Noob here...

I'm trying to find a nice silver polished handlebar to go with a silver Thomson x2 stem. I've found one in the Deda Newton Shallow, but it's clamp area is 31.7mm, while the clamp for the Thomson stem is 31.8mm.

Can you only use Deda bars with Deda stems?

The Deda bar with Thomson stem will work just fine.

That is .1mm not 1mm. I think that would work but you wont know until you try. May need a shim.

This has been dicussed here quite a bit. You are fine mixing the two.

Yeah 1/100th of a centimeter isn't going to make a difference.

Not really.

It's a rounding issue. 1.25" = 31.75mm

Deda rounds down -> 31.7

Everyone else round up -> 31.8

At least thats how I understood it.

Yep. They're exactly the same size (not counting manufacturing tolerances).

Cool, many thanks. Yeah...sorry about the 1mm/.1mm mix-up. That factor of 10 certainly changes things.

This talk about Thomson stems, handlebars, etc. prompted me to contact LH Thomson directly and ask them if they had any plans to produce road handlebars. I received a response, and they told me that although they won't be making drop bars immediately, "2011 or 2012 is a distinct possibility."

Something to look forward to if you're a fan of Thomson.

Wow, if Thomson is doing something then road bikes really are "back".

I was in a LBS nearer to the arctic circle than I'd like to be and it was full of pinarellos and other road bikes. I was floored since this was trees and pickup truck country. Response from the sales staff?

"Mountain bikes have had their day".