Originally Posted by
cyrano138
Honestly I just think it's ugly as hell. If I were desperate and the diameter matched I'd use it.
...beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You can usually get away with .2 larger in bar diameter, but it's better not to, if you have a choice. The one thing you mentioned that is absolutely not a good idea is straightening your old bar. Those forged "bridge girder' look stems were trendy for a while. 3T made something similar for a while.