Aeronova clamp - damaged?

[4ibanez]

I know there's been a few threads where 3t bars have a bit of a 'crease' in the clear coat from clamping - usually no problem. The clear is obviously quite thick around the clamp, and I'm not too worried about the stem outline.

But with my bar, it looks like a bit of a gouge level with the max torque info. As a minimum it's gone through the paint... More than cosmetic? Your thoughts please. eBay purchase - keep or return?

[pdlpsher1]

It looks OK to me. I wouldn't worry about it. I have three 3T bars and they all have some form of indentation.

[Jugi]

I wouldn't worry either. Last week I took my Ergonova off the stem and it had very similar indentations on it. Used for several years in combination with 3T's ARX II stem and always tightened with a torque wrench to 5Nm.

[JerryLook]

I got an Ergonova from eBay a few months back that had a much bigger dent than that. I ended up returning it.

https://weightweenies.starbike.com/foru ... p?t=152258

Since then I bought a new Ergonova and torque it to 4nm. No indentations so far.

I wouldn’t worry about those small marks. You’re going to sand the bar down anyways right?

[prebsy]

yeah really seems to be the trend with 3T bars. I've owned a lot of them and they all get this, maybe they are loading on the coats of clear or something ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Bridgeman]

I've witnessed a handlebar break, so if it were me I'd inspect the entire contact area under magnification. Try and determine if the indentation goes beyond the clearcoat and into the carbon.

If you have any questions, I'd take it to a pro repair shop or send it back for a quantitative determination.