Carbon Bike Handlebar Problems

Patrick Barnum has a problem with his carbon handle bars, he wants to fit bar ends and he has found out that this is not as straight forward as it looks, here is our thoughts on the subject

Question: I have a 2006 Specialized Epic Marathon with carbon handlebars. I want to install barends and here is my problem.

After a little research I have found that carbon bars are either constructed to accept barends or an expanding insert is required. So, I went to the dealer. The dealer’s parts guy tells me that this is not a good idea, the mechanic says he doesn’t know of any expander to reinforce the bar for barends or if they are required, and sales says the catalog does not have them in it for my my bike. Specialized sells carbon flat bars with these reinforcement inserts though this is the 2007 models so I have no way of verifying if the sales guy is correct.

My next step is to contact Specialized though I came across your website and figured I would ask you since you have no info. Interesting since I see a lot of bikes with barends.

Hi Patrick,
You are right with what you have found out about carbon handlebars you cannot fit bar ends to bars that are not specially made for them, this means they are reinforced internally. If you fit bar ends to normal carbon handle bars they will probably break, if you use the bar ends that fit inside the bar they damage the carbon weave on the inside then tend to snap, the worst thing is that you probably wont see anything on the out side, but the damage will going on in the inside of the bar and there will be an accident when you don’t expect it.

If you use the clamp style bar end, which clamps round the handle bar, this will crush the handle bar, again damaging the carbon, but this is more obvious, you will see the damage being done.

Basically if you don’t have the correct bars don’t try to fit bar ends. It looks like you are probably going to have to buy some new handle bars, there are many carbon bars on the market, buy the bars and the bar ends at the same time, the bike shop will make sure you have the right stuff for the job. Make sure you follow the instructions properly, the torque setting are very important, so as not to damage the handle bars or for them not to come lose.