CRASHED: snapped handlebar
 

On Thursday evening's ride back home I was doing around 15mph at an intersection when my right-side handlebar (right where the stem meets the bar) snapped. Of course I didn't know that at the time; all I knew was my left hand felt over-weighted and that I was gonna go down any second.

I was gonna go down on the road surface but managed to put in another couple of strong pedal strokes and prepared to hit the grass verge a few feet further up so I managed a controlled crash. No injuries except couple of bruises and scrapes.

After some dog ran over to where I was sitting and started licking me all over and the dog's owner attempting to get the dog off, I examined the bike and saw the bar had snapped just to the right of where the stem meets it. I hit no bumps or potholes and have traveled this route for 2 years so know the road surfaces. Handlebar is stock item on bike and has around 11000 miles on it. I'm 95kg (210 lbs). It's been serviced twice (full dis-assembly/re-assembly at LBS). Over the years I noticed softness in the front end, but I figured that was just me getting stronger. :thumb:

Questions about bike:

It's an aluminum Specialized purchased September 2006 and there doesn't appear to be any frame damage. Should I still bother getting the frame checked out?
Obviously i need new handlebars (I dont know what make they are, just standard Allez item, I guess aluminum). But should I also buy a new stem?
Am I supposed to change handlebars every couple of years or something (I read that on an archived bf thread)?

Ouch. Same thing happened to me about 3 months ago. I wasn't as fortunate as you though and smashed headfirst into the pavement before I even realized what happened. Smashed helmet, couldn't move my neck for a week.

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Damn that helmet is ugly! Good thing you are one of the people who wear them.

Older handle bars are doubled up at the stem area. Make you wonder if somewhere along the lines the old manufactures understood the stresses at the stem and that we have taken a step backwards with the current designs that lack that sleeve.

Post a Pick of the failed specialized bar

over 11000 miles, I guess just Al fatigue. But I'm curious how that works out for racers that pile on the miles. Do you tug on your bars a lot?

Personally, I find this unacceptable.

I would love to know about any follow up.

signed.

+1 on Al fatigue. Too many cyclist want the lightest bikes possible and the manufacturer's have responded. So it is just as much our own fault that new bars do not take the stresses and vibrations the old bars did.

I was much luckier than the top posters, mine broke while I was stopped at a red light.

Just replace the bar and start doing more frequent and detailed inspections (especially any Al parts).

I have parted with alu handlebars a number of years ago. I had problems with the bars rotating inside the stem clamp during rough riding. The tightening did not seem to help. After a closer examination, I realized that the handlebar was caving in in the clamp area. My conclusion was that the material was too crummy for the application and live with steel handlebars ever after. The only problem is that right now you get more variations in alu than steel. Since the handlebar-stem combination I have suits me reasonably well, it is OK.

Most manufacturers have time limits for replacing Al parts. For instance, Felt recommends exchanging your Al handlebars at least every two years of active riding. I guess that has to do something with your experience. Or rather, to avoid your experience. Anyway, Al handlebars are expendable, and I personally change them every year to two at max, never had a problem that way.

In the olden days, handlebars had a length of shim where the stem clamped the bare. This prevented scoring of the bar and distributed the stress of the clamp over a wider area. Modern bars have butted mid-sections but IMHO the old shim system is superior and with a scalloped edge, prettier.

The same thing happened to me a week and a half ago on my commute home, the only difference is that I was more fortunate. I was just coming to a stop at a red light when the right side came off in my hand. I ended up with a good size bruise on the inside of my left thigh from the frame slamming over, no other damage to me. It was funny because I was still squeezing the brake in my right hand with the loose section of handlebar. If it had happened a few moments earlier, I would hate to think of what would have happened. Based on the amount of force that the frame went into my left thigh, I think I could easily have veered left into traffic, and there was a bus that had just passed by me on the left.

By looking at the pics below, you may notice that there may have been an advance warning sign that went unnoticed. There is a darker area along the fracture where the fracture has oxidized. I think this must have been an existing crack in the handlebars that went unnoticed.

I have had these handlebars on this bike since the mid 1990's. I did not feel anything prior to the catastrophic failure. I think considering the handlebars a consumable is a really good idea that I would not have considered before this happened to me.

My bike frame is steel, and I'm glad. After seeing this happen, I don't think I'll buy an aluminum frame...


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I'm no racer but I do tug on the bars when climbing. I'm heavy so I guess I apply a fair amount of torque.

Lesson learned and accident was not serious (but couple others who posted not so lucky). I guess AL frames outlive AL bars. I'm not sure I have anything to follow up on but I'll talk to LBS next week and perhaps shoot Specialized an email.

