[mohair_chair]

I had a bike shop owner tell me I should replace the bars every three years. And that was after just normal use, not counting crashes and other impacts. I just smiled. Uh...yeah, sure. Maybe if I owned a bike shop, I could do that.

I had a very hard crash once with bars that were probably 7-8 years old. They were banged up pretty good, but I rode home on them, including a fast descent (which I went reasonably slow on) and mile or so on a dirt/gravel road. Given the damage, I worried the whole way home, but I didn't have much choice. No problems, but I replaced them when I got home. But I would not automatically replace the bars unless they took a big impact or show a lot of damage.