what's your handlebar width??

LoUiS1985

Evening all,

I currently run these 660mm bars on my racy xc bike,

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/mountain- ... riser.html

and these 680mm wide bars on my more 'hardcore' bike

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/mountain- ... -bars.html

I much prefer the additional width of the wider bar as it gives me more 'leverage' when maneovering and cornering.

Hence i'm thinking of going even wider, i've seen some raceface 710mm width, or even nukeproof 760mm width ones that i like.
But will the extra width give me even more cornering control or does there come a point when the bars are too wide, causing awkward positioning and detrimental effects?

So what width bars do you run and how do you find them...??

All advice appreciated

The Northern Monkey

705mm on the NS.. 685mm on the P7

Short stem + wide bars is a sweet combo IMO..... not so great for climbing though..

Chaz.Harding

Wider = more leverage, and so more control. Your input will turn the wheel less too - so it'll feel like you can be more precise.

HOWEVER - wider bars are amazingly good at catching trees. It's a trade-off. Amazing how much 20/30mm width can make a difference - about HANDLEBARS, you lot....

cat_with_no_tail

I'm currently running 710mm FSA Maximus bars on the 456. They're spot on for the sort of riding I'm doing (All Mountain sort of stuff)

The narrowest I've ever gone was some Raceface Next SL carbon flats on the XC bike, MAN they were narrow, just 560mm.

covelove

i ride with 720mm funn fatboys and have (touch wood) avoided trees so far
i have also just bought a spank lounge bar at 700mm for my other half as her stumpjumper came with a 620mm which she has found a bit short.

wider, i think, is beter

biff55

bigbenj_08 wrote:

705mm on the NS.. 685mm on the P7
not so great for climbing though..

no kidding !
would be easier riding up K2 on unicycle.

Ps , just remembered you go gisburn yes ?
theres a section between trees where no way will your bars pass thru.
i'd still lke to watch as you tried

The Northern Monkey

biff55
You mean the bit of the volunteer section at the beginning?

Yea I fit... just

biff55

bigbenj_08 wrote:

biff55
You mean the bit of the volunteer section at the beginning?

Yea I fit... just

as a skinny xc weener with 600mm bars , i take that section at speed 8)

fletch8928

I am experimrnting at the mo. My cube ams came with Easton 630mm low riser bars which i have swapped for the 665mm low risers from my Kula. The Cube feels alot better, but now the kona has me feeling squished. I think I shall be investing in a new bar probably 685mm for the Cube, I am also considering getting a hi-riser but thats not the issue here.

630mm bars and I ride with my little fingers over the ends. 665mm means i dont, 685mm shouldd be about right. I am tempted to go 700mm+ and trim down if needs be.

The Northern Monkey

biff55 wrote:

bigbenj_08 wrote:

biff55
You mean the bit of the volunteer section at the beginning?

Yea I fit... just

as a skinny xc weener with 600mm bars , i take that section at speed 8)

I've got big brakes and big legs.... Stop quickly and build up speed even quicker :P

LoUiS1985

yeah i'm tempted to get the 760mm nukeproof bars and trim down also if they're a little too wide!!

scandalousg

I was out on a bike with wider bars on Saturday and it felt good with the wider bars on there. I'm going to give it a few more months and may think about upgrading mine too.

ilovedirt

710mm on my mongoose, 680mm on my scott

biff55

bigbenj_08 wrote:

biff55 wrote:

bigbenj_08 wrote:

biff55
You mean the bit of the volunteer section at the beginning?

Yea I fit... just

as a skinny xc weener with 600mm bars , i take that section at speed 8)

I've got big brakes and big legs.... Stop quickly and build up speed even quicker :P

no such thing as a stop thats quick , i'd be a dot on the horizon by the time you got going
again

RevellRider

DMR Wing Bars at 680mm

JamesBrckmn

i've got 680m FSA gravity lites on my hardcore xc bike (link in sig), upgraded from original 600mm bars, and i'm very pleased with the upgrade. i also have a 60mm stem, and the combo works well.

