I went over the handlebars last month in a crash hard enough to bend my frame and fork beyond repair and send me to the emergency room. (The incident was described elsewhere; I won't go on about it here). Now that I'm mended enough to do some mechanical work, I stripped down the wrecked bike--my winter singlespeed--and built up a replacement on another frame. I reused the drive train parts, and put aside the headset and derailleurs for later use.

But I'm a little conflicted about the handlebars and stem. They don't seem to be bent or cracked. On the other hand, judging from the impact on my ribs, I must have hit them pretty hard. One brake lever is also badly bent, evidently from hitting the road after I had gone on ahead of the bike.

We're not talking Cinelli stuff here--just garden-variety Japanese, or more likely Taiwanese hardware. Regardless of what anyone says, I think I'm going to play it safe and put them in with the metal recycling pile. But I am sort of curious. What would others do--or what have they done--in similar circumstances?