Bar Width....

iDad

Bar Width……

I’m 6’2” 17st….41yr old…am broad and tall rather than chubby.

I’m riding a fairly standard 2007 spesh FSR XC…..only upgrades/changes I’ve made so far are a set of XT brakes, a new saddle and Grips.
The bars seem a little narrow for me at 645mm so I’ve managed to get hold of some Nukeproof Warheads at 760mm wide (not fitted them yet) but they look miles wider.

What width of bars do you guys use and why?

lawman

I'm a hair over 6ft and use Easton havoc 750mm bars, carbon on the Susser and alloy on the hardtail, great shape, perfect width and the quality is superb. The carbon ones are awesome, stiff but with a vibration damping side too, best bars on the market IMO. The Haven has the same shape but slightly narrower and are also great bars.

EH_Rob

5ft 8, use 710mm alloy havocs. could probably go a bit wider i guess but it won't make me a riding god, and in any case i may not prefer it. plus i do ride a lot in fairly dense woodland, so any wider may create problems in that sense.

rockmonkeysc

I'm 6'1" and 14.5 stone.
I use 720mm bars for XC and 760mm bars for DH. I find wider bars a bit of a pain for XC, tend to clip trees too often. I always go for a low rise and very little spacing under the stem. A low front end always helps handling and control.
Things like reach and stem length also effect the width of bars I find comfortable.

allthegearnoidea

i'm a 6ft'er and run nukeproof 760's on my soul, ive relatively Broad shoulders too, i went up in increments though due to sales and cheap bars, 635- 690/710/740/760, had some 785 raceface bars on for a while on the village hack bike but they were simply Too wide for me!
its all down to personal preference tough, what suits me may well not suit another rider of the same build, if you wanna go daft, grab a superstar Yardstick bar!! ;-)

EH_Rob

funny you should mention superstar yardstick in easter week, i believe jebus was crucified on one of them.

allthegearnoidea

EH_Rob wrote:

funny you should mention superstar yardstick in easter week, i believe jebus was crucified on one of them.

supersonic

635 on the zaskar carbon, 660 on the spesh, 580 on the zaskar le.

chez_m356

iDad wrote:

Bar Width……

I’m 6’2” 17st….41yr old…am broad and tall rather than chubby.

I’m riding a fairly standard 2007 spesh FSR XC…..only upgrades/changes I’ve made so far are a set of XT brakes, a new saddle and Grips.
The bars seem a little narrow for me at 645mm so I’ve managed to get hold of some Nukeproof Warheads at 760mm wide (not fitted them yet) but they look miles wider.

What width of bars do you guys use and why?

try them and see what you think, they can always be cut down if they are too much, if you have lock on grips, you can always move them along the bars until you find what works for you

The Rookie

640 on the Kraken (XC) 580 on the retro, 5'9" and medium build.

Surely bar width is a function of the person (shoulder width) mixed with the nature of the bike itself and a dash of personal preferance on top?

iDad

[/quote]
try them and see what you think, they can always be cut down if they are too much, if you have lock on grips, you can always move them along the bars until you find what works for you[/quote]


I've lock on grips so i think thats a good thought there.
Cheers

snoopsmydogg

5'11 and using 665 low rise bars but think I may be going wider in the near future, used to use 620 but didn't like the way they handled when descending.

bennett_346

The Beginner wrote:

Surely bar width is a function of the person (shoulder width) mixed with the nature of the bike itself and a dash of personal preferance on top?

Errr no have you been under a rock? You're not allowed to be accepted by the mtb community unless you ride bars of at least 750mm and at least 100mm wider than your shoulders are supposed to take. That's the rule.

Anyway i use 680mm bars on my stumpy.

WindyG

Go with whatever suits the bike and you and your riding style. I'm 5'6 and have Easton 685mm bars on both my bikes, tried shorter bars and hated the handling but I think anything wider for me wouldn't suit XC use and I'm too short anyway.

fat_homer

I'm 6' and currently have 711mm Havens. I've been doing so demoing recently and have really liked the wider bars, 740-750mm bars on the bikes I've ridden. So have bought a set of 750mm Havocs for my new build.

Like above, I'd suggest trying some and seeing what you like.

Levi_501

580 and 590, but long stem.

bartimaeus

6ft... 745s on a 65mm stem on my HT, and at the moment 730s on an 80mm stem on my FS, but I am still playing about with that to get it spot on.

CommyAdam

I'm 6ft and recently changed to Funn Fatboy DH Bars at 785mm (from 760mm on my Meta SX) and i'm never going back.... amazing control, can really get low into corners. Only thing ive found is i dont like my arms being so wide apart when in the air, perhaps i need to improve upper body strength more but feels slightly untenable and using different muscles (or the same muscles differently) when landing....small complaint and love the width of these bars.

lostboysaint

6'4" and wide. 711 Ragley Wiser on the hardtail 29er. 740mm Crank Brothers Iodine 11 carbon on the Bandit.

clamps81

Scrawny as, 5'7 and I run 710mm mid rise Funn bars and a 50mm stem. Wouldn't go any wider TBH, but thinking about going with a lower rise (or just removing a spacer) to see what effect that has.

iDad

Well the 760's are about 2" a side wider but riding they don't really feel it, comparing them to the old bars these new ones do feel more comfortable and maybe give me a little more control although probably not really enough for someone of my limited skill level to really notice....its probably a confidence thing, if some thing looks and feels good it must be! lol

anyway 28miles yesterday around the local trails and sherwood forest certainly did feel better with the extra width although the headwind on the way home was not good with tired thighs. but i've changed the grips and the brakes too and first outing for all so could be just combination of them all.

iDad

Giraffoto

6' 4", about 690mm on a 70mm stem. The WIP bike will have 685mm bars when it finally turns up

allthegearnoidea

NUkeproof Yelloow is a bit YELLOW isnt it!!

lostboysaint

iDad wrote:

Try moving your brake levers inboard a bit. Better single finger leverage and much more space around the grips generally.