Carbon, pot holes, and fast descents don't mix.



Damn.

PSA: Replace your carbon bars after a crash!

I honestly don't see the point of carbon bars, except for "oh look I have shiny carbon bars". *shrug

I thought Ergosum was a username for a moment. Still, sorry about your bars. What happened?

I am happy it is not RIP umd. I hope you are alright.

Heeere we go.

Bummer about the bars, but at least you made it out in one piece. How did you like your 3T's by the way? Gonna purchase a new set?

Hit a huge pot hole in a water crossing descending Figueroa Mountain. Did not crash, just broken bar. It meant I had to finish the descent (and the ride) on the hoods which sucked.

I really liked them, I'll probably get the "pro" aluminum version this time, although I may try out the Rotundo instead.

Glad you didn't go down.

Indeed.

Those bars were never crashed, or were you using them without an after-crash inspection? My Easton bars took a big hit right at the bend behind the the brake hood, in the car-bike accident I had in November of '08. I gave my bars an extreme stress test. Stood them on the floor with the normally horizontal section oriented vertically and then applied all of my weight to the other end to induce a large bending moment on the area that got hit. No problem. I've been riding them and the frame since. I still give the bars a look-over whenever I change bar tape, but that's only every 3-4,000 miles.

How the heck did you not go down?

That's been my concern with carbon bars especially since they can decide not to cooperate at inopportune times. All things can fail, but there's something unsettling about broken carbon.

You mean like all the sharp jagged shards just waiting to impale. Just looking at that pic makes me wonder why anyone would ride a carbon seat post. (shudder)

I did inspect them after the crash. I'm not sure it was related because the impact to the bars was much higher, on the top above the shifter. But it was on the same side, so not ruling out out.

mad skillz

Anybody have a picture of SRAM installed on Rotundo bars? I'm especially interested about the rampdown/transition to the hoods.

Jebus, looking at that pic and thinking about that on a decent is akin to losing a wing on an airplane. I just cant see how skillz no matter how mad they be could be enough. Glad its not a crash thread.

I should add that the broken part did not detach completely, it was still held on by shards reinforced by bar tape

I have a carbon bike and know that it can possibly explode as well so it's a chance I take, but overall I'm pretty confident that it takes specific circumstances to cause that kind of failure so you just have to make sure you check your carbon components for potential issues. I haven't been convinced to buy carbon stems, seatposts and bars more because of cost than anything else since the benefits don't justify the expense for me. On the flip side I've seen Thomson stems fail and while not as dramatic as carbon failures it's just as scary.

how did the stem fail. was it in a crash or did it just snap unexpectedly? that's a scary thought as i can't imagine not going down if a stem breaks.

Picture of my Pedal Force with Rotundo/SRAM:

Thanks, that looks like a reasonable ramp/transition. I was worried looking at the specs that it could be hard to get the flat top/transition that I like. Here's mine for comparison. Note: very old picture.

Still.......

I still prefer the Ergosums to the Rotundos for longer rides. I've since moved the Rotundos to my crit bike and have put Ergosums on for longer RR's.

Good to know

I recently downgraded to the Ergonova Pro. The sale of my previous bar, Bontrager RXL Blade Carbon covered the purchase of the alu bar. Good thing you held it together after the pothole UMD...