Dropbar width for the clueless

Bigger gravel bars seemed to become popular with people who either use big bar bags and/or people who use their gravel bike as a MTB. Personally I think narrower bars are more appropriate in terms of fit and comfort. I’d probably look at something in 40/42 size range.

Go to a shop and try some on the static bikes. 44 flared is a popular width. 48 is clearly wider and will ride more 'gravel'. Personally, I think 44 is about right for gravel, 42 for road.

For a road bike the generally - but not universally - accepted view is that bar width should be tha same as shoulder width.
On a gravel bike I would go for a 20 - 40mm wider.

5ft8 ish

ride with 780 flat bars

my allroad and gravel bikes i settled on 440 i think, with a decent flare.. i found the wider i went the more flare i preferred, my gravel bike actually came with 500 flares on it.. i barely noticed, but going back the 440 was definitely better for me

i don't think if i sat on different bikes side by side i'd notice.. maybe after a decent chunk of miles i would

Can't comment on the difference flared bars make, but if you're mostly riding on the hoods then as frankconway above says, base it on shoulder width (clavicles tip to tip). I recently measured mine and confirmed what I already knew (narrow shoulders), so sized down on bars accordingly and definitely more comfortable. That was for road, but considering moving down a size on the gravel bike as well now.

6ft with proportionate shoulder width.

40cm bar width on road & gravel

HOWEVER, an extra 2-4cm on the gravel bike was useful for rough stuff control, but ended up being uncomfortable for rides longer than 2 hours, so I'm back to 40cm on both again.

I've got wide-ish bars on my 'gravel' bike (44cm + quite a lot of flare), I wish I'd stayed narrower, they're more like 46 at the hoods. My other bikes are also nominally 44, but the road bike measures to the outside, and the others are center-center.

Took ages to find the ideal bar height with them, whereas pretty much every other bar I've just jumped on and ridden, I think because it flares your elbows out artificially you can't move your weight around as much? It ruined the handling of an otherwise really nice bike.

I've got 820mm bars on my MTB, so I'm not anti wide bars, and I like the flare, I just think that the trend for wide flared bars is a solution to a problem* that didn't exist, and introduced more problems.

*unless the problem was "how do we market drop bars to MTBers?"

6ft with proportionate shoulder width.

40cm bar width on road & gravel

Also 6ft but I must have disproportionate shoulders. 😉

About 42-44 for road depending on how the brand measures them (where on the bar, c-c or o-o - yes I have seen both).

For gravel, a set of OnOne Brian in a 46 I think (their largest one) are lovely for me.

I don't love flared bars, I had 40cm wide bars on my gravel bike (36cm on my road bike).

I'm roughly 44cm clavicle tip to clavicle tip, so would that be a better starting width (primarily road based).

And I've no idea about flares.

When you're in the drops, flared bars supposedly stop you banging your wrists on the top of the drops / give you more room.

For a road bike the generally – but not universally – accepted view is that bar width should be tha same as shoulder width.

The 1930s called, they want their bike fitting advice back...

Since people worked out that most energy cycling is spent overcoming wind resistance, narrower bars have become more popular, unless you don't care about efficiency. They don't need to be the same width as the shoulders just like MTB bars are wider....

6ft and use nothing narrower then 44 for off road. Same rule applies for gravel as mtb, wider the bar, shorter the stem otherwise it'll steer like a narrow boat. Personally I'd say 48 is too wide. I have a cotic cascade with 46cm venturemax on and run a 60mm stem. The causeway has 44cm corsalitos on but they have a wide flare on them so when on the drops they are more like 50cm, 50mm stem on that. It will also depend on your top tube length too.if the bike is old school Road geom with gravel clearance you will get away with a longer stem.

6ft, broad chested/shouldered. I currently ride bars that are 44cm at the hoods, and wider at the bottom.

My Giant came with barely flared 460mm bars; I've gone to 44 wide at the hoods, with 12º of flare, which feel like 46s when I'm in the drops, and which I like much more. Some days I'd like more flare, but I do enough road riding that I'm not sure yet.

480 is wide, but those Vibrocores are very much going for the "make it wider" approach to grav bars that is popular now... but they're a very different shape to trad drops. You might like this, but you really might not; it depends on preference. Personally, I'd go for something a little less out there to start with, because I think 480 at the hoods is just too wide.

The 1930s called, they want their bike fitting advice back…

That's fashion for you!

Mind you, going narrower solved my wrist and shoulder issues on the roadie, so I'm sticking with it as a starting point, but that's with straight hoods.

5'11" and ride a size large Trig. 

I've just fitted a 44cm Lauff Smoothie (the largest they make) and I really wouldn't want a bar any narrower for mixed use; occasionally finding this maybe a hint too small for my tastes.  I normally ride 780-810 off road and the drop bar on my packing bike is 560 at the hoods and well over 600 at the ends. Unusual, perhaps but I like it.

If you find riding on the hoods uncomfortable and that you prefer holding the bars just behind the hoods, on the curved section, and that you're twisting your wrists in in an effort to keep them inline with your shoulders then your bar is probably too wide.

I'm broad shoulders and well built, I ride a 42cm bar off road and on road. I have tried wider bars but found them uncomfortable

6ft and use nothing narrower then 44 for off road. Same rule applies for gravel as mtb, wider the bar, shorter the stem otherwise it’ll steer like a narrow boat. Personally I’d say 48 is too wide. I have a cotic cascade with 46cm venturemax on and run a 60mm stem. The causeway has 44cm corsalitos on but they have a wide flare on them so when on the drops they are more like 50cm, 50mm stem on that.

@rOcKeTdOg, you're a fan of the Corralitos? Do you happen to know your shoulder width? I know it's very much personal preference but I'm not getting on that well with the Beacon XLs on my Cascade (52cm at the hoods, 67cm at the tips). Not sure if it's width that's the issue, I suspect so given the discussions I'm seeing about dropbar width in general. Perhaps I went too far with the 'big is best' approach. Might also be bar height hence my interest in Corralitos with even less drop than my Beacon XLs. Unsure on 46cm or 48cm.

I know it's also personal perference and there's no substitute for trying yourself, but I don't want to buy lots and lots of different bars.

I'm 187cm/6'2 with 46cm shoulders (tips of my clavicles) and almost exclusively ride in the drops - rarely on the hoods or tops. No bar bag.

Interesting thread.

I've got 400mm flared on the Merlin. The (gentle) flares are nice.

The Vagabond came with 460mm non-flared bars and they feel way too wide.

I'm tempted to split difference at 20mm flared... So what 420mm gentle flares bars in black for the Genesis?