Tiny handlebars

lotus49

I was in Hammersmith today and I saw what looked like a bicycle messenger on a fixie with the tiniest bars I have ever seen. They really weren't much wider than the width of his two hands plus his stem. I would guess that they weren't more than about 24cm across.

Is it really possible to control a bike properly in an urban environment with such minute bars? I also wondered whether the size of the bars was in any way connected with the fact that it was a fixie.

mtbboy101

That is not short. This is

MountainMonster

I see them around quite a lot here in Cambridge, I think they look purely silly, but everyone has their own tastes!

mk1markfalkirk

They were originally cut to make squeezing between cars easier, they are ridiculous and now Hipsters all over the world cut their bars down to mimic that of the courier. cant imagine it handles too great. . .

JamesB5446

If your shoulders and hips are wider than the bars then how do they help in traffic?

rolf_f

JamesB5446 wrote:

If your shoulders and hips are wider than the bars then how do they help in traffic?

You can shift your position and shoulder width isn't where cars are at their widest. My problem is I'd have thought at that width you'd need very good control to make use of the narrow width. Probably doesn't take long to learn though.

thegreatdivide

Barley bars...as in Nathan.

ricky1980

MountainMonster wrote:

I see them around quite a lot here in Cambridge, I think they look purely silly, but everyone has their own tastes!

+1, also looks proper camp when you are riding, not sure it gives any aerodynamic benefits...

DavidJB

Hispter bikes...

lotus49

mtbboy101 wrote:

That is not short. This is

Now that really is tiny. At least with the ones I saw the rider was able to get his whole hand on each side (just).

I did wonder if it was just a fashion thing. I can see the advantages of a fixie (not that I'd fancy one with the hills round here) but the itty bitty bars just look silly.

I imagine that squeezing between cars may be useful in order to escape irate motorists and pedestrians judging by the way that many of the cyclists I saw over the last two days were riding. Is there some sort of a prize in London these days for breaking the most traffic regulations? I lived in London for many years and I don't remember it being that bad. No wonder a lot of people hate cyclists .

cougie

Ed Clancy has pretty small bars on his track bike - seems to work for him.

Paul 8v

mtbboy101 wrote:

That is not short. This is

That look bloody lethal, damn hipsters...