Snapped an Aerofly 2 handlebar

[anykarthik]

Regardless of whether its still under warranty or not, take it up with Spesh. That's pretty nasty, imagine if it happened during a sprint, exactly why so many pro tour riders like alloy bars, I guess the integrated cockpits on top tier bikes are forcing them onto carbon.

Yea it left my confidence pretty shaken up. Imagine if that had happened when hitting a bump/pothole at speed!

Bike is presently with a local shop to try get a warranty replacement. No idea when I'll get it back. Until then I'm riding my all metal Lynskey cx bike with the wheels from the Venge.

PXL_20220531_213650230 (1).jpg

Nice and reliable.

Is it possible the bike fell over at some point and acquired some damage? A relative or whatever may have even knocked it over, picked it back up and said nothing. I reckon that might be what Luescher would guess without him actually inspecting it.

The bike did fall over once 2 years ago while I was working on it. Don't remember if that's the side it fell on. If that's all it takes to write off a handlebar, color me not impressed. Also the snap happening along the line where the bar recesses to allow for the bar tape's thickness is suspect.

[ABogle]

Regardless of whether its still under warranty or not, take it up with Spesh. That's pretty nasty, imagine if it happened during a sprint, exactly why so many pro tour riders like alloy bars, I guess the integrated cockpits on top tier bikes are forcing them onto carbon.

Yea it left my confidence pretty shaken up. Imagine if that had happened when hitting a bump/pothole at speed!

Bike is presently with a local shop to try get a warranty replacement. No idea when I'll get it back. Until then I'm riding my all metal Lynskey cx bike with the wheels from the Venge.

PXL_20220531_213650230 (1).jpg

Nice and reliable.

Is it possible the bike fell over at some point and acquired some damage? A relative or whatever may have even knocked it over, picked it back up and said nothing. I reckon that might be what Luescher would guess without him actually inspecting it.

The bike did fall over once 2 years ago while I was working on it. Don't remember if that's the side it fell on. If that's all it takes to write off a handlebar, color me not impressed. Also the snap happening along the line where the bar recesses to allow for the bar tape's thickness is suspect.

Give Luescher's video a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFUTFmZHq_4

The problem is that much of the bars surface is hidden from view by clamps and bar tape so you cannots see damage on it. You can still get fairly light alloy bars, a deda zero 100 is around 250g. The aero shaped alloy bars are normally quite porky though.

[anykarthik]

Specialized denied the warranty claim. Apparently handlebars are only covered for 2 years and I've had the bike for 3.5. Yay. I would have expected better for an S-Works branded component. I mean... their wheels are lifetime, aren't they?

[Tinea Pedis]

Regardless of whether its still under warranty or not, take it up with Spesh. That's pretty nasty, imagine if it happened during a sprint, exactly why so many pro tour riders like alloy bars, I guess the integrated cockpits on top tier bikes are forcing them onto carbon.

Yea it left my confidence pretty shaken up. Imagine if that had happened when hitting a bump/pothole at speed!

Bike is presently with a local shop to try get a warranty replacement. No idea when I'll get it back. Until then I'm riding my all metal Lynskey cx bike with the wheels from the Venge.

PXL_20220531_213650230 (1).jpg

Nice and reliable.

Is it possible the bike fell over at some point and acquired some damage? A relative or whatever may have even knocked it over, picked it back up and said nothing. I reckon that might be what Luescher would guess without him actually inspecting it.

Seconded. I have a very hard time believing that your overgeared start was the highest load that bar had ever seen. It's a pretty standard QA step to apply a "proof" load to each bar as it comes off the manufacturing line. That proof load would be a lot bigger than the load created by your overgeared start. If I were to speculate, it would be in the direction of a knock-over event about which the OP may be entirely unaware.

Digression:

Ages ago, I designed a carbon mountain bike bar and oversaw first-article production at our contract manufacturer's facility in Mexico. We/they tested all of our bars with a proof load and also tested a couple from each batch to destruction. The same facility also made Easton hockey sticks, and those were tested the same way as our bars.

Hand-laid-up prepreg isn't nearly as consistent in strength as, say, 7075 T6 aluminum. If you load two aluminum bars to yield (to failure, for our purposes), the failure load for the first will likely be within 5% or so of the failure load of the second. As we were ramping up our carbon production, we initially saw a strength variation between samples on the order of 20%. It got a little smaller once we were up to speed, but not much smaller. Of course, one designs one's bars with 20% more margin to account for this.

Pretty sure the first part and second of your reply contradict each other here...

Not sure what you'd expect him to find. With big manufacturers like Specialized, there are thousands of these handlebars in use so it's unlikely there's a design flaw. It's more likely this bar was damaged at some point - maybe during transport/assembly - and then failed.

