hi!

I just got a (nice...) sakae criterium(?) bars from a friend. He used it for a half year without any bar tape, but it was in the same condition when he got it. It can be seen, the corrosion started when it was wrapped, and got levers on it. He didnt care, and I didnt know it is not only dust, there is some corrosion on the bar. after i tried to polish, corroded areas are much more noticeable.

I have no problem with appearence, I wanted to use it in a commuter bike, at least it wont look very valuable, but there are some spots where the corrosion is a little bit too much.
I tried it bend or snap, but it seems pretty strong. I checked and it can hold my whole bodyweight at the drop.
I made a pic about the wall thickness of the bar, at the worst 1-2 spots goes about half or 2/3 of the bar. most of corroded areas are not so bad, just look ugly.

Is it still safe or scrap it?

I use a cinelli criterium at the moment, but i want to try this bar's + 15mm drop if its more comfortabe. (Now I'm afraid of removing the bar tape from that bar, i didnt checked it a long time ago...)

Looks like crash damage to me, not corrosion. I might not use it under those circumstances.

nonono.
the "dimpled" looking is bacuse of the polishing, I'm 100% sure that is corrosion. I also saw some corroded alu bars in other topics, a bunch of things can cause that, for example old handlebars, sweat, etc.

when in doubt throw it out!! but give a hoot and don't pollute!!

Its been like this since he got it? this is used bar? because its hard to believe this is half year used, seems its been 2-3 years of abuse.

It's like this since he got it, he just didnt care. of course, this is an old bar

I would say that it is not corrosion and that it is damage. If you can feel chunks of metal missing off that, which it looks like, that is damage. I wouldn't ride it.

That scar right at the bend would concern me. In the upper left of the photo. I don't think I'd ride them.

THIS is handlebar corrosion. people don't realize how corrosive sweat really is. i was doing an overhaul last year on a buddy's race bike and this was the bar underneath the tape. tape was in perfect shape, but his sweat had gotten inside and literally corroded a hole in the bars. super scary. it took less than a year for this to happen. if you're running bartape, i suggest re-wrapping every 6mos just to check for damage.

I suppose I never completely polish my old bars. And inevitably there is a little residual glue on them, so I never really know what is under it

The older bars are pretty thick.

That is quite a bit of pitting. but I've seen photos of worse.

Any idea of the alloy? 6061 is supposed to be fairly corrosion resistant, while 7xxx series aluminum is supposed to be stronger, but less corrosion resistant.

It is hard to say whether I would use them or not.

It is probably another of those parts that would get reserved for personal use, but I would not sell as part of a bicycle.

the old sakae catalog says it is made of "light alloy" (royal 978)

https://equusbicycle.com/bike/sakae/c...log18_%209.pdf

And what does "Light Alloy" really mean?

Most of the aluminum alloys will be about the same density, with the big difference being in strength (and thus thickness).

Aluminum alloy, of course, is lower density than steel alloys

6061 is a fairly old alloy, but no guarantee everyone used it in the 1960's to 1980's.

if in the worse area of the corrosion you think it goes as deep as 2/3rd of the bar I'd say scrap it or use it as a coat rack. It only takes one bad crack for the bars to fail and it's not something you want happening when you're riding.

Curious [MENTION=112127]johnnytheboy[/MENTION] , is that white stuff actually eating away the material of the bars or is it salt or something that's just built up on top?

Handlebars are so cheap I would not even bother at that point. You could have brand new cinelli criterium bars for like $50. Move on my friend.

gnarly.

Is this normal for racers or is this a freak occurrence? Did your buddy do a lot of acid in the hippie days? Does he drink straight lemon juice every day?

There was a discussion a while ago on RBR about corroded handlebars.
So I corroded my 2nd handlebar
Handle Bar Corrosion

I think some individuals are more prone to corroding the bars than others. Of course coastal environments can be damaging to bikes too.

For some reason indoor trainers can also be hard on bikes, as sweat may drip more than evaporate.

As mentioned earlier, 6061 aluminum is a marine grade and should have reasonably good corrosion resistance. 7xxx aluminum can be made thinner, but loses the corrosion resistance. So, new lightweight bars might be more corrosion prone. The OP's bars puzzle me a bit as the old aluminum should be good, but perhaps Sakae took some shortcuts.

In the RBR thread, it was suggested that the person who was destroying his bars try Carbon Fiber instead.

the white is salt buildup from his sweat. never ridden on a trainer, just raced outside about 300 miles from the nearest coast. being a pro race mechanic for many years has taught me that some people's sweat is just way more acrid than others. i've seen this several times, but this one was the most gnarly of all. the best part was he brought it in the day after the first road race of the season where riders routinely hit ~50mph on a lengthy decent. scary stuff.

We have a pair of bars in the shop that look the same. Not everyone has this effect. I unwrapped bars after three years, including time on the coast, and had nothing.

Do people's hands sweat that much? I wear gloves when I ride, and at the most, even on a hot and humid day, the gloves will be damp on the outside. I cannot imagine so much sweat that my bars corrode.

I'll ruin 4 pairs of biking shoes from sweat before my bars would have even the remote amount of corrosion on them from my hands

thank you guys, i just ordered a new bar, i wont use this one. the strange thing, i just unwrapped my cinelli criterium bars, and that was like new, but i used it a lot, also on trainer, and i can remember when did i change the bartape. i think maybe this kind of corrosion also depends on the thickness of the anodized layer