Trials Bikes For Dummies

By Ron Milam

This month I am running out of things to talk about, so I am going to tell you about my little experience with handle bars. I had read somewhere that you should replace aluminum bars every couple of years. This supposedly was because the bars could develop fatigue cracks from flexing. My Beta came to me with Renthals and I figured that these were the best brand. I figured I would just look at them good from time to time and I could spot any cracking before it got serious. Last summer, at the time of what I will refer to as “the incident”, the bars had about 4 ½ years of use. Until recently, my downhill / drop off technique was terrible. When I reached the bottom, I hit the bars with my full weight. I’m sure none of you guys ever do that, but I’m sure my bars got a good flexing each time. I often recalled what I had read when this occurred, and was sure glad they didn’t break off. Now that my technique has improved from terrible to merely crappy, I don’t do this as much anymore. Any way, last summer, Chris and I were riding up some banks . This involved blasting an undercut near vertical bank , making a turn and returning by dropping off a 3 ft vertical bank. I did this a time or two and was feeling pretty good. On my next attempt at the bank, I pulled mightily ( doesn’t that make me sound tough? ) on the bars. The left side promptly broke off in my hand. The first thought was something like “oh crap, I broke my bars”. The next was “ I’m sure happy it broke going up and not down”. The thing that still scares me about “ the incident “ is the fact that that was the last time we rode at home that week. Our next outing was the following Sunday at Curt Comer’s event in Huntsville. In the sportsman line was a drop off down a bank that was about 10 feet and nearly vertical. It was the scariest thing I have ever encountered in a sportsman line. If I hadn’t ridden and broken my bars at home, they would have broken coming down that bank. The break was just at the bend between the horizontal portion and the angled riser portion. The break was very jagged. This could have ripped me to the bone if I fell over it, on my way to smashing my face into the ground.

In the future, I will always replace my bars at least every other year, and will give them periodic inspections in between changes. I am sure others out there have heard similar stories. Dan Brown broke his bars at an event last summer and his bike was only about a year and a half old. Riders don’t usually think about handlebars when they think of bike safety. Brakes are usually the first thing that come to mind. But think about this. If your brakes fail, the failure is usually not immediate and usually involves reduced braking power, not an immediate total loss. If one brake fails, you have another. Broken bars can result in immediate catastrophe. Handlebars, throttle, and kill button are 3 safety items that must always be kept in good condition along with the brakes.

Ron