Advantages of shorter/wider bars

Cookeh
Cookeh Posts: 351
edited January 2014 in MTB beginners
Hi all,

Quite possibly a question that's been asked a million times, apologies if so! I'm obviously rather new to this, I've been to Cannock Chase twice, and thats it, but recently invested in my own bike so I can get out onto the trails more often!

Bike is a 2012 Trek 6300D, so Bontrager Race Lite stem, and Bontrager Low-Riser OS bars, which if I recall correctly are 610mm. The bikes I rode at Cannock were NTU Club bikes, Genesis Core 100s, and had 680mm bars. From the quick blast I've had round my village and a few bridle paths the Trek is a lot of fun to ride and feels very chuckable.

I have however read that wider bars give more confidence when riding and are more stable? Would you mind giving a brief summary of the differences between short/wide bars and why wider bars are becoming more common? While I know a lot of it is subjective, would you recommend wider bars for beginners or?

Thanks in advance,
Cookeh

Comments

  • rockmonkeysc
    rockmonkeysc Posts: 14,774
    It's a personal thing but for me wide bars and short stem give more control and better stability but at the expense of a good position for fast climbing.
    I use 50mm stem with 780mm bars.
  • Cqc
    Cqc Posts: 951
    If your going over bumps and are getting bumped around, I find you can control where you're going easier with a wide bar. Go to wide and you'll start clipping trees though. Shorter stems make the steering more sensitive. 720 bars 50 stem
  • Cookeh
    Cookeh Posts: 351
    Would it be worth grabbing a cheap wider bar in the sales and seeing how it feels?

    Something like this? http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/HBTRXR/tru ... riser-bars
  • Cqc
    Cqc Posts: 951
    Cookeh wrote:
    Would it be worth grabbing a cheap wider bar in the sales and seeing how it feels?

    Something like this? http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/HBTRXR/tru ... riser-bars
    Good deal that
  • kajjal
    kajjal Posts: 3,380
    Too narrow and the bike will be unstable and difficult to handle, too wide and pretty much the same but due to being slow and limited to manoeuvre. It's down to what you prefer.
  • Cookeh
    Cookeh Posts: 351
    Cheers for the responses chaps!
    Any other cheap-ish/discounted bars that are worth a look at?
  • 97th choice
    97th choice Posts: 2,222
    Depends on how wide you want, I picked up some crank brothers iodine 720mm for 24 quid on CRC
    Too-ra-loo-ra, too-ra-loo-rye, aye

    Giant Trance
    Radon ZR 27.5 Race
    Btwin Alur700
    Merida CX500
  • Cookeh
    Cookeh Posts: 351
    Cannock and Sherwood seem to be the more local haunts that Trent MTB visit, due to locality. Some quite narrow gaps there, had a few near misses with 680mm, 710 or 720 is probs about all I could get away!
  • rockmonkeysc
    rockmonkeysc Posts: 14,774
    Cookeh wrote:
    Would it be worth grabbing a cheap wider bar in the sales and seeing how it feels?

    Something like this? http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/HBTRXR/tru ... riser-bars

    Thats quite narrow. Get some used 750ish bars and trim them down a bit at a time until you find the right width.
  • 97th choice
    97th choice Posts: 2,222
    Cookeh wrote:
    Cannock and Sherwood seem to be the more local haunts that Trent MTB visit, due to locality. Some quite narrow gaps there, had a few near misses with 680mm, 710 or 720 is probs about all I could get away!

    I ride mostly natural stuff in pine forests that can get quite tight, I wouldn't want to go much wider than the 720mm I have now, that said if I had more bikes I'd have a More aggressive AM type with wider bars.
    Too-ra-loo-ra, too-ra-loo-rye, aye

    Giant Trance
    Radon ZR 27.5 Race
    Btwin Alur700
    Merida CX500
  • stubs
    stubs Posts: 5,001
    Its also a bit of a fashion thing, in the 90s things got silly and people cut there bars down to less than 600mm now its gone the other way and you see people having to make 3 point turns on tight bends. I tried a 750mm bar and 50mm stem but didnt like it particulary when I got stuck between two trees and went over the bars. Cut the bars down in increments till I ended up with 700 bars on a 75mm stem. Seems to suit me.
    Fig rolls: proof that god loves cyclists and that she wants us to do another lap
  • kajjal
    kajjal Posts: 3,380
    stubs wrote:
    Its also a bit of a fashion thing, in the 90s things got silly and people cut there bars down to less than 600mm now its gone the other way and you see people having to make 3 point turns on tight bends. I tried a 750mm bar and 50mm stem but didnt like it particulary when I got stuck between two trees and went over the bars. Cut the bars down in increments till I ended up with 700 bars on a 75mm stem. Seems to suit me.

    I started in the early 90's and my first XC MTB had a really narrow bar with bar ends and really poorly balance small pedals. It was very unstable and difficult to ride. Swapped out for a riser bar and BMX style flats well before this was normal / popular and it changed the bike completely, fast / stable handling. Until they tried it other MTBers thought it was an odd setup but soon changed their minds ;)
  • rockmonkeysc
    rockmonkeysc Posts: 14,774
    I dont think its a fashion thing. Riding styles and bikes have changed a lot since everyone was using narrow bars and bar ends.
    I still know a couple people using 550mm bars but it's quite unusual now.
  • Kowalski675
    Kowalski675 Posts: 4,412
    Cookeh wrote:
    Would it be worth grabbing a cheap wider bar in the sales and seeing how it feels?

    Something like this? http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/HBTRXR/tru ... riser-bars

    Thats quite narrow. Get some used 750ish bars and trim them down a bit at a time until you find the right width.

    I got a pair of these (15mm rise black) for £25. Seems like good value to me. They're pre marked in 5mm increments for shortening too.

    http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/funn ... -prod91521
  • Antm81
    Antm81 Posts: 1,406
    I got a set of crank bros iodine from CRC in a sale before Xmas for about £12, got them to try a higher rise and wider bar, can't comment on them because they're not fitted yet but, they seemed like a good price for what essentially is a something that's trial and error
  • step83
    step83 Posts: 4,170
    Antm81 wrote:
    I got a set of crank bros iodine from CRC in a sale before Xmas for about £12, got them to try a higher rise and wider bar, can't comment on them because they're not fitted yet but, they seemed like a good price for what essentially is a something that's trial and error


    Same got them on but been ill pretty much since real bargain though.
  • Cookeh
    Cookeh Posts: 351
    POAH wrote:

    Cheers for that!
    Iodine bars are looking very tempting, might grab a set later on into the sale - a chap in my club is lending me a set of 720mm bars to try so I can get a verdict then!