Thanks for the warnings. The bars have been pretty well inspected, particularly in stress regions like the stem clamp, and don't show any signs of stress. The FSA bars are pretty damn overbuilt in the clamp area, and that seems to have helped. There is really a lot of material there, which makes me feel better.

Either way, these bars aren't going on a 'performance bike', just an around town bike, so they won't be used very agressively. I'll keep the inspections regular, as I do with all my 'salvage' gear.

Just be glad I abandoned my plan to repair the broken CF fork I found in the same dumpster.

peace,
sam

hi everybody,

i just had the pleasure of cutting my handlebars with a very-heavy-duty pipe cutter borrowed from a constructionista who is installing some pipe into our apartment. I had no idea what a pipe cutter was; I was expecting some kind of saw-with-guide or something. it worked beautifully. I marked the ends with electrical tape and cut them off, very clean and symmetrical cuts. Some quick work with a flat file smoothed the ends.

If I start cutting tubes of metal a lot, I am definitely going to hunt one of these down at a swap meet or somewheres.