Behavior of Bike Handlebars Made of Braided Carbon Fibre

The mechanical design of a bike handlebar made of carbon fibre is presented. Usually carbon fibre handlebars are constituted by unidirectional (UD) carbon fibre prepreg. That configuration usually leads to a light design of the piece but fragile. The proposed design allows the handlebar to withstand as high efforts as a steel bar could. On the contrary the carbon handlebar presents a weight much lower. This can be achieved thanks to the selected carbon braiding. Design, manufacturing on cheap PolyLactic Acid (PLA) 3D printed moulds, FEM calculation and testing of the developed carbon fibre handlebar are shown in this paper. Keywords: handlebar, carbon fibre, numerical simulation, test, braiding