Broken handle bar

[dyson]

I was riding my Raven Sport and the right handle snapped off. It was a comfort bar. Luckily I was not riding in traffic. Ive had it for 2 years. Is that the normal life for a handlebar? Fortunalety there was an Evans nearby as I was in Victoria, London. They replaced it with a standard bar because they had no comforts in stock.

Just thought I'd share this with you

[julk]

That must have been a nasty shock - I hope you were not injured.
Had the handlebar been damaged previously or did it give any early signs of failure eg creaking?
I would expect an alloy handlebar to give 3 to 5 years safe useage, barring accidental damage or offroad jumping.

[dyson]

It had no visible signs of damage, no creaking, shaking, loose etc. I have fallen off the bike before and its taken a few knocks. The bike is hard wearing. Maybe it had a small crack or fracture which slowly widened over time. I have a handlebar bag on the front with a knowledge board. I do grip the bars tight and press down on them from time to time especially when going over speed humps.

I will see how the normal bar feels and then change over to comfort bar. Or could the comfort bar be a bit weaker because it has a large 'loop' compared the standard bars?

[geocycle]

That's really bad luck, hope you were OK.  I can't imagine that a comfort bar is inherently weaker than a standard bar or drops for that matter.  I suppose its just a case of aluminium fatigue.  I've read a few reports over the years of this kind of failure on all sorts of bars where no warning is given.  Might be worth contacting SJSC?

[dyson]

Thanks mate. I did get a call from Thorn the day after. They advised the carbon bars should be changed after any hard crashes, because they are not designed for heavy stresses and cracks that can happen after crashes