Avian Handlebar Quality?

[Zhu Tou]

Panda Podium indicates on its website that Canary and Falcon handlebars are currently unavailable due to large and unpredictable backorders, while these handlebars are readily available from Avian directly, and from Aliexpress. When I asked PP about fitment on my bike, PP stated that Avian are struggling to make bars that meet our QC. This YT video - - seems to back up PP's statement.

What are your experiences with Avian handlebars?

[toxin]

there's a pretty sizeable thread on weight weenies, and reports are all over the place. Some fine, some with aesthetical defects, some poor insides and a safety hazerd here or there. I would recommend staying away, based on that thread.

[Lotnik]

There's a lot bad  reviews on Ali as well. I would skip it for now. I'm looking right now for quick pro Zephyr SL right now, but I need to do bike fitting first.

[Serge_K]

Now that every new bike under the sun has full cable integration, product differentiation is done on weight. Problem is, you can crash badly on a bike if the bars snap, in a split second. Because you had the vanity of wanting to shave 30g on that cockpit.
Also, noodly bars aren't nice.

You can't beat physics.

To the risk of sounding like a boomer, does it make sense to obsess over lightweight components there? It's not even something you can flex about to get laid.

[Gus]

It sounds like in that video he hit a big pothole (presumably at fast speed in a race) which resulted in a serious crash, severe enough to damage to his bike, damage his bars, and dnf the race. Seems to me like the bars are not to blame. If the crash was bad enough to damage his bike frame, why is he emphasizing that the bars cracked as well? It’s not like the bars failed under normal riding…. In fact he even says prior to this he rode the bars over really rough roads without any issues.

[00Garza]

It sounds like in that video he hit a big pothole (presumably at fast speed in a race) which resulted in a serious crash, severe enough to damage to his bike, damage his bars, and dnf the race. Seems to me like the bars are not to blame. If the crash was bad enough to damage his bike frame, why is he emphasizing that the bars cracked as well? It’s not like the bars failed under normal riding…. In fact he even says prior to this he rode the bars over really rough roads without any issues.

I think he asserts that the pothole hit broke the bars which caused the crash. He’s also assuming a name brand would fare better. A big pothole hit at speed can easily destroy anything carbon.

[toxin]

IMO handlebars are the last thing in the steering assembly that should fail when a bike is submitted to an impact at the wheel

[Gus]

I think he asserts that the pothole hit broke the bars which caused the crash. He’s also assuming a name brand would fare better. A big pothole hit at speed can easily destroy anything carbon.

Yeah, I went back and re-watched. And in his description and his reply to the top comment he does claim that the bars caused the crash. But several commenters have expressed skepticism about his claim and his replies are not exactly illuminating. One commenter asks "how do you know that they cracked before the crash and not during?" and his response is "I couldn’t see any crack on them before and it was stage 7". Follow-up comment: "I am not defending these bars, but to this question, how are you certain on the sequence of events? Hit a pothole > bars crack > crash > bike destroyed... how are you sure the bars didn't break when the rest of your bike did? In my crashes while racing, everything happens so quick and its so traumatic, everything is a blur". He did not respond to it. As far as I can tell, he assumes that the bars cracked on hitting the pothole, thus causing the crash, but he is basing this purely on the fact that after the crash, the bars were cracked. They could have easily been damaged by the crash itself.

I have no dog in this fight, although I'm not convinced that these bars are dangerous. I don't doubt that superlight bars are less robust than heavier bars. But 240g of carbon fiber in something the size of a bar is still a LOT of carbon fiber. A whole S-Works SL8 frame is only 680 grams lol.

[Serge_K]

IMO handlebars are the last thing in the steering assembly that should fail when a bike is submitted to an impact at the wheel

Interesting take. Why would that be? I know it's fairly common for bars to snap, and I never asked myself why they should fail last.

[toxin]

Because they're a contact point. If they fail, the rider is going face and teeth first into the stem.

If the fork or wheels fail, at least the bike and crucially your arms are still more likely to make contact with the road first.