It's an easy choice to replace - but I'll bet that is cosmetic and has been like that since the day the bars were installed.


I have seen a lot more failed carbon bars on road bikes than alloy, but the sweat monsters do have a special ability to kill stuff.

From the picture, it looks like the paint is squeezed. If you are just riding for leisure, you don't need to replace it. If you need to compete, it is recommended to replace it

I really can't imagine a single bike part that would reasonably be considered safe for recreational riding but dangerous for racing. Not a single one.

It's part of what I call "the sacred path of force" from the contact patch of your front tire to your hands. Failures anywhere on that path can lead to an over the bars head plant and possibly the loss of everything you hold dear. I had a failure there and it cost me years, a profession, who knows how much money lost or not made, friends ...

A replacement CF bar costs what? $200?

The edge of the clamp or end of the re-enforcing sleeve or bulge is where the vast majority of handlebar failures happen. I bent a thick-walled old school aluminum handlebar there decades ago. 10 years ago I saw the tiny beginnings of a crack on a nice aluminum bar there on my way to watch racing at the velodrome. There was a downhill on the way home with a stop sign at the bottom. No way was I doing that! Had a competitor pass word to the race announcer. Got a ride home from a racer who completely "got" why I needed a ride.