Splottboy

711 or so, for XC/Trail centres.

I even "sinned" last year, and ran barends for a while on risers! , Really helped with numbhands on long N.Wales climbs.

supersonic

620mm. I don't like wide bars, splay my arms too far apart and seems to reduce control for me.

The Big Cheese

carbons on the Marin, 600mm

Holzfeller risers on the GT 700mm (you need a wider bar on that beast)

Northwind

biff55 wrote:

Ps , just remembered you go gisburn yes ?
theres a section between trees where no way will your bars pass thru.

There's a section on Pie Run at Glentress that had to have a tree removed due to bar inflation, it was a bit of a tight squeak when 660mm was wide but it had to come down once The Wisdoms decreed that 680mm was the new black The same's had to happen on the Witch's Trails too. Funny stuff.

Mine are 680mm on the Soul, 660mm on the rigid and the road bike (Salsas, yes it'd be faster with drops but it's lovely with big wide flat sweeps) and 710 is going on the Hemlock, though I've a feeling I'll shorten those. 680mm feels nice to me, but then I'm quite narrow.

But wait! I see WMB declared 680mm "narrow" this month (P76) so I guess I should size up, wouldn't want narrow bars.

lesz42

on my aspect i went from the oem bars "620mm" to 685mm..

only had 2 rides with it so far, seems SO much more stable? and corning on berms seems easier?



seems more commanding?

supersonic

If wide bars give more leverage, but longer stems more leverage, why do many have shorter stems?!

Danlube

Wide bars + short stems = tonnes of leverage n control

supersonic

Ooops, I meant longer stems more leverage lol.

Mickey Eye

710 on my stumpjumper. Probably going to take it down a bit to be honest.

bannedbiker

My Rockhopper has the std 660mm bars which suit it pretty well.
My Reign orignally had 680mm bars and a 90mm stem which has been replaced with a 40mm stem and 713mm bars which are fecking sweet (and bright orange)!

paultrueman

ride with the nuke proof 760mm bars and 50mm stem on my stumpjumper, since fitting these bars and stem I can honestly say my riding has stepped up another level, the first few rides I was thinking about maybe chopping these bars down, No chance now! I love em wide!!

Paul

Mickey Eye

Since we're on the subject and I'm a bit out of the loop on equipment, what's a good carbon riser, around 680. Also grips similar in quality to ODI ruffians? Do they do carbon compatible versions?

schweiz

supersonic wrote:

If wide bars give more leverage, but longer stems more leverage, why do many have shorter stems?!

+1

I've just knocked up this quick diagram to demonstrate that going for a wider bar to give more control (by the fact that for the same amount of forward movement, the angular change is lessened), a shorter stem lessens the effect. The dimensions are in mm at an approx scale of 1:10 for how it would be on a real bike. The circle, for reference, has a diameter of 70.50mm (the width of the narrower bars)

joshtp

wide bar short stem is the only combo for aggressive riding, it gives the needed control for really steep and tech stuff, i also struggle to jump with a long stem and narrow bars.

schweiz

OK, I can see that having a shorter stem keeps your weight further back on the bike thus reducing the chance of going over the handlebars but the whole purpose of the stem is to add stability.

From what I can see on old photos, the first bikes had no stem at all, the handlebars were attached directly to the fork with the stem being the solution to the lack of stability that caused.

So wider bars counter the loss of stability caused by a shorter/no stem.

Being a roadie who goes mountain biking occaisionally, my MTB is as it came and the thought to change handlebar width or stem length has never crossed my mind. The length/width of these parts on a road bike is pretty much driven by physiology, i.e. getting the bike to fit rather than as an aspect of control. The more I think about it, should women's bikes have longer stems to compensate for narrower bars? I guess women's geometry bikes have shorter top tubes (women generally having proportionately shorter torsos) so a longish stem would be normal, but on a 'mens' bike with a long top tube, a short stem to compensate and narrow bars = twitchy ride?

Any more ideas on this?