if its zipp its fragile

[soulrider]

I was out for my first raodride in awhile and as I was riding away from a stop sign I heard a mysterious crunch and my left hand became unweighted. I looked down to find my beloved ZIpp B2 carbon bars fracture under my own power. This event was even more surprising because the bike has never even fallen over let alone been involved in a crash.

[Mottsauce]

A couple of questions to appease my curiosity:

1) How much do you weigh?

2)Where did the bars fracture...was it at a clamping postion (shifter/stem)?

[soulrider]

I weight about 155 pounds and I am by no means a power house sprinter. The fracture is to the left of the clamp. Pictures are coming but they are to big and I don't know how to compress them.

[Mottsauce]

Pictures are coming but they are to big and I don't know how to compress them.

Just upload them to a site like www.tinypic.com, post the links, and somebody will compress them for you.

That's certainly a low weight for such a failure...looking forward to the pics.

[soulrider]

try this http://i13.tinypic.com/6bvy3rk.jpg.

I apologize for my apparent lack of computer knowledge.

[img tags removed by Frankie. pic was to large]

[Dubbayoo]

What country/state did this happen in?

[mzagorski]

Wow... That's VERY surprising results to see from "just-riding-along". I've used their lightest superlight SL bar for 1.5 seasons now. It's been raced on, trained on, thrashed around a lot... a 164g bar! Feels crazy stuff under my 150lb weight. Did you hit any big potholes at some point before the major failure of the bar?... That would possibly have weakened the bar and over time a hairline crack for bigger.. then voila... eventually it goes pop.

[Simoni]

I'm sure you have a torque wrench and followed the allowances when tightening the stem around the bars.
Since I know several people that work at Zipp, in Indianapolis, I sent them a link to this thread. So they can see it.

[Simoni]

Wow... That's VERY surprising results to see from "just-riding-along". I've used their lightest superlight SL bar for 1.5 seasons now. It's been raced on, trained on, thrashed around a lot... a 164g bar! Feels crazy stuff under my 150lb weight. Did you hit any big potholes at some point before the major failure of the bar?... That would possibly have weakened the bar and over time a hairline crack for bigger.. then voila... eventually it goes pop.

Or used a standard allen wrench instead of following the specific torque levels using a torque wrench when putting the bars on the bike.

In a bike shop "just riding alongs" are the highlight of a wrench's day.

[bobbyOCR]

Something is irritating me about this thread. I get that your Zipp bars cracked and that sucks, but the thread title is a pretty negative generalisation against all Zipp products (though they do have a track record)

[frd]

Or used a standard allen wrench instead of following the specific torque levels using a torque wrench when putting the bars on the bike.

I would be surprised If a bar cracked 4cms away from the clamp (see picture) as a result of overtightening the stem.

[addicted]

I was thinking the same thing, doesn't look like a failure caused by overtightening, based on the position of the break.
There have been plenty of threads about broken Zipp wheels.....Does this mean Zipp products are bad? Well, I wouldn't go that far. I'd say when you ride carbon bars, you are taking your chances regardless of brand..
.02

[JKolmo]

I get that your Zipp bars cracked and that sucks, but the thread title is a pretty negative generalisation against all Zipp products (though they do have a track record)

Make that a crack record

[CharlesM]

Something is irritating me about this thread. I get that your Zipp bars cracked and that sucks, but the thread title is a pretty negative generalisation against all Zipp products (though they do have a track record)

Honestly, there seems to be more aof a track record of forum bashing...

In fact, this is the first "Just riding along" I've seen with their bars ever, and we've seen the same couple of wheel "issues" just rehashed over and over again rather than lots of new problems.

Wow... That's VERY surprising results to see from "just-riding-along". I've used their lightest superlight SL bar for 1.5 seasons now. It's been raced on, trained on, thrashed around a lot... a 164g bar! Feels crazy stuff under my 150lb weight. Did you hit any big potholes at some point before the major failure of the bar?... That would possibly have weakened the bar and over time a hairline crack for bigger.. then voila... eventually it goes pop.

Even if he did hit a pothole, I would doubt this would happen... I would guess the bikes either been crashed or the bars clamped with enough force to create a stress fracture

And since they are built up more around the clamping area, they could very well crack at the edge of the enforced area rather than at the stem...

{edit} A quick look at Higher Res also shows a crack running from the area at the face plate where the stress would have come from as well... Maybe this was from the bar spontaniously exploding, or maybe it simply shows where the problem started...








Honestly, as this stands, this is a single bar problem and with all that are out there, this is a Genuinely BS thread title...

[edit by Frankie]

[frd]

sharp eye Pez!
I see no zipp bashing in this thread (except the now infamous title). OP reported a problem, other guys tried to help understanding the cause.
Peace!