Broken Handlebars

cdaly_

So, my handlebars collapsed (such is the power I was laying down :cool: ) in a sprint from the traffic lights this morning and I'm shopping for replacements.

Existing bars are ITM super europa 2 25.4mm. When shopping I'm seeing sizes like 'Compatible Stem size: 26mm' or 25.8mm and such. Am I limited to exactly 25.4mm or is the 0.6mm difference going to matter? My stem clamp is not fully closed with the existing bars mounted so there's obviously room for manouvre.

Also, is there huge difference to be had from the variation in bar drop / shape?

niceonetom

I'd go for an exact match if I were you or use a shim of you get a stem that's larger .Otherwise you're likely to have points where the bars and stem meet where stresses are concentrated which leads to fatigue which leads to breakage which leads to casualty.

blorg

26/25.8 is the old road standard. 25.4 is the old MTB standard- is this your conversion?

Some people have put 26 bars into a 25.4 stem; I changed the stem when converting, taking the opportunity to pull the bars back while I was at it.

doozerie

cdaly_ wrote:

Also, is there huge difference to be had from the variation in bar drop / shape?

For some aspects it's a personal taste thing. For the drops some people prefer an "anatomic" shape (where there is an upwards kink where your palm rests), others prefer the traditional smooth curve. Personally I prefer the anatomic shape but I've had at least one pair of such bars where it didn't suit my hands at all so it's preferable to try before you buy. By comparison I have one set of anatomic bars (Cinelli Eubios) where it suits my hands perfectly and another anatomic set (Ritchey WCS) where it is comfortable but not so good as the Cinelli's. I've seen one review of anatomic bars where the reviewer complained that it placed his hands further away from the levers while in the drops - I do sometimes feel that it is a bit of a reach to the levers while in the drops on my current bars but I don't recall whether it felt the same with my previous bars though.

Shallow drop bars are usually aimed at people who don't want to have to lean so far over to reach the drops. On the one hand you can leave your bars at their current height and be higher on the bike when in the drops, or you can adjust the stem height to leave the base of the drops at the same height as your current bars and be lower on the bike when on the hoods.

There are also variations in the top/flat section of bars (shape/profile) and in the severity of the curve where the tops turn forward into the drops. Again it's mainly personal taste there.

cdaly_

blorg wrote: »

26/25.8 is the old road standard. 25.4 is the old MTB standard- is this your conversion?

Some people have put 26 bars into a 25.4 stem; I changed the stem when converting, taking the opportunity to pull the bars back while I was at it.

I converted a hybrid to drops. As a Giant FCR which looks like a road bike in all other respects, I would assume the flat bars were road standard rather than MTB. I measured the current bars with my flat-batteried caliper and they look like 26mm rather than 25.4mm. Perhaps I should go get a battery...

blorg

You should probably try to match the stem, or the original flat bars if you have them. Especially if it's possible your break was related to a mismatch when you converted (where did it break?)

Flat bars would be more commonly available in 25.4 than 26 I think... so that is more likely to be the original stem spec.

cdaly_

Bar broke out about 5cm from the centre. Not at the clamp nor at the aerobars clamp. There's a straight cylindrical section about 10 cm long at the centre. Then the bars go into grooves for cable runs. It broke at the boundary between the two sections.

Just took off the broken bars and they're marked '25.4mm' so I guess the stem is a 25.4 also. So now I'm looking at getting either a 25.4mm bar or a 26mm bar and stem. If I'm doing that, is there any benefit to going oversize?

blorg

It doesn't make a huge difference, especially not for leisure riding, but 31.8 is probably marginally stiffer and availability is probably higher so if you are swapping stem anyway then I would go oversize, yes.

As to bar shape, yes, it makes a big difference but like a saddle it is entirely personal preference. I used to be a fan of flat anatomic, but that only gives you one position and while it was good for me on Bontrager (Trek) and Pro (Shimano) bars it was very bad on Giant, Ritchey and FSA. I currently use shallow drop FSA bars which have a shallow curve allowing multiple positions... I put the bars as low as I can. On my race bike I sometimes think I could do with something a bit lower. I have used traditional curve before though (where it curves down sharply and there is a long flat bit) and don't like that at all, due to lack of hand positions on the curve. All entirely personal preference.

studiorat

Thought I'd jump in here, rather than open a new thread. I've a pair of Cinelli Criterium Bars, got them on the bike, the rounded ones with deep drops. Anyway, the're murder, too narrow, the levers sit too far down on them and I've too much weight on my hands on the hoods. If I move the levers up they won't be straight because the bars bend in very early. They look live these, this is not them though :

Funny thing is the last time I had a road bike I would have killed for bars like these. Anyway, looking for a replacement in the same diameter. Do the brothers here reckon the criterium bars would be 25.4? 26mm with the sleeve? Anyone care to suggest a good, wide bar where I can get the hoods a little higher.

