mpp6937

Hi,

Gouged a set of short reach shallow drop bars (soma highway 1).

Should I scrap these? I sanded down the rough raised edge on the scratch.

Thanks,

Mike

hueyhoolihan

the pic is none too good, but.... i think i may have done worse just threading my bars through the stem...

bobotech

I'm curious, why would you scrap something just because of a scratch? I really doubt that the scratch is going to cause the handlebars to fail catastrophically. If it was carbon I might feel differently though.

mpp6937

Thanks for the responses.

I thought maybe a gouge meant the bars would quickly fail in that area--it seems like it might be a high stress zone.

Your replies make me feel better.

3alarmer 

If the bars are alloy, and unreinforced by a sleeve where
they insert into the stem, it is possible that your concerns
might be warranted if the scratch were near that high
stress area.

I've had a bar go right next to the stem, and it's pretty
scary, but yours, from what i can see, are scratched
farther outboard.

fr333zin

Just keep an eye on it occasionally, this is simply a cosmetic issue. Every time you change the bar-tape will be plenty. If there really is a problem you will see a crack start to propagate from the area of the deepest gouge, but this is so very extremely unlikely. I used to build bikes with wild apehanger bars when I was a young teenager, and they would crack at the lower bend (high stress area) after 18 months or so. The crack would be blatantly obvious with peeling chrome plate for months before reaching catastrophic failure.

It does feel stoopid to have one half of your bars break away in your hand, but I don't remember any injuries!

Burton

On a $30 pair of bars I wouldn't worry about it. I checked their site and they're 6061 butted aluminum but not heat treated. So not only is the wall thickness thicker than on a more exotic build that uses less material and heat treatment to reduce weight, the area you've gouged it is in the inside of the bend where wall thickness would be thickest anyway.

MichaelW

I have gouged thick aluminium bars around the brake fittings and they continue to work OK. I would worry if the gouge was near the stem or they were lightweight, thin metal.
If the bars do develop a crack, you will see, hear and feel it before it breaks completely and you will have sufficient bar remaining to grab hold of..
The issue with drop bars is that they crack under the tape, out of sight and once one side breaks off, you have nothing to grab.

fietsbob

that is in the top side of the bend? right near the stem sees the most leverage,
So, the scratch to stress riser, to crack to break potential is lessened away from the center.

polish out the scratch..

mpp6937

Thanks for all the replies.

I'll wrap these bars and hit the road.

pat5319

I'd ride it, but I only have 40 yrs riding experience, 8 yrs shop experience and few years racing

FastJake

I've ridden much worse, i wouldn't worry about it. Even had a set of Scott carbon bars on my MTB that were pretty well crushed from someone clamping down the brake levers too much. Those never failed me either, but I wouldn't recommend running a setup like that.