Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Is it dangerous to drill holes in handlebars?

Yo,

My LBS drilled a hole in my heat treated aluminum Nitto bullhorns in order to run the front brake cable through. I asked them about it and they assured me that there was no problem with doing this. However, I am paranoid about the bar snapping off where the hole was drilled and biffing in front a huge truck while traveling at a high rate of speed. Whadday'all think?

put down the pipe

i wouldn't worry about it. unless it's big enough to fit a rhinoceros through.

i could also be dead wrong, but that's what i think.

Im curious - where did they put the hole?

the hole was drilled about an inch away from the stem on the bottom side of the bar....

put down the pipe

hey sers.... sukkabaggadix

the hole was drilled about an inch away from the stem on the bottom side of the bar....

should be fine then, unless you're some kind of huge monster it shouldn't be a problem

/\ right, i'm too damn skinny, so i didn't even take that into account.

No worries. You're never gonna snap those handlebars. I promise.

hey sers.... sukkabaggadix

http://www.addreviews.com/images/albums/2002-08-16-10-46-11.jpg

LOTS of handlebars have holes in them for cable routing. Personally I would choose a handlebar that already had all the holes I thought I needed for what I wanted to do with them. Did they ask first?

sounds safe to me, i'd check the condition few times a year for cracks/distress.

hey sers.... sukkabaggadix

http://www.eatabagofdicks.com
NSFW (well not really)

put your handle bars in a vice and try to bend them. Seriously

Not to scare you, but close to the stem and on the underside is the place I personally would last drill a bar... It's subject to up-down forces, so drilling the front would probably be safer. Also, I sort of think there's a leverage thing going on, so a bit further would have been batter. I guess they know better than me.

If you're paranoid, ask Nitto about it (do they have English email customer service?) If they say it seriously weakens the bar, voids warranty etc, you can take a copy of the email and ask the shop to replace the bar with an intact one, I guess.

Was there a problem with taping the housing along the bar? What kind of brake lever required trepaning?

An inch away from the stem is just weird. Predrilled bars are drilled there at all.

Look at all the holes in the handlebar that Merckx used for the hour record...

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Benelux/Merckx/Merckx_main.htm

Look at all the holes in the handlebar that Merckx used for the hour record...

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Benelux/Merckx/Merckx_main.htm
But he used those handlebars for about one hour and no longer. And he didn't climb any hills and probably didn't rocked the bike.

I wouldn't trust a handlebar with a hole close to the stem, especially not if it didn't come predrilled. That hole is a stress concentrator and since they probably just used a power drill, I guess the hole isn't even really smooth, with makes for some nice crack starts...

Then again, that's just my opinion.

One hour of Merckx under full power is about a year of street riding of anyone on this forum.

It's common practice. Don't worry about it.

i can imagine that you'd only have problems if the hole is more than 1/2 or so the diameter of the bar. there will still be enough metal, if the hole is only small enough for cabling, to keep it from bending/breaking unless you are herculean.

i'd be ****ing pissed the hell off if someone drilled a goddamn hole in my bars without asking me first.

Look at all the holes in the handlebar that Merckx used for the hour record...

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Benelux/Merckx/Merckx_main.htm

there are serious questions about whether he used those bars at all...

There are also serious questions about whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

A round hole should not be a stress concentrator and should be alright. It might be wise to perodicaly look for cracks, but isn't that always true?

Joe

Why the **** did you let them drill a hole in your bars, did they even asked you for permission?

But he used those handlebars for about one hour

...give or take

One thing I have seen with drilled bars. A friend and I were doing a century a few years back. He had a Cinelli bar...drilled for cables. We were going down a steep incline with a set of train tracks at the bottom. He bunny hopped the tracks and when he came down the bar shifted in the stem. As we climbed the hill on the other side I was surprised to see I dropped him as he is quite the monster climber. When he finally got to the top of the hill we proceeded to put his bars back to where they were. To my surprise I noticed his rims were scorching hot. When the bar shifted the external shim that enlarges the bar had not moved but the bar did, pinching both brake cables to the point of engaging his brakes against the rims. Ruined our ride. I don't know if the Nitto's use the same system but it sucked large. He had to replace them.