Anybody here have experience making handlebars? I know from past reading that there's all kinds of stuff to think about when bending steel tubes, but not much more than that. I'm curious about different experiences, successes, failures, techniques, etc.
I'm fantasizing about a bar with bends sort of like a wider Nitto Jitensha, or maybe a flattened out Salsa Woodchipper. Just want to start a conversation about it -- I'd like to know what you all think!
Ok, that was good. Rody, I've seen your work before, but it bears repeating that those bars are awesome.
Here're some more specifics. I'm interested in testing a bar design and the way it affects bike handling. I'm not interested in making a production bar, or achieving light weight. I'd like to bend it as opposed to cutting and joining. What do you all think about using straight 7/8" and a shim? Is .049 thick enough in 7/8"? What kind of bending implements have worked well?
I reckon these questions are still probably too vague -- that's why I'm asking! You don't want me to end up going this route.
Your ability to achieve safe bends (ie...maintaining constant wall thickness without deformity) is almost entirely dependent on your equipment and your knowledge of how to manipulate it.
What type of bending equipment do you have?
Does it fully encapsulate the tube or offer an internal mandrel, allowing the material to stretch without deforming or collapsing it?
Does your equipment allow you to keep the piece in phase so opposite bends are in the same plane?
All that considered, as your focus is on relative handling changes with varying hand positions and not on performance/weight, I'd suggest going with a .875" x .065" wall in 4130. This will allow you sufficient wall thickness to compensate for less than optimal bending equipment, giving you a safety margin as well for positional testing.
Best of luck, make sure to share your progress with the group.
All wonderful questions -- I really appreciate you taking the time to respond!
I have no bending equipment -- looking for recommendations or experiences. I know, I know, I can hear the collective sighs echoing through the room. I'm just a guy asking questions on the internet! So, it looks like there's a lot of stuff out there, from DIY kits to harbor freight junk to industrial quality stuff. It sounds like the harbor freight tubing bender is really more of a kinker, so that's probably out. A lot of the stuff I've found elsewhere online is for automotive or ATV applications, which doesn't necessarily apply to bikes.
I remember hearing a friend tell me about filling tubes with sand to facilitate safe bending. Is that something to consider? Or do I just solve that problem by purchasing a bender with a mandrel as you say?
I want to try two versions of the bar -- one with rise and drop and one without. I feel like the flat, two dimensional bar won't be a problem to keep in phase, but maybe I'm wrong. Obviously the three dimensional bar will be tougher. My thinking is that steel is cheap, and once I get a bender going I can experiment with techniques for maintaining bilateral symmetry.
I was trying to avoid starting the dreaded "hey I'm an idiot tell me how to do something I have no experience with" thread, but . . . well . . .
Keeping in mind that I have 0 experience in bending tubes, I would guess that if you're asking for equipment recommendations, you're a long way off from being able to bend handlebars. The Nitto set up appears to use custom tooling (die and inside mandrel) for each bend. You'd probably need the same for doing it at home, unless you were ok with the same radius for each bend, and your bend wasn't too tight, and you were ok with deformation at each bend, and you didn't mind endless fiddling to get each bend at the right spot. You might be able to get away with making them with a Diacro bender (lots of threads here and on mtbr about diacros), but you'd still probably need a custom die fabricated. This isn't cheap, even if you can find the bender used.
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Motordoper
Making handlebars
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