It’s the first sip that tells you whether the milk has turned sour or not. White and perfect from the outside, in terms of taste, however, possibly a bitter disappointment. What applies to milk, unfortunately also applies to handlebars. With the major difference that the sour taste cannot be equalled with an unavoidable fall with possibly devastating consequences.
You cannot tell from the outside whether the handlebars will hold or break. A best before date? Does not exist. This does not only apply to the different handlebar models on the market, but even to the tolerances within the same make, as this test with its alarming results shows: 17 handlebar/stem combinations for the cross-country/marathon use as well as all mountain/enduro use with widths from 705 to 780 millimetres are in the test. Among the candidates are all materials, i.e. carbon, aluminium and titanium as well as one model with the latest diameter at an increased size of 35 mm. To examine test variations within the same model three test samples per handlebar/stem combination had to undergo the test procedure in the independent test laboratory Zedler in Ludwigsburg.
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Author: Peter Nilges
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