hairline crack in ec90 handlebars - still safe?

I had a small accident about 2 months ago which involved my bike comnig down pretty hard right on the corner of my ec90 handlebars. At the time i thought the only damage were some surface scratches in the carbon. But today while replacing my handlbar tape, i noticed what looks like a very thin hairline crack going from one end of the bars to the other side, just a bit about where they hit. In the two months in between the accident and now ive been biking quite alot and always without any problems (however i hardly ride with my hands in the drops). the bars are relatively new so i dont really feel like replacing them, however my own safety comes first of course.

so the question is can i keep on riding with them, or would that be a dumb thing to do?

any advice would be appreciated

it looks like a crack in the paint coating where the bars have flexed hard in the crash, although it's unlikely the structure is cracked as well (you'd have known it by now) the only way to find out is to remove that paint around the crack...

I wouldn't take a chance with them. Do what RPM advises above. I can think of few things worse than having my bars go while putting some real weight onto them.

thanks for the replies.

so wet sandpaper the area around the crack, and then is there anything specific i should look for? or just check to see if the crack extends deeper than the paint?

looks like the crack goes through all layers of the paint (you can still see it faintly in the white primer, etc) , but as far as i can tell it *appears *to stop at the carbon. i also tried putting alot of weight on the bottom of the drop, and it held fine...so, i think i may be allright on this, but just in case i took some pictures:

any and all second opinions are welcome

and links to high res versions:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tsewangk/4802217809/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tsewangk/4802219395/sizes/o/

also tried putting alot of weight on the bottom of the drop, and it held fine...[URL="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tsewangk/4802219395/sizes/o/"][/URL]

That's the next thing I was going to suggest, get hold of them and give them a right beasting, more than they would get during normal use.

If they don't creak or break you should be fine.

unless you crack them while testing it

i had my brother hold it while i leant on the drop with both hand and put my full weight on it. even lifted my feet and bounced a little. looks solid

just finished going over the bit with clear nail polish and laced it back up with bartape. think im good to go

thanks a bunch for the help!

This is why carbon is scary...you just never know quite how forked it is...

I wouldn't ride with that

ok, I would, but my hand will be between the stem and the crack.

yeah you should give it to me

Make sure you let us know when/if they do snap. Just for the record.