steering control

biff55
biff55 Posts: 1,404
edited August 2010 in MTB general
which would have the biggest impact , with regards to improving control on rocky technical decents ,
a shorter stem or wider bars ?
wouldnt want to change both which may drastically alter feel of the whole bike but could do with tightening up steering on the rough.

Comments

  • The Northern Monkey
    The Northern Monkey Posts: 19,174
    How wide is wide?
    Santa Cruz Butcher
  • biff55
    biff55 Posts: 1,404
    anything wider than the 600mm xc bars currently on bike , say 650-680mm ?
    edit : dont have big enough physique to need anything bigger than 700mm
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Wider bars.
  • biff55
    biff55 Posts: 1,404
    yeehaamcgee wrote:
    Wider bars.

    thats what i was thinking , and wouldn't worsen climbing abilities like a short stem might.
    cheers.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    I did both at the same time and the difference was really noticeable, in a good way. It was the difference between feeling like I was laying across the bike to actually being sat in it.

    I moved from a 110mm stem and low-rise XC bars to 670mm hi-rise bars and a 80mm stem.

    Making the bars wider, will, in a way have the effect of lengthening the stem (on your body anyway), sounds daft, but think about it - your arms will spread slightly more, which will drop your shoulders.

    Also if you shorten the stem and use the same (or less) degrees of rise you'll lower the height of the bars. Hence why I went from low to hi rise bars.

    I'm also a pretty avid hill climber and didn't find the shorter stem hindered hill climbing, quite the opposite, as I was more comfortable it improved. Especially on out of the saddle stuff like short sharp sprints, or technical steep stuff.
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    It varies for the person as we have different length arms and different width shoulders. I find wide bars lessen control.
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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    i wnet with a shorter stem and wider bars on my enduro, made a whopping difference asi went from 640mm and 65mm stem down to 40mm stem and 700ish bars.

    i love the difference but its alot to change at once.
  • biff55
    biff55 Posts: 1,404
    tough one to call without buying the parts and experimenting , which could be un-nessacerily expensive.
    clearly an issue of compromises , needs some more thought.

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