[Closed] Does being tall mean you roll your bars further forward?

if the bike, reach and bar size / height are in proportion to your height then I wouldn't have thought it would be a rule as such, maybe only if the bike is too short or low.

Only if your bike doesn't fit or you like it that way.

No, being tall means buying XL bikes. Took me a few year to realise this. 😊

I think it's a matter of taste.

I’m with molgrips on this. I spend ages fiddling with bar angle. I’m a midget at 5ft 9” though. I always tend to roll mine forward, just feels better, not sure if there is any science behind it.

Rolling back or forward changes the angles so just roll back/fowrard to suit. I have my bars rolled forward as it provides less back sweep. I must also be a midget as I am 5' 10" (always thought midgets were a lot smaller than that but guess the overall population height must be rising, a lot)

No, being tall means buying XL bikes. Took me a few year to realise this. 😊

You and me both. Used to ride 16" or 18", now in XL rocket :).

I ride with a buddy who's a bit shorter than me but he has his saddle much higher than me. So I guess he's got longer limbs and a shorter body.
So I don't think there's a direct relationship between height and bar/saddle position.

Rolling bars forwards or back doesn’t just change the bar shape (sweep angles up and back) but also the effective stem length. The greater the bar rise, the more the ESL and thus the steering feel changes. It didn’t used to matter much with long stems but once you’re down below 60mm stem length it does.

6’7” and bars are vertical

Rolling back or forward changes the angles so just roll back/fowrard to suit. I have my bars rolled forward as it provides less back sweep.

I guess this is where my thought process started. Bars measure with two sweep numbers (back; up). Once we choose roll, backsweep is not necessarily backwards and upsweep is not necessarily upwards.

On the two bars I've been looking at, the bar markings for roll are centred with the vertical orientation of the “rise”. With the marks facing directly up, the angles for backsweep and upsweep seem to line up exactly with their specification as viewed from directly in front and directly above. To get these sweep angles on a frame with a 65 degree head angle, the marks need to be rotated forward relative to the typical vertical stem faceplate split line by 25 degrees. Is this what most people would consider a neutral bar fit position and should I be counting "rolled forward" / "rolled back" from this reference point?

Ignore the markings and rotate the bars to whatever is comfortable for you.

On a related note, should shorter riders on shorter overall ETT have more sweep in the bars?

Rolling bars forwards or back doesn’t just change the bar shape (sweep angles up and back) but also the effective stem length. The greater the bar rise, the more the ESL and thus the steering feel changes. It didn’t used to matter much with long stems but once you’re down below 60mm stem length it does.

It's not going to change the leverage ratio over the wheels - it will change.

Taller bars, if at the same angle will push your hands even firther back. But taller bars instead of stem spacers essentially lengthen your reach and put more weight on the wheels if you run them quite forward.

I’m not really sure what you’re saying? You have to measure effective stem length perpendicular to the steering axis. Taller bars vs stem spacers makes no difference if the grips are in the same place. If the grips aren’t in the same place then the steering feel will be different due to the change in ESL.

(full disclosure) I ended up with tennis elbow symptoms from a single ride on my new bike which I'd set up as closely as I could determine to my usual preferences. I want to have some clue for a safe setup (while I heal) before I get back on the bike and aggravate things again.

Here's my excessive thinking in full from drawing diagrams and handling different bars off the bike:

"It seems likely that the alignment of the bar tracks relative to the angle your forearm makes to the bar."

i.e. if you have a high front end and you position your weight behind the bar your forearms will meet the bar at a shallower angle; if you have a low front end and you get yourself over the handlebar your forearms will be angled down more. The slant of a relaxed gripping position doesn't change much as you go through the main articulations at the elbows and shoulders for the movements you use to control a bike (e.g. push up movement) but the bar shape should match the slanted grip geometry of your relaxed hands given the angle of attack of your hands on the bar determined by your forearm angle.

The slant of your grip in 3D space is certainly affected by bar width, shoulder width, how bent your elbows are (how aggressively you're riding), hand geometry and also by your relaxed rotation (supination/pronation) of the forearm; lots of personal factors so you cannot choose a bar as a fashion item.

All the graded markings on bars and stem are measuring angles that do not directly relate to forearm angle: your stem is attached to a fork steerer inclined as per the head angle of the frame; the number of spacers will raise and lower the front end and change the way you address the handlebar. All the advice given ("adjust it to what feels right") is the best advice that could have been given; there is no universal right answer and any setup is a compromise (not least for seated, neutral and attack positions).

I think I'd grown used to rolling a bar forward to extend reach. Also, my old bar (Burgtec) had a shallow upsweep (4 degrees) relative to its backsweep (9 degrees) so a bit of roll forward got it back in a proportion closer to many other bars. I'd being trying to get my new bar (Renthal, 5 deg up, 7 deg back) to feel the same and it needs much less roll forward to align in the same way (although overall it has significantly less sweep than the Burgtec).

At the same time, I've had a hiatus because of 1) waiting for the new bike, 2) sorting out teething problems, and 3) DIY and chores taking priority over riding. Having previously been very active on the old bike, I've lost a fair proportion of my riding fitness and confidence which translates into a stance where I'm probably more straight-armed on the bike than usual.

So I think I've given myself an injury by being less confident on a bike fitted with a more aggressive bar and not having the resilience of regular riding to tolerate a small misadjustment. I probably had the bar rolled forward from an optimum position (not by much) by copying my old need for extended reach. The bar has less sweep shape overall compared to my old bar and less backsweep proportionally. I've probably ended up in a position with too little backsweep and that has held my hands in a lightly strained rotation sufficient to cause injury.

Having researched a bunch of bars, the Renthals are the shallowest swept shape (8.6 degrees) of any I've looked at. The Burgtecs that I've been comfortable on before have more shape (9.8 degrees) than many (Raceface default shape appears to be ~ 9.4 degrees for example) but not as much as Easton Havoc and Raceface Aeffect R (10.3 degrees) and Nukeproof Horizon (10.8 degrees).

I think I'll ditch the Renthals and look at my options with a bit more swept shape in them.

[ calculation: tan(composite_sweep)^2 = tan(backsweep)^2 + tan(upsweep)^2 ]

6’7” and bars are vertical

It must be super hard to ride like that.
I generally keep mine roughly horizontal. I'm only 6'2" though.

There are two variables I am adjusting when I rotate bars - the angle of the grips with respect to the ground, and the fore-aft position of the grips which you can of course also adjust by changing stem length.

I like having my grips sloping down towards the stem a little. I don't like it when they are flat for some reason.

6’7” and bars are vertical

It must be super hard to ride like that.
I generally keep mine roughly horizontal. I’m only 6’2″ though.

not really, I also run my brake levers nearly parallel to the ground as most my time on the bike is spent hanging off the back on steep trails.

Im only 5ft 5 and roll mine forwards a bit more than the guide lines say. Just feels more comfortable.

6’7” and bars are vertical

It must be super hard to ride like that.
I generally keep mine roughly horizontal. I’m only 6’2″ though.

not really, I also run my brake levers nearly parallel to the ground as most my time on the bike is spent hanging off the back on steep trails.