[Closed] Wider bars - pros/cons or do I look wide enough?!

I don't think losing a bit of bark just in one place hurts the trees much.

Pic not working?

I know what you mean by trees op. I'm on 780mm and find of the natural trails I ride really don't like even that width!

Thinking of going shorter to be honest. A branch/tree strike to the bars is a nasty crash in the making...

I'm running 800s and they're fine, but I'm not 800 wide. Leverage on a 160mm for with a 2.5 inch front wheel is nice, but trees are sometimes an issue. I was perfectly happy with my previous 780s only reasons I've not cut them down is that I can't be bothered.

Having run 760mm bars for a few years, I recently put some Surly Sunrise bars on my Krampus, which are an eyewatering 820mm wide.
I assumed I'd cut them down quite soon, but they're actually great!
Caught a couple of trees, but no where near as many as I expected.
Try it and see.

*Edit...actually I've found brambles and nettles a bigger issue, as you catch more with your hands and forearm. Ouch.

840s and they feel okay. You learn to wheelie and cross the bars to get through tight trees!

I ended up with about 775 after shifting the grips in and out a bit

Still have to be a bit careful round some local trails with tight trees

I have 800mm bars - I thought I'd chop them down a bit but they're actually quite nice. Have hit a number of trees and there are clearly certain bits where I have to pay more attention than my riding mates...

I've still not cut them down a year or so after getting them...

I am currently on 760s, previously always old skool 685 and didn't like the wide bars.

But after a couple of years on 760s I am now keen to go 800 as the 760s feel a bit narrow.

I am 6'4" though and broad shouldered.

I did have a legendary crash a couple of years ago clipping a tree, which I think scared my riding mates quite a bit!! But not repeated even on the same trail.

The website where the pics are is terrible! Only works about 1 out of 20 times. Direct link to one...

https://sportcam.net/CompetitorDetail1.aspx?ID=18842898&type=No,10&Name=

https://sportcam.net/CompetitorDetail1.aspx?ID=18842897&type=No,10&RaceID=1241&EventId=422&Name=

https://sportcam.net/CompetitorDetail1.aspx?ID=18848374&type=No,10&Name=

https://sportcam.net/CompetitorDetail1.aspx?ID=18854330&type=No,10&Name=

See if that works!

@jay

Use https://postimages.org/ to host on here. No need to sign up and works well for this forum.👍

Host pic from mobile or pc, then just click on "hotlink for forums" copy tab, then just paste it directly into here.

Ie:

[url= https://i.postimg.cc/bN2JkLJL/0-IMG-20190418-175207.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/bN2JkLJL/0-IMG-20190418-175207.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

Onzadog

Member
840s and they feel okay. You learn to wheelie and cross the bars to get through tight trees!

With my lack of riding skills that's just never going to happen for me.😁

The pics are on the website as not purchased them due to the prices!

I have some brand new carbon 800s at home but if I use them I lose money on them if they are too wide. But for the sake of a few lost quid I might try them later!

-10mm on the stem and +40mm on the bars lol. Will see how it feels.

Went up to 800mm bars from 750mm on my new build and managed to break my little finger/knuckle after a bar/hand/tree interface in my local woods on my 2nd ride. Not going to cut them down as I really like how they feel.
Did find an old pair of bars from my 2005 Rocky Ridge. They were 640mm! How did we manage?!?!

I’m going to see how they feel out of the trees today on the more open trails then hop in to the tighter stuff if they feel comfortable!

Too wide is how they felt!

Normally, went I go to a bike with narrower bars, they feel too narrow but today my other bike with 800s felt fine. Think it's time to chop the 840s down.

My local isn’t far from you and I’ve tried, 670, 710, 740, 750, 760, 770, 800 and 810, over the past decade! I’d settled on 750 for my hardtail and 810 for the full-sus (for gnarlier riding elsewhere) but then realised I liked riding it here too and 810 was impossible between some of the trees (had a nasty crash last year trying to thread a gap at speed). Now they’re both at 770 which seems a good compromise. I’m about your height but with long arms and legs.

