bars - how light is too light?

larry english said:

aluminum bars, butted 6061 alloy.

how light would be way too light for safety, about right,
and unnecessarily strong?

What sort of bike? 150g used to be a kind of watershed for
straight MTB bars; anything below this weight and they had
better be expensive.

the only thing you can say with certainty, is that the
lighter, the more risk and the need to change more
frequently.

there's not hard rule here - individual circumstances, stem
clamps, rider style, etc. etc. make this very imprecise.

in principle, the new oversize aluminum and carbon bars
should both exhibit good fatigue resistance.

larry english said:

aluminum bars, butted 6061 alloy.

how light would be way too light for safety, about right,
and unnecessarily strong?

wle.

On Sun, 02 May 2004 19:10:54 -0000, w l e @ h o t m a i l . c o m

(larry english) said:

aluminum bars, butted 6061 alloy.

how light would be way too light for safety, about right,
and unnecessarily strong?

wle.

How light are you? How high do you jump? How much fork
travel do you have? Are they straights or risers? Standard
or oversized? How well is your stem clamp designed? Are you
neat and precise, or clumsy? All bars are eventually
breakable; how often is acceptable to you? How long is your
replacement cycle?

Depending on your answers to these questions, the lightest
acceptably safe bar could be anywhere from <150g to >400g.

Kinky Cowboy*

*Batteries not included May contain traces of nuts Your
milage may vary

In article
<[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

On Sun, 02 May 2004 19:10:54 -0000, w l e @ h o t m a i l .

c o m (larry english) said:

aluminum bars, butted 6061 alloy.

how light would be way too light for safety, about right,
and unnecessarily strong?

wle.

How light are you?

145 lbs

Quoted message said:

How high do you jump?

road bike, never

Quoted message said:

How much fork travel do you have? Are they straights or
risers? Standard or oversized?

Quoted message said:

How well is your stem clamp designed?

plain road bike quill, threadless on another bike.

Quoted message said:

Are you neat and precise, or clumsy? All bars are
eventually breakable; how often is acceptable to you?

never

Quoted message said:

How long is your replacement cycle?

depends on perceived safety

wle.

wle@H_O_T_M_A_I_L.com (wle) said:

In article
<[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

On Sun, 02 May 2004 19:10:54 -0000, w l e @ h o t m a i l

. c o m (larry english) said:

aluminum bars, butted 6061 alloy.

All bars are eventually breakable; how often is
acceptable to you?

never wle.

In that case, you need steel bars, they're going to weigh
about 500g, and make sure you protect them entirely from
corrosion. Then avoid all crashes and other overloads, and
you'll be dead before they break. Probably from boredom.

Kinky Cowboy*

*Batteries not included May contain traces of nuts Your
milage may vary

larry english said:

aluminum bars, butted 6061 alloy.

how light would be way too light for safety, about right,
and unnecessarily strong?

If you worry about whether they're too light, then they're
too light.

Nick

David L. Johnson said:

Strange point of view. If they are so light that they will
break in the first fall, then they better be expensive?
Price does not necessarily correlate to strength. The only
correlation there would be material and mass. It does seem
clear that risking bar failure for a few grams is
foolhardy.

The theory is that more money gets you stronger metal and
butting. Cheap sub-150g bars were usually not up to the job
at all. Yes, there is expensive bad stuff, but there isn't
much cheap good stuff ;-)

Kinky Cowboy said:

In that case, you need steel bars, they're going to weigh
about 500g, and make sure you protect them entirely from
corrosion. Then avoid all crashes and other overloads, and
you'll be dead before they break. Probably from boredom.

They're also quite expensive for the good ones, because
they're sold to a small market of track sprinters. Anatomic
bends are rare.

wle-<< how light would be way too light for safety, about
right, and unnecessarily strong? >><BR><BR>

'Unnecessarily strong'???

Geeezzaz, really 'heavy' aluminum handlebars 'may' be 100
grams heavier than a light set..about the weight of a
Powerbar..Don't trifle with anything where your body
touches...like Stems, hbars, pedal spindles,
seatposts...breaking same can REALLY hurt.

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St.
Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali
costruite eccezionalmente bene"

Nick Payne <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

larry english said:

aluminum bars, butted 6061 alloy.

how light would be way too light for safety, about
right, and unnecessarily strong?

If you worry about whether they're too light, then they're
too light.

Nick

ok so then no one knows.

i just saw a bunch of comments on 'stupid-light' components,
i just thought someone would have an opinion.

usually opinions are a dime a dozen.

wle.

<w l e @ h o t m a i l . c o m (larry english)> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

aluminum bars, butted 6061 alloy.

how light would be way too light for safety, about right,
and unnecessarily strong?

wle.

199.9378 grams.

<w l e @ h o t m a i l . c o m (larry english)> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

aluminum bars, butted 6061 alloy.

how light would be way too light for safety, about right,
and unnecessarily strong?

wle.

199.9378 grams.

each

Quoted message said:

handlebar and the weight savings...Don't delude yourself
that saving a few grams on a handlebar will make you
faster!!!

that;s not the situation.

the situation is, i have 2 road bikes,

naturally they have handlebars.

the question is, when to replace?

one is new, i know how its history. it has bars that say,
275 grams. 6500 miles or so, 2 years riding. they seem fine.

the other one has winpista aluminum bars. not sure how old
they are. i have been riding it a year. 2500 or so miles.
don;t know the weight.

so, when to replace and how to inspect?

someone will say, well if you have any doubts. but that is
silly. i don;t have any doubts. on the other hand with no
way to really test or inspect them, there is no real way to
either trust them OR doubt them.

so, either replace every month, or don;t worry til they
break off?

i mean, there are some serious conflicts in the advice
given so far.

wle.