Road bar size

Andrew Brown

I am considering chaning my ancient old quill stem with a aheadeset adaptor and new stem and am thinking of some new bars at the same time.

Is there a recommended width/size for handlebars, those I see on new bikes seem a lot wider than mine, is this just a fashion thing? Is there a ratio between your shoulder size or arm length or reach?

fluff.

Bars as wide as your shoulders is the norm, so your arms are parallel when in your usual riding position.

John Stevenson

There does seem to be a greater availability and use of wide bars in the last few years though. I suspect it's partly because of mountain bikers crossing over to the road.

I think the best advice is 'go with what feels good'.

rustychisel

Yeah, the current trend - and it is only a trend - is to have wider bars, 44cm edge to edge is common and 46cm for larger frame sizes quite usual too. Back in the 1960s, 70s and 80s 40cm was usual with 42cm considered wide, and 38cm often the norm for track.

Sure as apples someone [soon] will decide there's an aero advantage to going back to 40cm bars and we'll all follow like lemmings. FWIW, width of bars doesn't seem to bother me too much, it's not a big deal like forward reach or ergonomic hand positions, foe example. I'm a common sized 5'10" with standard 'man sized' shoulders, but equally happy up to 44cm bars.

OT: the main thing at the moment is a shift away from ergo bars (silly bends, swoops, pistol grips etc) in favour of conventional curvature drop bars. Long past time, IMO. Grumble now complete.