New handlebars are way cheaper than a new face.

That's not a handlebar. That's a handled it bar, but won't any longer. Send it into retirement.

How did you even do that? Did a Xenomorph bleed on it? I left my bike in a leaky shed for 20 years and with a couple of squirts of WD40 it's more or less fine. Yours looks like you kept it in a canal.

Perfect hole for internal cable routing!

But seriously: I’m impressed and glad you found it out now! Do you leave your bike outside under rain and sun or is it due to sweat?

You're one pothole away from kissing your stem.

Is it time? No. The time was long ago. But the second best time is now. Worship the one you have now as the holey relic that it is, may its iron oxide be ever developing.

A sharp left turn may reveal, in dramatic fashion, that the handlebar is not all right. There's a dead branch dangling on the end. Things are not likely to turn out well for this biker.

No. Its just salt from your sweat. Hit it with some tap water and brush.

that'll buff out

IDK... It looks pretty grippy textured as is. 🤷‍♂️

If you don't want to end up as meat crayon, yes. My handlebar broke while driving due to rust, and it was no fun.

You can prevent this. I could not, the fucker rusted from the inside out...

Nah!

Maybe

Can you ride your bike with no handlebars, no handlebars? 🎵

Pff, don't listen to all these hater, jbweld it, putty it, sand it, paint it, and send it.

Jk i hope you get a new one soon.

Handlebar grip tape has always struck me as the ultimate obsolete invention. Those foam sheaths are more comfortable and they also don't fall off.