My usuals are 760 and the Ergon grips add 5mm each side I think so 770’s really.

Bike bit short with the 50mm so sticking with the 60 for now as don’t really want to spend money on a bigger frame just to run a shorter stem!

That can wait until new bike next year!

My usuals are 760 and the Ergon grips add 5mm each side I think so 770’s really.

Same as mine. My bars are 760, but measure 770 with Ergons. Bars on my other bike (Spesh Enduro from 2015) measure 760. Both feel good, but are a bit of a pain amongst the very tight trees. I can't think of any good reason why I would want to go any wider. If anything I would probably benefit from going a bit narrower for my local woods. Margin of error is pretty small as it is.

760mm is as wide as I will go, any more and the risk of hitting trees even on familiar trails is too great.

-10mm on the stem and +40mm on the bars lol. Will see how it feels

I’d advise you to go +10 on the stem and rotate your bars back towards you. Will make it much more stable on steep stuff.

Wide bars for the win...

Now while I am here.... Testing poop site. Thanks! Been looking for something simple like this.

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I’d advise you to go +10 on the stem and rotate your bars back towards you. Will make it much more stable on steep stuff.

That's twice I've heard you mention that Brant, whats the logic behind it?

I don’t think I would want a 70mm stem!

Looking at a longer bike now!

I'm on 800mm bars but then I'm 6ft 3in,so they're pretty well suited to me.

i have been running jones loops for around the last 8 years and whilst they are only 680mm wide i really like them (wider than anything id tried up to then). earlier this year i decided simply to see what straighter wider bars would feel like as a little experiment so bought some 800mm bars and a 50mm stem.

i actually really like them although the amount of crashes I've had has been crazy. i've hit a couple of trees due to the extra width but i suspect the wider bars are somehow giving me more confidence to go faster. then I'm getting into trouble more often. i just need to wise up!

im convinced wider is better although its clearly something to play around with before getting the hacksaw out or that assuming that gap is wide enough...

Onzadog

Member
840s and they feel okay. You learn to wheelie and cross the bars to get through tight trees

The old m/c enduro trick....

I'm using 800mm width with a 50mm stem. Makes the steering feel slower, which can catch one out if you're unused to it, or when you first jump on the bike. I think it's very much personal choice though, I've friends who're the same height and rough proportions (178cm tall and about 75kg) for who, 800mmm is just way too wide

I've just swapped some Jones 710mm bars for some Stooge Moto's. I'm not feeling the full width to be honest, but want to make absolutely sure before I get the saw out.
800mm just looks completely unnecessary!

Did find an old pair of bars from my 2005 Rocky Ridge. They were 640mm! How did we manage?!?!

I found some pics of me just before I fitted some *super wide* 760mm bars back in the late 00's. I think my previous bars were a "wide back then" 685mm, 760s took some getting used to but I could sort of feel the benefit.

I seem to be a luddite these days, but if I could be bothered/was getting new bars anyway I might try something wider than the default 780s I run, but I never seem to have my hands off the edge of the grips on them or anything (my dad tried them, and fell off immediately after catching a tree. Luckily he bounces quite well for a 70yo).

Plus I don't want to become like the nobheads that cut down some trees on one of the local trails just because they clearly couldn't make the gap. Yes my bars suffered a few lost end caps there, but it's the trail. Ride it or get better. 🙁

I'm 181cm tall with a +8cm ape index & 720mm seems to be the sweet spot for me. Without enough sweep any wider and it just makes my wrists ache.

800mm does look crazy wide to me but its a look im warming to.

i remember decades back loving the scott at4 bars and they were less that 500mm wide (and a nightmare to install especially when you decide only a few weeks after you got them to go super cool and run your thumbshifters flipped and under the bars). i had a cannondale sm1000 back then and these bars with that 13" high bottom bracket brings me out in a cold sweat... really fast and super twitchy!

amazing how we learn.

