ryanparrish

Hello,

Is there anyway I can mathmatically prove that a handle bar is bent? I take it off the bike, and take the grips and all that jazz off, and I put the bar on a straight edge, and it doesn't look bent. I have tried adjusting the quill on the bike so it matches the front wheel which it does I tried re-clamping it on to the quill, but it still looks bent what is causing this optical illusion

vw addict

most bars have a bend built into them to provide relief to the wrists.

ryanparrish

yeah I see that, but it appears to be a little bent past the manufactuers bends if that makes sense

ken cummings

Could you buy an identical make and model of handle bar? A direct physical comparison should show any warping quickly, NO? Of course if you had a new handlebar then just replace the old one and move on.

dafydd

put them on glass, you'll have more area to use as a straight-edge.

ffs1942

are full of optical illusions. If the bar has had no impact and shows no damage and it feels right, so what?

Wogster

Method 1, get a straight edge (SE), and a tape measure, place the SE against the flat metal section in the middle, so the SE is parallel to the bar, measure from the end of the bar to the SE, it should be the same distance at both ends of the bar, if it's bent the two measurements will be different. Manufacturing tollerances for bars are probably not that tight, so 1-2mm would be okay, 3-6mm are debatable, over 6 and it's bent.

Method 2, get a piece of lined paper, measure the straight section to find the exact middle, place the graph paper so that a line is lined up with the middle of the bar, at a 90 degree angle to the bars ( ). Measure from the outside edge of the bars, and again find the middle and it should line up with the line denoting the middle of the bars, if it's bent, then the centres will not line up. Results should be half what they are with method 1.

Try both methods, if you get matching results, then the bars are bent, if the bar is steel (magnet test), all is not lost though, clamp the middle in a vise, put an old grip on the bent side, and give it a whack with a BFH, in the opposite direction, measure again, if the results are better, but not close enough, repeat If it AL then your better to replace, a CF bar probably would break before it would be deformed in an event that could bend a metal bar. Ti could probably be bent back like steel, not sure how you would tell, unless it's stamped on it that it's Ti.