.

[Starter]

@gravity- no apology necessary, not offended... Pecking on my iPad so I try and write as succinctly as possible, re-reading it myself, it does come off as curt sarcasm rather than kidding around sarcasm. Not my intention, ha ha...

@Hawkwood- yeah, I'm a fan... I think they do a really good job, for the most part. Not the sexiest stuff obviously, but good stuff. And they are accessible to people just getting into the sport, which is important to me. Some buddies and I used to run a clinic teaching beginner cyclists how to wrench their own bikes... Performance is a great resource for inexpensive and (usually) quality tools and parts...

@Spookyload- generally in that instance you'd see a failure directly above or below where the clamp band was mounted, on the textured surface... Also there'd have been band marks in that area... These are really clean, no marks... Every grain of the grip is perfect. I suppose someone could have wacked it while it was on the shelf, but in my experience, the instance where a carbon component has suffered a hit to an uncovered bare surface, shown no damage, and then failed is a pretty rare thing. Usually there's a scuff or blemish in the clearcoat at the impact site, if you look hard enough. I should point out that wrapped bars are a different story. And I'm certainly not advocating the riding of components that may have been compromised. The golden rule is that carbon should be replaced after any hard hit, even if you don't see damage, and I agree with that. And thanks for the kind words... Definitely glad I found out in the garage!

@hammertime- if you re-read my first post, I think you'll find that I talk about how I usually find Forte stuff to be bomb proof, and that this bar must have slipped through the cracks.

@EVERYBODY- To be clear, I am not condemning Performance as a whole, nor even this bar model as a product. If my experience turns out to be similar at all to others, I believe they will probably fix this issue by pulling this batch of bars and having their contractor build it tougher. That's just how they do. That said, when a product fails like this, SPEAK UP. Cycling is still a small community, particularly the WW crowd, and you might save a life. I remember years ago on one of the forums a guy's carbon frame failed at a stop sign. He suffered a neck injury and died. It was terrible to read the updates as his condition worsened... Very, very sad. If I can possibly prevent something like that by sharing when a product goes suspiciously wonky, I will. If that steps on some toes, I apologize. Good companies like performance actually appreciate it- nobody wants to be party to a tragedy.

[HammerTime2]

I suppose your failure to mention in your initial post that Performance "Gave me my money back, no questions asked." was due to succinctness due to pecking on an iPad. You'll have to excuse my previous post as I was not aware you were pecking on an iPad.