I bought a used road bike and when I removed the bar tape there was some corrosion on the aluminum bars. I have put about 3000 miles on the bike and then I have taken about a 2 year break from riding and now I am getting the itch again. So do I need to replace these bars or if they fail will they give me some warning. I don't sprint out of the saddle but sometimes I do pull on the bars when I am seated. When I was a kid I had a JC higgins sears bike and I would do wheelies. One day I was doing wheelies and the right side of the steel handle bars slowly pulled up about 45 degrees. At the time I didn't know how to get parts and repair the bike and the 3 speed hub would disengage under acceleration so this was a death sentence for the old bike.

So how often do you replace handle bars?