I'm going to sand my 3T Ergonova and Arx Ltd. stem down to a matte carbon finish.
I've got the sanding steps under control, but...

The gritty part of my handlebars is more or less completely smooth where my stem sits. Due to huge potholes and the stem slipping.
Would it be a problem of sanding the gritty part away and use carbon paste on the stem and handlebars when assembling again?

I have strangely enough just sanded down my stem and bar - ergonova LTD and ritchey C260 carbon. I tried to leave the grit behind but it was impossible as it would ahve shown through the stem spaces. So i sanded down as it is not complete yet i haven't ridden it, but i imagine a bit of carbon paste and maybe leaving it slightly rougher should be fine.

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Evo 5.63kg SL3 7.045kg viewtopic.php?f=10&t=110579" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dearly noted.. Only one way to find out then..

The LTD bar looks like shit for that price.

Okay..

Why? design? finish?

And is it not all about weight?
You pay more for Schmolke. Does it look better?
Or which bar looks better?

Sorry for being off topic here.

I mean the colour fading. Skip the paint under stem. Problem solved.

ive done this with the same combo. get a rough idea of where your stem will sit on the handlebars and sand the visible parts. I've managed it with minimal effort. Though rough roads, its yet to slip.

put assembly paste in the clamp area. with that, the rough bar finish is superfluous. it barely does anything anyway IMO.

I sanded down my ENVE bars and stem, and have had zero slipping problems. Also, I believe the inside clamping surface of the stem also has that grip (at least on my ENVE stem it did, which is made at same place at 3T stem) so you should be fine.

I'll sand it all down, and get back when it's seen some miles..

After sanding u might want to check carefully whether you compromised your carbon layup with stem clamp...the gouge on the right side of pic appears to be pretty deep ( beyond clearcoat and paint) and into the carbon. EM3

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My 2011 Cervelo R5

^Noted.. Just checked the bars, so far it seems fine. I think the picture exaggerates it a bit..

The result:





























3T Ergonova 40cm:
Before: 178 grams
Now: 164 grams

3T Arx Ltd. 100mm
Before: 116 grams
Now: 113 grams

WOW! that looks amazing, what sanding steps did you use??

thanks