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Hi Chaps,
I just removed by bars from the bike, and noticed there's an imprint of the stem on the grippy coating of the bar at the stem. Is that pretty normal in people's experience?
The stem was torque up using a torque wrench, and the proper cross method...
It's ages since I've had a carbon bar, so it concerned me at first glance.
Cheers
Ricks
I had this on some Raceface bars & it caused a bit of concern but sent them to Wiggle & I received a full refund.
No one else? There doesn't seem to be a concenus through general Googling, I'm just a little confused as the faceplate on the stem definitely wasn't overtightened, so I'm in the camp that the grippy coating is pretty soft....
Here's an idea of what the imprint looks like, it's the same all around the bar - a perfect imprint of the stem's face plate and backing.
Easton Haven Stem and Crank Brothers Iodine II AM bars...
[img] https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ow48202SwL8/UfvzbCf7vUI/AAAAAAAAHVw/YyTy4uHoBHs/w461-h615-no/2013+-+1 [/img]
[img] 
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All three of my Easton Monkylites have slight clamp marks, assumed it was the orange graphic material applied across the centre of the bars.
I also have a pair of Havoc's but haven't removed those from the stem to have a look.
That looks very normal to me and nothing to be concerned about. Of course it is hard to be 100% certain from pics alone but the clearcoat on carbon bars does seem to compress under stems/ brake lever even when the bolts are torqued correctly. Personally, it looks very normal
Here's a photo from the front... You can see the paint on top of the bar is still underneath the coating that's squished and has the imprint on... (I think)
[img] https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-QB_b5mYIt4A/UfvzbBM_DwI/AAAAAAAAHXM/LlVHAYk67Sk/w461-h615-no/2013+-+5 [/img]
My mate fitted a pair of these bars a couple of weeks ago and had similar imprints when we moved his brakes, didn't think anything of it at the time other than it seemed odd that the lacquer was so soft.
Holy cow! Crank Brothers have just replied to an email I sent 🙂
They say it looks like I'm fine, it's just the clearcoat and nothing to worry about 🙂
I predict a hospital thread in the future 😉 nah you'll be reet.