Originally Posted by ravenmore (Post 13492583)

do whatever you like - no skin off of my nose. My post was just informational about the origin of the Cutter brand. I do use this product though and have had a positive experience with it. That's also just informational.

FWIW Realcyclist.com is owned by a fairly large company. They own several fairly large sites including Competitive Cyclist.com.

Originally Posted by gregf83 (Post 13492667)

Sorry, my post wasn't directed at you. Just my opinion.

I'm sure you can have a good experience with these parts if everything goes well. But if you happen to use a stem different than what they originally intended, or tighten the bolts too much, you could have problems like the OP. Because there is no real R&D dept, the feedback path to the design department is very long, if it exists at all, so problems like this are more likely to occur than with a larger manufacturer like Easton.

Originally Posted by lhorn (Post 13492748)

Anyone still fixated on the question of whether lubricant was applied to the threads and whether this could have lead to overtorquing remember this:
Torque one bolt to 80 ft-lb with lubricant and one without lubricant. The one torqued with lubricant may have as much 20% more proload than the unlubricated bolt. That means the lubricated bolt is applying more force not less. Which means if the a bar failed at 5 Nm with a dry bolt, it could have failed with 20% less torque (4 Nm) with a lubricated bolt.

Originally Posted by james1:17 (Post 13492997)

somebody shoot me i just read this whole thread

Originally Posted by Painful Chafe (Post 13492575)

Good info and advice.

BTW, you list your location as south of Salem and north of Eugene. Do live in Albany but don't want to admit? ;)

Originally Posted by ilovecycling (Post 13486785)

I was actually the one who installed the bars. I brought over some tools to swap out some parts for him and when I was putting his new bars on I heard cracking the entire time as I was tightening it. It got crushed long before I got anywhere near 5 Nm.

MikeyBoyAZ- Where are you seeing all bars requiring 4 Nm? Ritchey Carbon makes carbon bars and their 5 Nm torque wrench tool is specifically designed to provide safe clamping force when using their bars. 3T also has a 5 Nm torque rating on all their stems, which are intended to be used with their carbon bars. Either way, 1 Nm should not make a difference. These POS bars started cracking well before 4 Nm was seen. I kept hearing a cracking noise and I was like hmm okay, maybe it's the bolts on the stem because it had some cheap stem that I haven't seen before. Then I ran my finger along the side of the stem and felt the huge ridge that was created on the bars. I knew they were effed at that point.

The pics don't do it justice. The bars got crushed bad. It happened with very little force. It honestly didn't surprise me though. $65 bars can be 175 grams or safe, but not both. I highly suggest that anyone running these bars remove them right away because you are playing with your life just to save a few grams. Totally not worth it.

Sorry about that bad luck today bro. You'll be better off with some aluminum 3T bars anyways. They are MUCH lighter than those beastly 460 gram bars that came on your bike! LOL

Originally Posted by roadwarrior (Post 13493042)

Light, strong, cheap. Pick two.

somebody shoot me i just read this whole thread