Okay, one more question.

I put a new quill stem on my bike, and had to slide the bars through the clamp to get it on. I was getting ready to tape the bars up and noticed I scratched them a bit by the clamp. 'No biggie' I thought. I'd just tape to the stem, or not pay attention to them.

Then I read that a scratch in your handle bars can weaken them to the point of eventual failure. They're not super deep, but I can feel them with my finger nail and there are multiple scratches.

I know it's on the pretty part, but I can deal with that if they're not going to dump me on my ass at some point.

Am I screwed?

Thanks.

Only cosmetically. These bars have a separate reinforcing sleeve in the center, so the bar itself is unaffected. Also bars of this type don't use the same high alloys as many ultralight bars, and so are far more forgiving of these kinds of insults.

All the Aluminum bars I have had can take quite a beating.

Awesome guys! I'll cover it with bar tape and forget it's there.

You're all the best!

No, don't cover the sleeve with tape. It won't look right if you tape all the way up to the stem (not to mention, you may start running out of tape). Best to only tape up to the edge of the center sleeve. If the scratches bother you, you can sand them out with fine grit wet sandpaper (600, 1000, 1500, all the way up to 2000 grit if you are a masochist like me). It will come off as fine black soot, so you may want to wear rubber gloves. Then rub some metal polish (I like Mother's Mag & Aluminum Polish) on the sanded area and you will have a beautiful mirror finish.

For further reading: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...ng-thread.html

I also use the Mothers polish.
It will turn your fingers black.
Forewarned is forearmed.

Next time when you find that the bars are tight enough to scratch like this use something to wedge open the split in the stem a little more so you avoid the sawing action needed to feed the bars though the hole.