Is it possible to get a 1inch threaded type stem to take oversize bars?

doozerie

Regarding oversized bars, they certainly do seem to have become the norm these days. From an engineering point of view I imagine there is no disputing that they are stronger and stiffer than standard 26mm bars, but whether that is of any benefit to the average rider is possibly open to debate. For a monster of a rider I can see the attraction, but certainly for me as anything but a monster rider I don't think oversized bars would offer me any benefit. And they come at the cost of potentially making it a bit more of a pain to fit speedos and/or lights up close to the stem (no issues with some bar and speedo/light combinations, a bit problematic with some others). Also, I tend to prefer the feel of 26mm bars but that's yet another personal preference.

A factor to consider though I guess is that oversized bars and stems are more readily available these days, I think, so should you ever decide to change your bars or stem in the future that might be easier, and you may have a wider choice to choose from, with oversized bars. On the other hand you might find good value in 26mm bars and stems these days. I fitted standard 26mm Oval Concepts bars and stem to my "winter" bike last year and got them at in or around half price at the time. My "good" bike has oversized bars and I can't tell the difference between the two in terms of strength and stiffness - a stronger rider might perhaps, I dunno.

I read somewhere a while back that many pro peleton riders still use standard 26mm bars, out of personal choice. It was suggested that this is because they see no advantage in oversized bars for them. I'm not sure if it is true, or if it is true then whether that is the real reason for their choice, but it would be interesting to know. I think it was also said that they largely don't go for anatomic handlebars either, but again I don't know whether that is true either.

baldshaunieb

You can get a quill adaptor, that will allow you to fit a ahead stem that will take oversized bars. I used one of these when i converted my old Look bike to take oversized bars. Regarding the rest of the thread, had bars snap like that before -scared the crap out of me when it happened! Nothing like mid sprint snap eh is there....

cdaly_

Arrgh! Now I have to think of whether the bar will have enough width in the clamp area for my clip-on aerobars! Is that pretty much standard on alu bars?

blorg

cdaly_ wrote: »

Arrgh! Now I have to think of whether the bar will have enough width in the clamp area for my clip-on aerobars! Is that pretty much standard on alu bars?

Most commonly there will be enough width, but you would want to be sure. It is generally only the shaped bars ("wing", "egg", etc) that may have an issue. I don't think I have any bars that won't take aerobars, and they are all oversize since I sold my old tourer which was 26.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, my MTB is the only bike I have with bars that won't take aerobars. 31.8 OS flat bars but they taper in too quick. All the drops have space.

cdaly_

Wholey crap. €78 for new 'Ritchey Comp Streem Handlebar' and 'Ritchey Comp V2 Stem' from Wiggle!...

studiorat

cdaly_ wrote: »

Wholey crap. €78 for new 'Ritchey Comp Streem Handlebar' and 'Ritchey Comp V2 Stem' from Wiggle!...

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

baldshaunieb wrote: »

You can get a quill adaptor, that will allow you to fit a ahead stem that will take oversized bars. I used one of these when i converted my old Look bike to take oversized bars.

I'll look into that, the frame is very narrow tubing so it might look a bit odd!

Pat Kavanagh

studiorat wrote: »

Thought I'd jump in here, rather than open a new thread. I've a pair of Cinelli Criterium Bars, got them on the bike, the rounded ones with deep drops. Anyway, the're murder, too narrow, the levers sit too far down on them and I've too much weight on my hands on the hoods. If I move the levers up they won't be straight because the bars bend in very early. They look live these, this is not them though :

Funny thing is the last time I had a road bike I would have killed for bars like these. Anyway, looking for a replacement in the same diameter. Do the brothers here reckon the criterium bars would be 25.4? 26mm with the sleeve? Anyone care to suggest a good, wide bar where I can get the hoods a little higher.

Is it possible to get a 1inch threaded type stem to take oversize bars?

I'm looking for a short Cinelli stem - 80, or 90 at most. I have a pair of Cinelli Crit bars but don't need them and am looking for a wider pair (it's for a 70/80s bike)

cdaly_

studiorat wrote: »

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Bloody dear*




*But apparently dirt cheap compared with some of the handlebar prices on there...

blorg

€39 is a normal price for entry level bars, same for a stem. You can generally find something cheaper discounted, from €20 or so.

cdaly_

So I'm back on the road. Since it's gonna take a while for the new bars to arrive, so I pulled out my old flat bars with 8-sp shifters and put them on. Bike feels so weird on flat bars. 8-sp shifters are shifting adequately on the 9-sp cassette so I guess I'll cope. Left the aero bars off too.

cdaly_

Cycled in this morning on the flat bars. Jaysus, so uncomfortable! Kept reaching for non existant aerobars and hoods. And slow. No aero tuck to be had, could only manage 35kph max and mostly under 30kph. People were passing me out! Wrists sore. I didn't bother putting the aerobars on the flat bars for a couple of days (if Wiggle would ever ship the new bars) but I'm starting to reconsider that...

cdaly_

New bars and stem arrived today. \o/ Guess what I'll be doing this evening...

cdaly_

Yay! New bars fitted. Such a pleasure to have a proper set of bars and hand positions again...