Single speed build questions...

I'm almost done gathering the parts for my upcoming Black Cat build. I have a couple questions though.

First question: Carbon bars on a SS? Does this = FAIL? I have always ran alloy bars on the old single speeds, but I was interested in going with the gravity carbon on the new build.

Second: Anyone have any ride time on the Racing Ralph tire in 29 x 2.4 as a front? Bonus points if it was ran tubeless. They have great reviews and I know a few with time on the rear. I know they have thin sidewalls, but I'm not too worried about that.

Thanks for any help.
:beer:
Andy

 

Been running carbon bars on all my SSes the last 7 years and no problems. I'm 200 lbs as well. They soften things up a bit. Only thing better is Ti (Which is what I'm on now).



Oh and foam grips are a must:bang:!!

HUGH

 

IMHO, carbon bars only fail if you crash ;(
I'm a little guy though at a buck and a half...

 

I have used nothing but carbon bars on both my RFX and my 29'er Rigid SS and have had no issues. FYI, I am over 200 also and ride pretty hard.

 

I have LP B3's on one and Easton EC70 on the other, both w/ LP Jr Braid bar ends. The B3 has held up well, but the EC70 has cracked ends - the bar ends can't take the torque. Both are fine around the stem. I'll probably switch the EC70 out for a Ti bar at some point. I weigh 160 in gear but I'll put as much leverage into the bars & cranks as I can to get up over the steeps, & the biggest problem w/ the bar ends, as much as I like them, is that they'll sometimes rotate.I had Racing Ralphs on my El Fuego (26") and dug them. fast but fairly light duty. if you want FAST try Stans Crows...but they are slippery. Good for honing skills (and for shredding elbows).

 

i rode carbon for a while, and just got another set.....

Run em

 

I've been running Racing Ralphs 2.4 front and 2.25 rear on Stans Flow 29er rims (tubeless) for a couple months now. This was my first time trying tubeless on my ellsworth evolve and I'm loving it. Front and rear both grip as good as my old Kenda Nevegals but weigh a lot less. Running about 26 lbs in front and 28 lbs in the rear. I weigh about 195.

 

+1 for carbon bars on the ss. I've run mine on there for 5 months now with no problems.

 

+1 on the Ti bars....it gives you wings!!!

Ok maybe not wings but it looks like it got wings and gives you another half an inch of travel.:bang:

 

I fear for my life when riding most carbon bars - especially Easton Monkeylites, which I refuse to ride. However, I have been using the Gravity Carbons on my XC bike, and I've been thinking about getting those for my next singlespeed. I really like the bend and the width. To be honest, though, I don't have a lot of time on them on them yet, but as you know, I don't really baby my XC bike...

 

You know what I use and you've witnessed the power:lol:!
I like carbon bars, I like Racing Ralphs, I like tubeless but honestly I like 29"/30" alloy handlebars for the SS...great torque and takes some sting off the front end, unless your a wussy and going with squish up front:lol:!

 

Thanks for all the help ya'll. Looks like I need to make a few purchases.

Cheers,
Andy

 

You realy cant go wrong with carbon in my opinion

 

Many people have hospital bills that show otherwise.

 

Many? Do you have a source for this information? I'm not mocking, I've actually tried to research this myself but haven't found anything worthwhile. A few incidents of broken seatposts, but I would think if carbon was failing on a large scale and lots of people were getting hurt it would be more public.

 

Anything can break with enough force...



From http://www.flickr.com/photos/juniorvelo/2789269265/

A broken carbon fiber handlebar. The bar was cracked in a minor crash, and not checked right away. After a few rides a bend was noticed in the handlebar, and untaping revealed a crack all the way around the bar! Fortunately, the inner layers retained enough strength to delay a catastrophic crash.

The final break was made intentionally, just to see how much strength was left.

Check after every fall, even with aluminum or steel!

 

I have seen two uluminum bars fail and one carbon. The carbon was crashed on and not inspected after. The crash to follow was (from what I heard) due to handlebar failure. Once carbon bars get scratched I buy(my customers buy) new ones.
We could research every part on our bikes including the frame and find falures that resulted in hospital stays for each of them. Its our responsibility to understand what we will be using the products for and buy accordingly. Also its important to keep your equipment in tip top shape and if anything is showing wear, stress or cracks it needs to be replaced. I do stupid things on my bike at high speeds so when a part needs to be replaced its taken care of ASAP!!!
I will always run carbon bars. Again Ti is my first choice!

HUGH

 

Valid question.

The source is many people I've known. Over the years, I've had many friends who've crashed and have been injured as a result of broken Easton carbon handlebars. Some of them are STR members. I also had a visit to the ER as a result of a broken carbon frame.

Is it on a large scale? Probably not. But enough for it to be a concern to me. If you've been around mountain biking or the forums long enough, you'd have seen or read about quite a few broken carbon bars - by percentage, considerably more so than broken aluminum bars. And I'm not talking about bars broken in crashes.

 

Ok ok this is a good wake up call! I'm going to go re-inspect my carbon bars and posts tonight! :clap:

 

Just remembered... I have broken carbon bars! This is funny. In a road racing crash 5 bike pile up. Uluminum bars would have failed as well.

HUGH