Roaul has been a major part of carbon development here for years. Was chatting to him about the Aussie TP failure just last month in his workshop. Handlebars also came up. He would find more than you'd suspect.

[youngs_modulus]

Seconded. I have a very hard time believing that your overgeared start was the highest load that bar had ever seen. It's a pretty standard QA step to apply a "proof" load to each bar as it comes off the manufacturing line. That proof load would be a lot bigger than the load created by your overgeared start. If I were to speculate, it would be in the direction of a knock-over event about which the OP may be entirely unaware.

Digression:

Ages ago, I designed a carbon mountain bike bar and oversaw first-article production at our contract manufacturer's facility in Mexico. We/they tested all of our bars with a proof load and also tested a couple from each batch to destruction. The same facility also made Easton hockey sticks, and those were tested the same way as our bars.

Hand-laid-up prepreg isn't nearly as consistent in strength as, say, 7075 T6 aluminum. If you load two aluminum bars to yield (to failure, for our purposes), the failure load for the first will likely be within 5% or so of the failure load of the second. As we were ramping up our carbon production, we initially saw a strength variation between samples on the order of 20%. It got a little smaller once we were up to speed, but not much smaller. Of course, one designs one's bars with 20% more margin to account for this.

Pretty sure the first part and second of your reply contradict each other here...

Pretty sure they don't. What is the contradiction you see here?

[Tinea Pedis]

The Trek bar recall of recent times speaks to the fact that bars can pass QC, with or without that "proof" load. And that a hard start can cause a bar to fail without being knocked over.

Hence the contradiction (as Bontrager may have indeed done that "proof" test but bars still broke under rider load).

[youngs_modulus]

There's no contradiction in what I wrote at all, and you still haven't mentioned what contradiction you saw in the first place.

Now you're grasping at Trek's straws--the detritus of an event that happened well after you imagined a contradiction in my post--for a proof load that may or may not have been applied? It seems to me that you're throwing everything at the wall in hopes that something might stick.

If I sound salty, it's because I was kinda hoping you noticed a substantial oversight in my initial post--if I missed something, that's an opportunity for me to learn. Instead, this is all you've got. To me, your response falls firmly into the category of "not even wrong." That's a shame.

If you or anyone else can articulate a contradiction in my original post, I'm all ears.

[Tinea Pedis]

Well after? This bar issue has been known on the road bars for the better part of a year. I tested their Speed Concept in April and noted the issue with that too (before they then issued a recall). This is 'news' to the wider public but not anyone who has any sort of info from a shop mechanic.

If you want to be salty to try and 'win', by all means, go for it. But there are clearly situations where loads outside of that 'proofing' can and do lead to failures. Riders can, therefore, produce a force large enough to trigger this. Hence the contradition. And if that word is perhaps used in the incorrect context, happy to re-phrase to simply "I believe you could be mistaken". Please don't fly in to a rage, all I am doing is presenting the facts as they stand.

[dsk28]

Specialized denied the warranty claim. Apparently handlebars are only covered for 2 years and I've had the bike for 3.5. Yay. I would have expected better for an S-Works branded component. I mean... their wheels are lifetime, aren't they?

Not surprised at all. I have had the worst experience with Specialized customer service, though it may depend on area/regions.

[wheelsONfire]

Specialized denied the warranty claim. Apparently handlebars are only covered for 2 years and I've had the bike for 3.5. Yay. I would have expected better for an S-Works branded component. I mean... their wheels are lifetime, aren't they?

Not surprised at all. I have had the worst experience with Specialized customer service, though it may depend on area/regions.

I believe the latter! I had some good experience with a brand (not Spesh), but i've seen others have had the opposite.
No clue what kind of bike we should buy to have a warranted good experience!?
I don't think it even exist globally (sadly).
I've also had more bad experiences than good. Several times i've heard this can't happen if the bike didn't crash or bla bla bla.
It's like manufacturers have interpretive priority and many seems very drawn to blame the owner.

[RDY]

It snapped right at the line where the carbon is recessed

that's probably the weak point...
Send them to Luescher, he might make a video about it (the boring carbon guy on youtube )

Not sure what you'd expect him to find. With big manufacturers like Specialized, there are thousands of these handlebars in use so it's unlikely there's a design flaw. It's more likely this bar was damaged at some point - maybe during transport/assembly - and then failed.

The words "Specialized" followed by "unlikely to be a design flaw" don't belong together ... I don't think you've been paying attention to either recent or historic events. Also, numbers in circulation as a means of deflecting from design (or manufacturing) flaws is one of the worst straw men in existence (although also most common). We constantly see that most if not all the big brands have major flaws all the time ...

Given how many are produced and the price pressure placed on the manufacturers, including lack of meaningful QC in many cases, serious manufacturing flaws are virtually guaranteed on some % of units.