Road Cycling - replace drop bars?

first post to this forum: looks cool.

ok, my question: i just took a spill on my bike yesterday and i slid about 10 feet on the pavement. drop bars on the left side were scraped pretty good-about an inch of the bar was scraped to about half of its original thickness. so my question is, should i replace the drop bars? i'm in college and mostly broke, so is this absolutely a necessary thing, or would i just be taking a 'precaution' that i don't NEED to do. cause i am talking about absolute necessity, like that the bars are so fatigued now that they'll break on me the next time i ride. btw, my bike is a lemond buenos aires and it's 2 years old. i don't ride a lot, maybe 2-3 times a week on a good week, and it's seen one triathlon race. so do i replace the drop bars or not? let me know.
thanks all,
matt

crap. i think i put this in the wrong forum. sorry. i'll move it to 'road cycling.' sorry.
matt

crap. i think i put this in the wrong forum. sorry. i'll move it to 'road cycling.' sorry.
matt

Taken care of. Welcome to the forums.

In answer to your question, if it's down to half of it's original thickness, I'd be replacing it.

You've created stress points in your aluminum. And perhaps even the start of cracks. And once you have either your bar is highly weakened at those points and can fail very easily with little additional applied stress. i.e., your weight on the bar going over a small bump or just normal riding. Problem is that with this "undesigned" change there is no way to predict the failure. If it were me I would replace immediately. The cheapest new or uncrashed bar you can find is better than your old bar.

Check eBay, the online stores like Performance, etc. I see bars for $10. And your local LB shops. They will often have new bars that people have replaced on new bikes to get what they want. A large LBS I was near in Dallas had a bin full of take-off seats, another of pedals and another of seatposts and bars. One around you may too.

I saw some mid 90's bars on sale in one of the LBSs here.

A modolo bar for $5~$6! These was so cheap I wanted to buy it.. I bought my specialized bars just a few months ago, it was about $40~$50 if i remeber it right, after I noticed a creaking sound on my old Cinellis..

If you like narrow bars (38 to 40-cm wide), you should look at used drop bars. I got some for $5 (CDN) not too long ago.

Regards

If you can afford it change them , and the lighter they are the more frequently they should be replaced : at about 200grams that means at least every year if you ride a lot or are heavy .
Uncle Tom said " light , cheap , strong , choose two "
Good advice . Don´t buy ultra light if you fall off a lot , it´ll cost a fortune .

Uncle Tom said " light , cheap , strong , choose two "
.


Actually I believe that quote belongs to Keith Bontrager......

Maybe , I heard it quoted as part of an ad campaign by Tom Richey but who ever said it , it´s still the truest thing I´ve ever heard about our sport .They are both very smart dudes .

Have a good one .

Hi,
I like my Sala Poco. Has a very comfy shape.

first post to this forum: looks cool.

ok, my question: i just took a spill on my bike yesterday and i slid about 10 feet on the pavement. drop bars on the left side were scraped pretty good-about an inch of the bar was scraped to about half of its original thickness. so my question is, should i replace the drop bars? i'm in college and mostly broke, so is this absolutely a necessary thing, or would i just be taking a 'precaution' that i don't NEED to do. cause i am talking about absolute necessity, like that the bars are so fatigued now that they'll break on me the next time i ride. btw, my bike is a lemond buenos aires and it's 2 years old. i don't ride a lot, maybe 2-3 times a week on a good week, and it's seen one triathlon race. so do i replace the drop bars or not? let me know.
thanks all,
matt

I'd be very leary about riding bars that have sustained that type of damage. The damage you could do to yourself if the bars did break could cost a lot more than a cheap pair of replacement bars.

That being said, If you're a college kid who is low on funds, I'd be more than willing to donate a lightly used set of bars to your cause. If you ride either 42 C-T-C or 44 C-T-C I can help you out. Email me off line at moreypc@mn.rr.com with your info and I'll get them out to you asap.

Regards
Pete

Pete - Very cool, it's nice to see people out there who don't mind helping someone out.