I would like to have the lightest bikes for the price (my Allez is bottom-of-the-range) but be strong. For example I'm not interested in buying a frame where I cant lean on the top-tube (sometimes I like to watch the RC plane races while leaning on TT). I figured I'd keep this bike for some time any only change parts that wear out. It didn't occur to me the bar would wear out. I felt softness at the bar but figured it's just me getting stronger.

Yeah that's what I'll be doing from now. I cant afford to have accidents especially if they could be prevented. That's one of the reasons I coast downhill and dont get to really high speeds.

Local rider here just had an AL handlebar failure - snap at the stem. Heavy fall, broken collar bone.

He's be traveling a lot to races lately and thinks the bars may have been damaged by baggage handlers or by him constantly loosening and tightening the stem without a torque wrench.

my interpretation is that the darker area is the rupture zone, i.e. the part that failed last. I don't really see the typical weathered area on the crack surface that you often see on fatigue surfaces in bike components.

my interpretation is that the darker area is the rupture zone, i.e. the part that failed last. I don't really see the typical weathered area on the crack surface that you often see on fatigue surfaces in bike components.

Has anyone had this problem with steel bars?

Every Al part eventually wears out. It's the nature of it. The thinner the metal, faster it happens.

Reviving this old thread to add a data point: Riding my '85 Trek 600 Series through some rough gravel, the right side of the alloy bars failed at the stem. I'm guessing it's just 32 years of fatigue; there is no evidence the bike has ever been crashed or otherwise abused.

I got lucky; I was only going about 12-14 mph due to the rough surface and brought the bike to a stop without crashing. I was able to very gingerly nurse it home about 5 miles.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4319/...130194d8_z.jpg

Ouch.

So much for the theory that old bars are better than new bars.

Can you tell if the bar was double-thick in the middle or not?

I doubt it. I'll take a closer look if I have time to perform an autopsy tonight. I'll post the brand, etc. and more pics when I have it all taken apart.

A few years ago, my 30 year old GB All Rounder bars broke at the stem. No fall as I was climbing a hill and when I pulled up on the bar it slowly hinged toward me. Wasn't easy riding the rest of the way home. I replaced them with a chrome-moly Nitto bar that has about the same profile as the old GB bar. The steel is thinner than the Al bar so the weight gain was not significant.

That location has always looked like a likely spot for failure to me, but this thread has really opened my eyes to the real possibility with the real world anecdotes that posters have shared :eek:

Scary thread!

Yeah Geoff, it's a stress concentration for sure

I had a North Road style steel handlebar broken that way many years ago.

Well, it lasted for 30+ years, so I don't think this really confirms or disproves that theory.

Don't the bars start feeling "soft" or more flexy before they break? My take is if anything feels different about the bars, or the frame also, stop right away and get a closer look at it.

I check mine over every couple of years when I change the tape.

Mine didn't flex, it just snapped. Fortunately I was just accelerating from a stop, so I didn't even fall.

I did some posthumous metallurgy on it, most of the snap was clean/shiny but there was a gray part at the bottom, right where the stem clamp was. So I guess that corrosion/crack should have been visible if I had been looking for it.

That's the thing with fatigue; if inspection doesn't catch it, the final failure is so abrupt it's unlikely to be caught before something bad happens or almost happens.
In aerospace design, this is mitigated to some extent with "fail-safe" design, or at least "safe life", i.e. scheduled replacement of components with known finite service life.

Here's another photo from the bars in post #19, above. They didn't 'flex' when they gave, either. Just sagged down suddenly, and because I had so little weight on that side of the bar, didn't snap off all the way until I rode a bit further, bouncing down the gravel road with one hand on the left bar, and the other on the stem.

These are labeled "Belleri Made in France St Etienne" and are single-thickness, no sleeve. They seem pretty light. Almost certainly stock, as the other Trek I had of that vintage had the same bars. The little dark grey area is where the failure started, and so looks like the crack had been there long enough to oxidize a bit.

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Almost home:

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My 1974 Raleigh upright steel bar also just gave way where there was a rusting hole in the chrome.
It was on the right side of the stem. Got stuck with a 2 mile walk home. This bar was crashed several times making the right side pushed in. I did lately put it in the vice to fix it some.

So anyway it wasn't laid up long. I went to the co-op and found another perfect bar like new with a couple scratches. I used the CCM grips. It is an inch narrower, so maybe it will be faster. ha And besides that, I got to use a Nitto stem I bought 4 years ago. :lol: :love:
Not sure I like using the aluminum though. I grocery bag it a lot of the time.