I've just bought an 05 Easton EC 70 Carbon Bar and Im thinking of putting on some bolt on grips such as Odi Ruffian Lock On Grips. Is this a stupid idea?
Easton in the manual say that you shouldnt use bar ends on carbon bars and I think this is due to the bar not being designed to take the stress from clamping at the ends of the bar. If I put on these grips will it crack my bar or will it fine if I use a little force on the outside clamp and tighten the clamp closest to the stem more as that par of the bar "should" be able to take more pressure as thats where shifters are clamped.
Whats everybody think?
Don't wanna damage my bar, its sitting on my desk right now purring at me going mhmmmmmm im carbon fibre lol
I think you'd be alright, I was going to get some carbon bars (but didnt get round to it!) and clamp my lock-ons on. It cant be any worse than clamping brakes/shifters on can it?
I'm after the same answer really, thought I'd just refresh this post and see if anyone else has a comments.
I've just bought a set of Raceface carbon bars and they make a big thing about having Titanium reinforcement in the stem & shifter clamp areas but don't mention the grip area !
ODI Lock-on clamps are weak plastic things - Bar end clamps are tough aluminium jobbies. The point being, overtighten a bar end clamp and you could well crush a carbon bar, but try to do the same with Lock-ons and you are much more likely to break the clamp than the bar.
i cant see what the big deal is about carbon bars, ive been using them for 2 yrs now (bbb fibrelites) and havent had any problems with them. if you clamp your sti`s to them as well as your brake levers and dont forget about the stem whats wrong with clamping grips to them? just do it and forget about it.
'if you clamp your sti`s to them as well as your brake levers and dont forget about the stem whats wrong with clamping grips to them?'
You are assuming your bars are a simple tube - they aren't. The thickness of the bar tapers, so that it is strongest in the middle, and weakest at the ends. Where you clamp your shifters and stem it is reinforced, where your grips go it isn't. That provides the best possible balance of strength where needed and lightweight overall. That is until someone tries to clamp bar ends on to the weakest part......
But as I said - Lockons won't damage your bars . I'm using them on my Easton EC90, which specifically says not to use bar ends.
Just to revive this one. Just bought some carbon bars so I gather from this I can use my ODI lock on grips. However I did buy some lock on end clamps (http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=10471) which replace the outside clamp with a closed one but instead of that clamping the bar, it drives a small grub screw into it to hold it in place. I take it that would be a no no for carbon bars?
Yes, they are now - but my earlier ones were silver coloured plastic. Looked like metal, but wasn't. The clamp types are suitable for carbon bars, the grub screw types are not recommended.
On a similar note - I'm now considering getting some Ergo grips for said carbon bars. I'm not so sure how they will do with them though
