Originally Posted by
StanSeven
You got to be kidding! That kind of statement is what gives people the wrong idea. This is like "someone I know knows this other person that had their CF fork suddenly fall off."
Do you think pro's would risk their careers and even life riding something unsafe? Most don't ride CF bars because it's difficult to tell on the course the extent of damage in a crash with CF bars. So that's why most ride with Al bars.
The irony of this statement is I've seen four (yes four) sets of aluminum bars fail in the last 16 months but not a single set of carbon bars.
The first one was in a sprint, the guy managed to barely keep the bike upright as the right drop came off in his hand.
The second was when a guy was climbing brasstown bald and his left drop came off in his hand. Thankfully he was climbing, and not descending.
The third was in a race. A buddy of mine had his left bar snap in half.
The fourth was after a race in Georgia. A bike was knocked over by some wind and the bars snapped.
In all cases galvanic corrosion was a major culprit in the failure, probably caused by sweat. But the lesson here is just because they're aluminum, don't believe your bars can't fail -- replace that tape every six months and check the bars when you do it.