Carbon bars chipped

[crrimson]

I was changing my grips out today and noticed one of my Easton Monkeylite XC carbon composite bars had a layer that chipped off where my old grips were. How worried should I be about this?

[Joe_W]

I'd be extremely weary of damage like that. If it breaks, down you go and you'll hurt yourself really bad.

[Bill]

Joe is right! Carbon Steel is light and a nice commodity to have, BUT after it has been damaged structurally it is time for a replacement. Look around bars like that are pretty inexpensive to replace. Personally I don't like carbon but I do have a bike that has carbon parts on it which are not bad at all.

[crrimson]

I emailed Easton and they said that from the looks of the photo I may have just chipped the paint. BUT that I should have it looked at by a professional bicycle mechanic. I would think that Easton would be the experts.. Anyway, not going to take it to a bike shop, but I may consider replacing it and buying some torque wrenches to avoid this...

The problem was with the Specialized lock grips that were on this they slid around some and obviously took some carbon or maybe just paint off with them.

[Joe_W]

Well, Easton's crystal ball is probably off for polishing: You cannot judge a damage like that from the picture and they should be careful (liability issues and such). Going to the local bike shop and asking them to take a look at it wouldn't hurt. In contrast to car shops, bike shops don't charge you 50€ for "good morning"...

And: What do you mean "I may consider [...] buying some torque wrenches"? So you tightened stuff on a carbon part without a torque wrench? Please get one or stop messing around with carbon. Also: if things slide around a bit: remove, clean, apply the special assembly compound they sell for exactly this reason and torque to spec. You needed a torque wrench on steel bikes (though not badly in my opinion), with carbon compound parts it is a must have. This is for your own safety. If you go down when the handlebar (or fork stem) breaks you will hurt yourself seriously. You should know that many (most?) carbon parts are damaged during installation not in crashes.

[crrimson]

May consider getting a torque wrench since I am looking at spending $100 on new bars and another $100 on a torque wrench; both expenses that just took me by surprise, especially not knowing for sure if the part is faulty..

I mean I definitely don't want to risk having it break, but then again I don't feel like wasting $125 on a new set if it is just paint. If I do get a new one I'm going to take this one off and put it on my old bike, I really just can't bring myself to throw the bars out they are so nice.

I've been looking at getting a new wheel set and have had a hard time even justifying the price of a new 29er wheel set, I wish they would come down closer in price to the 26er sets..

[sherloklewis]

Indeed, carbon is so light and tough that Boeing picked it for their 787 "Dreamliner" jet. It's over 80% carbon, including the fuselage, which seats 300-plus passengers. And, perhaps the ultimate carbon creation ever, is the plane's 197-foot-wide wing. With the Dreamliner's 360,000-pound takeoff weight and Mach 0.85 cruising speed, this amazing and gossamer carbon structure must withstand a lift force of some 450,000 pounds.

[Joe_W]

Even more fantastic is the Eta, a glider with a wingspan of 30m and a gliding ratio in excess of 1:70, that means from 1000m altitude you can glide 70km... http://www.leichtwerk.de/eta/de/galerie/fotos.html (German only, still the pics are nice)