I would like to bend my Syntace C2 bars so the hand grips are more of a 35% angle from the current guess of 60% upright. Basically I want the hand grips flatter. Also, I was thinking of bending my Vision base bar so the part where the break lever inserts a little more steeper, which would then make them similar to riding on the hoods. Any thoughts? Do I need to heat? Get some kind of bar bender?
Unless you own a heat treating furnace and know what you’re doing with annealing and heat treating of aluminum, then just don’t do it. Trying to bend heat treated aluminum will most likely lead to cracks.
You can buy or rent tube benders that do not require heat. I fear that you may not have enough tube to use one of these benders. They generally require a bit of length before and after the radius to work. Take your bar to a Home Depot, find the tube benders in the plumbing or electrical department, and see if it will work. You may be able to bend them just fine. Of course, you may end up trashing a perfectly good bar in the process.
Aren’t Syntace bars anodized? If so, bending may wreak havoc on the finish.
You could always cover the wrecked finish with bar tape or Hello Kitty stickers.
My (ex)girlfriend did a pretty good job of bending the bars to have a more steep bend by driving the bike on roof rack into the garage door. maybe you could try that? I had to use a sledgehammer to get the dent out of the garage door though.
J
I wouldn’t suggest bending any of these bars.
They are bent while in an anealed state (T1 hardness). They bend/form very easily in this state. Once they are finished with all of the bending/welding, they are heat treated (1 or 2 step process depending on the alloy) to bring back up to T6 hardness. You really can’t bend a T6 product without stressing the hell out of it (read: crack it in the process or shortly thereafter).
Your choices are:
- replace with the stuff you want.
OR - try to bend and eventually ruin your stuff and proceed to step 1 (I can’t determine if 1 will occur before or after hospital trip and rehab or funeral)
GB
Not sure if it will work…but here’s the ole ski pole trick.
Take a bandana (or cloth) and rub it up and down briskly. Perhaps you already have that muscle developed. ;o)
It does a good job heating the alum anough to bend, but not break.
But…that’s the ski pole trick, not really sure what would happen with Syntace.
Oh a side note…why is Syntace so non-existent in the new aerobar market? Sheeeshh…if they just did a few tweaks, they would still be kind of the mountain.
Not sure about bending the Syntace but I have bought 6061 T 6 pipe and bent my own extension with no problems at work. I do have a hydrolic press at work and had the shop guys build me jigs to apply even pressure around the bar as I am bending it. I have done some extensions with a 15 degree bend and some with a 25 degree bend and they work great. Have had them on my bike for about a year and nothing wrong so far. Going to get the guys to build me an S-bend jig next and see how that works.
If (and a big if) you are able to get the syntace bars to bend without cracking, they will not be safe to ride. You will be risking your neck if you do this and actaully try to use the bars.
Too many reasons why…
As some other posters have mentioned, the bars are heat treated. If you try to bend them, they will snap in half. That’s what happened to my Visiontechs when I tried it.
Regular aluminum conduit/tubing from a wholesaler is not heat treated and can be bent.
Although I agree with posters that say re-bending the bars will weaken them, I disagree that it will make them unsafe… at least to the point that some people have suggested. We’re talking about the end of an aero extension where little to no force is put on. If you ARE putting force on your aero extensions, you might want to consider reviewing your position/fit.
JB