bar width. does 30mm make a difference and is carbon safe

rickbst170

Ok. First off, I have used the search button. It was helpful and makes me think wide is for winners.

My background - used to ride xc so flat bars, borrow, long stem. After 7 years off the bike I'm building an AM/FR thing. It will be my only bike.

I've got the fame and forks but they're heavy. That makes me think carbon bars, stem, seatpost etc is a good shout.

Two questions then...strength and width. Havoc bars can be picked up cheap enough, 750 wide, 350g. Havens are at 711 and a little lighter unless I go carbon haven at 190g. fsa k dh carbon bars are cheap and 210g, but come in at 680-700mm (from the ones I've seen on eBay). Does 680 feel that different from 711mm? It is quite different from 750, but does 35mm each side make much difference to feel? If I get a narrower bar do I just stick a slightly longer stem on to compensate for steering angle? And is carbon safe enough for AM/FR? The fsa bars have DH in the product title so I'd like to think they're ok, but I really don't fancy snapping the bars (I don't weight much, 5'11 with gangly arms and a touch under 11 stone) but I'm crap so will probably have a few heavy landings.

I know everyone likes different things and it's personal taste so I'm not asking which width is best, just whether or not people notice the diffwrnce between 680, 711 and 750, and if they do does that difference disappear with different stems.

Cheers guys!

ricardo_smooth

Is carbon safe = yes
Does 30mm width make a difference = yes

Try not to have a long stem on an AM bike as you want it to feel stable both up and downhill and too long will see you over the front too much

rickbst170

Cheers mate. I was thinking 750 and 50m stem. Or 711 and 70mm stem. Seen some bars cheap as chips but are 690mm. Not sure if theyre worth the punt if 30mm is noticeable

ricardo_smooth

At 5ft11 I'd go 50mm stem. I'm 6ft 5 and run 750mm width and 60mm stem. I'd not consider the 690s mate.

Don't forget you can cut the bar width down a bit if you find them too wide

rickbst170

Ok. Last question...750 havoc or 711 haven? Both roughly 20 quid second hand. I guess start with 750 and cut back as required unless the taperwall havens are really special?

dusk

yes, start wide and go from there, you don't want to have to buy new bars a few months down the line because they're too narrow

poah

used to use 685mm Easton monkey lights changed to Easton haven carbon. The 26mm extra width does make a big difference particularly when climbing. I forget they are carbon bars when I'm cycling, so long as they are clamped properly with some paste you should have no issues

njee20

ricardo_smooth wrote:

At 5ft11 I'd go 50mm stem. I'm 6ft 5 and run 750mm width and 60mm stem. I'd not consider the 690s mate.

Stem length is personal, not as straightforward as all that.

welshkev

I've just gone from 685 to 770. I wanted 750 but I don't really notice the difference and it does feel really comfortable.

bartimaeus

30mm is very noticeable. I cut the bars on my Anthem to about 725 after riding for a while to work out the correct width. Now I have a Reverb which is in-line instead of a layback seatpost I'm thinking that I'd prefer 740!

bennett_346

ricardo_smooth wrote:

Is carbon safe = yes
Does 30mm width make a difference = yes

Try not to have a long stem on an AM bike as you want it to feel stable both up and downhill and too long will see you over the front too much

A short stem is often not stable up hills.

jairaj

For me 30mm is very noticeable in stem length and bar width. The ideal set up is very personal. I'd buy a cheap wide bar and experiment by clamping your grips at different widths. Find out what you like and go for something nice with that width.

ricardo_smooth

bennett_346 wrote:

ricardo_smooth wrote:

Is carbon safe = yes
Does 30mm width make a difference = yes

Try not to have a long stem on an AM bike as you want it to feel stable both up and downhill and too long will see you over the front too much

A short stem is often not stable up hills.

Yes.......... and speaking to someone coming from an XC background they will know that, so reigning in the stem length thinking about downhill a bit more is what I was getting at for the OPer

ricardo_smooth

njee20 wrote:

ricardo_smooth wrote:

At 5ft11 I'd go 50mm stem. I'm 6ft 5 and run 750mm width and 60mm stem. I'd not consider the 690s mate.

Stem length is personal, not as straightforward as all that.

Definitely not no, however generally you see shorter people using a shorter stem. Look at the bds this weekend, peaty/bryceland on the same size bike, peaty and inch taller, so had a longer reach than bryceland.

It's just a bit of a general 'rule of thumb' that most follow.

However my friend who is smaller than me runs a 10mm longer stem than me, but is the only person I know who has it the other way round on a similar sort of bike

rockmonkeysc

Bryceland and Peaty have very different riding styles which would have more influence on stem length. Peaty is brutal with the bike and all over the front end. Bryceland riders with his weight lower and further back.
Bar width also effects what length stem you need, wider bars effectively increase the reach.
Stem length has nothing to do with a riders height.

The secret rider

I'm one month or so into my cannondales ownership and MTB in general not sure if it help but here is what I did, for reference I am 5,11 ish aprox 88kg

Bike came with
80mm stem
680 bars
Rise not knows

Immediately swapped to

40mm stem
Same bars
Same rise

Felt better but I was suffering with twitch front end, the bike never felt right

Had the chance to try a friends 660 bars, felt super narrow only 10mm each side 20mm total difference but wow very different good on the road but on the trails it was twitchy still

40mm stem
660mm bars
15mm rise

I am now running

40mm stem
750mm bars
4 degree rise

And it feels fantastic, feels super lazy to turn at slow speed and this weekend riding Gisburn forest on the technical slow stuff they were too wide but on the downhill sections and the am/xc trails (black route) they were brilliant the bike was not twitch at all and I felt I could really get all over it and move it about, I feel the lack of rise allowed me to move my weight forward to combined with a larger arm spread which also brings the torso etc forward and down meaning I had not one front end wash out and the bike felt brilliant.

Local trails don't allow me to run a 750 so will look at going to a 730/maybe 720 as I noticed naturally I placed my hands 10mm inn from bar ends all day so naturally I think I had decided they are 20mm to large although if it was not for the dense and tight local stuff I ride a lot of I would change nothing !

Hope this helps

rickbst170

Thanks all. I can't get my head around 750mm. I mean, I was an xc lad, 750mm?!?!

Just put a cheeky bid on eBay and won some sublime v-one OS bars for £3.24 in "excellent condition". 711mm, 260g, 19mm rise. Should be a good reentry bar for my build and if it's too short, it's only 3 quid.

j_l

I just picked up some cheap 800mm Kore bars on chain reaction with the intention of cutting them down to about 750 or so I thought (I had 660's). I put them on prior to trimming to try them and I can honestly say they are much more comfortable and much more confidence inspiring at 800mm. they do look a little daft on my meta 4 but the bars have transformed the bikes feel so they are staying un trimmed.

My advice go wide and trim to suit.... 8)

The secret rider

750 is winning for me