Handlebar sizing

Crapaud

I've recently come to the conclusion that the handlebars on both the hack bike and the good bike are too narrow. I'm tempted to get some wider ones for the good bike, but am reluctant to fork out any money on a guess.

Is there a formula or some form of guide for determining the width of handlebars?
Does bar width relate to shoulder width or anything?
I did a search and can't see anything, neither can I recall this subject ever being discussed before.

richardjallen

I thought it was supposed to be shoulder width.

dennisn

I use a wide set of bars. I'm not a racer anymore but when I was I used a wider set.
I do have somewhat wider shoulders but I like the more open and easier breathing
feeling I get from wide bars. Some racers claim they use narrower bars to be more aero
and that they can get through a pack of bunched up riders easier because they can get through a bit smaller gap. And this may be true. I just like the more open feeling I get with
say a 42 or even a 44 wide bar. It's up to you. Whatever is more comfortable is for me.

Dennis Noward

wildmoustache

if you're pretty average sized then 42c2c is the standard. it's annoying that bars generally only come in 2cm width increments as it's quite a big jump

Brian B

Remember that some makes of handlebars measure the distance from inside to inside/outside to outside and finally centre to centre. Its easy to say i'll get a 44cm that will be the same size as a 42cm measured from a different spot etc.

nchammer

Related to this, I'm looking at getting a slighly wider set of bars as can feel my arms pointing inwards. I've currenlty got 25.8 bars/stem and think I'd find it more comftorbale if the bars were slightly larger (diameter). Are oversize bars any larger in diameter, or are they only larger at the point that connect to the stem and then taper down to the same size I have already? If this is the case I may as well stick with 25.8 bars, some chunkier tape and save myself bying a new stem, unless there's another advantage of 'oversize' bars.

redddraggon

Oversize bars are stiffer.

It's only the "bulge" that is wider than normal handlebars.