What width bars are best for me?

wollow007

Hi Guy's

Currently got the standard bars which came with the bike (bike Commencal Super 4 Carbon).

The bars are Easton MonkeyLite XC low-rise bars SL which I think are pretty good bars but being 6'6" tall and broad shouldered I think i could do with a wider bar more like a light DH bar with a bigger rise maybe.

Want to keep the bars light, also want carbon, any ideas?

CraigXXL

Don't want much do you.

I've switched to wide bars 720 and 750 in mid and low rise and love them. They feel much more natural to my shoulder width but the 750's can catch on the shubbery. They aren't light (alloy) though compared to what you're using so may be looking at carbon Havoc at 750mm/235g/mid rise or carbon Haven 710mm/170g/mid rise

D-Cyph3r

Wide, light, suitable for a big bloke and carbon?


Easton Haven.

allthegearnoidea

an easy way to find out what width you should aim for, get a friend/partner etc. to measure the distance between your hands when sat at Comfy rest in an arm chair, will giva an idea what your relaxed position is, you dont want to be squeezing your arms in on 630mm bars when 730's your natural position as such,

ricardo_smooth

I'm 6'5 and found 660's too narrow, my shoulders are also broad and found 711 very comfortable now I've switched don't think I'd need to go any bigger

Arkady001

Measure yourself across the back of the shoulders from arm-socket to arm-socket (not the gap between outstretched arms as it can be slightly off), but with your arms outstretched in front of you. You'll need a friend unless you're very oddly built.
That's the width of bar you want.

Going wider makes it difficult to control in tight singletrack as your spacial awareness is a little off - you'll instinctively know which gaps your shoulders can fit between, but if the bars are significantly wider, you may find you constantly clip branches and trees...

Too narrow and you don't have enough steering control at slower speeds.

captainfly

I found shoulder width plus six to eight inches works for me and judging from average shoulder widths for most people. However I am about three and a half to four inches brader than most so run blackspire 808s in low rise and azonic world force 762mm high rise anything else kills my wrists and shoulders on anything other that very short blasts, but for decicated jumping or gravity run where there isn't any pedaling or endurance then some 710mm or narrower bars are better (got some howitzers that came with a bike for this duty).

.blitz

Wide bars are nice - I am 6'2" and used some 760s up until the middle of last year but they were just too wide to thread through the trees on my local loop.

Have gone back to 710s which are more manageable I just hold them on the very ends when I need a bit more leverage.

captainfly

.blitz wrote:

Wide bars are nice - I am 6'2" and used some 760s up until the middle of last year but they were just too wide to thread through the trees on my local loop.

Have gone back to 710s which are more manageable I just hold them on the very ends when I need a bit more leverage.

Yeah that can be a problem however if a trail is that narrow elbow width can be difficult even with narrower bars. But it is he general hand position for brakes and gear shifters is the usual issue not leverage, After all it is only an inch and a half or so either side and if weight is an issue how about running standard bars with 90mm gripshift grips to widen hand position?