[quote=“urodacus”]you could go to a high-end mountain bike shop and look for some carbon fibre bars that fit your triple clamps.[/quote]Ain’t gonna happen, they won’t fit. Plus, you know what the failure mode of carbon fiber parts is like: BANG. No warning. There are more product liability lawsuits in the cycling business over carbon parts than all others combined.
I dunno… I think you ‘could’ find CF bars that can be made to fit if you really wanted… MTB standard these days is OD31.8mm at the stem clamp tapered to OD22.2mm at the grips, rather than the more old school OD25.4mm size… And some of the new unidirectional non woven CF downhill handlebars are designed to take much more punishment than traditional weave CF and defintely more than a commuter motorcycle could ever throw at them, but at retail prices they’d be far beyond “worth while” budget range… strength and failure mode wise unidirectional CF is a much better solution than standard weave, although the new 3D CF weaves that incorporate alternating strands of CF, kevlar and/or boron fiber are bomb proof as hell, again though big $$$…
But why bother, just get a set of Renthals… designed exactly for the job at hand, and the best aftermarket motorcycle bars in the business… 
Yes, and the clamps on his yoke are 22.2mm… I haven’t seen a shimmed MTB handlebar in 10 years, and then they were straight bars.
wow, people actually took me seriously…
CF is lots stronger than it used to be, tho. my bars have interwoven Ti threads for tensile strength, as well as being really strong to begin with.
and we have joking comments on bikeforums all the time about ‘exploding CF’ but nobody has provided any personal examples of it happening in normal riding situations. it is rather relevant seeing as half the posters have CF frames. the failure mode for CF seems to be catastrophic only in severe impact with side loads.
But it may not available in motorbike sizes for bars. and a set of aluminim bars would be far more forgiving of being dropped.
@redwagon: the OEM bars are 22.2mm? 
… bugger me that seems skinny, had my head stuck in MTB world for too long I guess… but I suppose they’re good old fashioned soft steel which is “strong enough” and the Hartford materials spec was no doubt “strong enough to hold the mirrors up”…
@urodacus: what MTB forums do you use?.. I lurk of mtbr.com a bit, but I find it’s pretty US-centric…
[quote=“urodacus”]we have joking comments on bikeforums all the time about ‘exploding CF’ but nobody has provided any personal examples of it happening in normal riding situations. it is rather relevant seeing as half the posters have CF frames. the failure mode for CF seems to be catastrophic only in severe impact with side loads.[/quote]I used to deal with it from the vendor side, where they try to keep a lid on this kind of story!
An important point with CF is the very low tolerance to surface blems and damage. Just a small scratch is a very dangerous stress riser. It’s very, very easy to scratch a handlebar when mounting brake or shifter components on them, even when you’re being very careful. CF bars are also sensitive to being crushed by overtightening those clamps. Now imagine Ah-huang fitting this part for you.
No really, just fit an alloy bar and if that’s not enough, damp the hell out of it with lead shot + epoxy resin.
I stupidly allowed Ah Huang to fit a headlight mounting on my CF bars for my MTB. A few weeks later, the stress (?) of a gentle climb on tarmac was enough to disintegrate the bars totally. Point of break? Where else but exactly at the point of the ham-fisted Huang’s bodge job. An expensive lesson learned.
[quote=“sandman”]
I stupidly allowed Ah Huang to fit a headlight mounting on my CF bars for my MTB. A few weeks later, the stress (?) of a gentle climb on tarmac was enough to disintegrate the bars totally.[/quote]You’re very lucky that happened while you were slowly wheezing your way uphill. I’ve seen the results of a few handlebars and forks that let go on a fast downhill stage and it ain’t pretty!
[quote=“redwagon”][quote=“sandman”]
I stupidly allowed Ah Huang to fit a headlight mounting on my CF bars for my MTB. A few weeks later, the stress (?) of a gentle climb on tarmac was enough to disintegrate the bars totally.[/quote]You’re very lucky that happened while you were slowly wheezing your way uphill. I’ve seen the results of a few handlebars and forks that let go on a fast downhill stage and it ain’t pretty![/quote]
That didn’t escape me. I’ve had my share of MTB spills, but I’ll tell you, when I examined those damaged bars my legs and hands started to shake and I got the cold sweats. And it was a GENTLE climb.
Didn’t one or two CF frames or stems in the 2007 TdF fail?
several rear derailleurs failed, but nobody’s talking about them (we think they may have all been the new-fangled prototype electric shifting systems) stupid bloody idea.
some wheels failed from dog accidents.
no stems AFAIK
the biggest example that people remember is George Hincapie’s stem and bars shearing in a one-day race, maybe Paris-brest-paris two years ago.
I hang out on bikeforums.net, but in the road or singlespeed fora only. I’m not much into MTB here as i haven’t found any good singletrack, and I’m too old for stupid DH antics. and why argue? Taiwan has some of the world’s best roadbiking, with simply awesome hillclimbs and scenery.
i have a CF roadbike (TCR plus Record), a steel Singlespeed (Colnago 1985), and an alum hardtail MTB (raceline) so all i need now is a Ti bike to complete the set.
the CF seat tubes for example are really strong in compression, so clamping is OK, but surface damage on frames is to be avoided at all costs.
Would adding a fork brace help any?
I noticed something today. While waiting at a red light and the bike in “N” and my hand not touching anything, I could feel the front wheel vibrating. Once I applied the front brake the vibration went away. Is something loose or is that just how things work?
At risk of getting told to fuck off again, I would definitely get the bike looked at. Its brand new and you really don’t know how much (or how little) pre-sale setup was done on the bike. It might even have come straight off the factory floor and had nothing done to it at all – the shop’s supposed to go over the bike carefully before you ride it away, but very often, their pre-sale check consists of taking the polythene cover off the seat.
It sounds like something out in front is not properly aligned or not properly seated.
I’m sorry for being rude the other time. I take back what I said.
I have scheduled an appointment with Jeremy for next Tuesday for a complete fluid change and bolt tightening procedure, I’m even getting steel braided bike lines installed! I over exaggerate a lot of the things I “complain” about. I’m a tweaker and anything that I can personally do to better my bike I want to know about.
[quote=“Frost”]I’m sorry for being rude the other time. I take back what I said.
I have scheduled an appointment with Jeremy for next Tuesday for a complete fluid change and bolt tightening procedure, I’m even getting steel braided bike lines installed! I over exaggerate a lot of the things I “complain” about. I’m a tweaker and anything that I can personally do to better my bike I want to know about.[/quote]
I bet that’ll make a big difference. And if it doesn’t, then it’s one more possible thing you’ve eliminated. It’s always best to go after the simple and cheap options first. After that, I dare you to get a set of those bendy pipes like on that red scooter you photographed. 
Wow that was fast. I didn’t think people saw those photos.
Is this the bike you were talking about? If so, there is no chance in hell I would add something that stupid.
More bike/scooter pictures that I have and will take can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/frostfox/sets/72157601416097063/
I saw one of those Hartfords just the other day that sounded pretty sweet. Nice bark. It had a really short pipe with a big chromed can on it, that stopped just behind the front footrest.
That’s some short pipe he had. The one I am gonna add on is longer, but it is shiny!
I saw Jeremy today. Got measured for a new steel braided brake cable. I also got some questions answered, and confirmed that I worry too much about normal things.