carbon or alloy road bars with clip ons

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2009-10-27 6:24 PM

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Subject: carbon or alloy road bars with clip ons
I used clip on aerobars on my carbon-center road bars this past season.  I recently took them off and noticed a few scratches and small gouges in the laminate of the carbon.  This isn't a surprise since I'd expect the clamps to leave marks.  I've inspected the bars and they still look string.  The scratches/gouges are just at the surface and don't go deeper than the laminate. 

That being said, I was riding in the drops today and all I could think about was the bars snapping in half and me and the bike flipping end over end.  I noticed that I put a lot of weight on the bars when in the drops.

Should I switch to alloy road bars if I continue to use the clip ons?  Anyone have recommendations for a good quality, lightweight alloy road bar?

Thanks.

Ray 

2009-10-27 8:42 PM
in reply to: #2482782

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Subject: RE: carbon or alloy road bars with clip ons
I use an older set of Profile Design drop bars on my CR1, they are pretty darn light to not be carbon, and I love them, although that might have more to do with the fact that they aren't ergo's than anything else.

However, I think unless you are extremely Ham fisted, you will be safe on your carbon ones.
2009-10-28 5:36 AM
in reply to: #2482782

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Subject: RE: carbon or alloy road bars with clip ons
It differs from manufacturer to manufacturer, but a general rule is no clip ons on carbon bars (yes, there's exceptions).

Carbon does not deal well with compressive stress (which is what you get from clamping down the clip ons and then applying torque to them from your movement). The problem is that you really can't see the wear on the handlebars much (not like aluminum where you often see how the material has stretch or cracked) which means that it'll probably break when you least expect it.

Simply not worth it... use a set of aluminum bars for clip ons...
2009-10-28 5:54 AM
in reply to: #2482782

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Subject: RE: carbon or alloy road bars with clip ons
Wow- it was nice to see this post as I'm in the market for new handlebars and in need of clip-ons!  I was looking into carbon bars, but now I'll pass.  I would, like Ray mentioned, keep thinking about the bars snapping once gouges appeared!

Edited by ferretracer 2009-10-28 5:54 AM
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