Wide (800) bars killed my upper arms and left me in pain for hours after even a short ride.

Now on 760 (I think) Salsa bend bars with a bit of sweep. Theyre like a wider Ragley Carnegie.

I don’t think I would want a 70mm stem!

Why not? If it's just a case of making the cockpit a little more comfortable. The shorter stem, wider bar trend only matters if it actually makes you ride better. Otherwise it's just a look. 770 (effective) with a 60 stem is a pretty "modern" setup anyway for that kind of bike and would have been considered full-on enduro spec only a few short years ago. But if your frame really is too small for you, then sizing up does make sense.

Well you have me thinking - people have said my frame looks too small or I look too big on the bike, either or.. but its all in the riding I guess.

I can't actually tell you if i would be more comfortable on a larger frame as I havent tried it. It would allow a shorter stem, but looking at the figures - the next frame size up has 15mm more reach. Shorten to a 50mm, and that reach then becomes an extra 5mm.

The wheelbase, top tube and seat tube are all longer, but it doesnt really equal a huge gain in reach.

That’s twice I’ve heard you mention that Brant, whats the logic behind it?

Rolled back bars help when riding steep stuff, in keeping you from falling off the front. Seems lots of people still set up in that 90's NORBA style "attack position" nonsense with levers pointing down and all that. Idiot journalists wrote all that when copying MBA writers whose tech trails were high speed fire roads. Our trails - rather different - up here anyway.

YMMV

I see a lot of online journalists saying a lot of things, I know its all about opinion, but a lot of views always come across 'we are right, you are wrong'.

Recently I have learnt that we are ALL riding bikes that are too small, you have the wrong bike if you cant run a 50mm stem, 780mm bars are for everyone and a few others.

I guess i find myself (stupidly) influenced by what I read. I don't even know why!!

You could have a look at this

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/finding-your-sweet-spot-handlebar-width.html

But you will probably end up far narrower than you think (or is fashionable) so will ignore it completely - but if you do happen to have an open mind and go with it you might be surprised...

That calculation puts me at 792.

But he then says your range will be within 5% if that so that would be 752.

So according to that theory I will be running between 752 and 792 and I’m running 770.

So depending how much you read into his calculations your currently running in quite a sweet spot.

I have only very recently used his concepts to set my bike up from his book Dialed , but I had used his bar width calculator quite a while ago and ended up cutting down to 740 (my range was 713 to 752) and I much prefer it now (was at 780)

That calculation outs me at 860, I'd struggle to get my bike down country lanes with bars that wide!

I thought it was half your age plus seven?
Makes as much sense.

That calculator puts me at 840mm (ok, 838mm) and 5% less is 796mm.

So at 6ft 3in, 800mm is bang on.

I ride 690mm 35mm stem

I am 5'9ish with a normal span. I find wide bars uncomfortable and hinder me. 700 is the max I can feel comfy with

That calculation gives me bars that are far too wide for me personally

One other thing that occurred to me while setting the Stooges up, was grip length;
how long are yours and where are you mostly holding on? If you've got 800mm but have long grips that you always hold near the levers, then surely you need narrower.

I see a lot of online journalists saying a lot of things, I know its all about opinion, but a lot of views always come across ‘we are right, you are wrong’.

Recently I have learnt that we are ALL riding bikes that are too small, you have the wrong bike if you cant run a 50mm stem, 780mm bars are for everyone and a few others.

I guess i find myself (stupidly) influenced by what I read. I don’t even know why!!

You certainly have to read between the lines. For example I was reading an in-depth review of my own bike (130 mm travel trail/XC full suss) and the reviewer (who was a really small guy too, barely fitting on a medium frame) reported that the bars "need" to be wider (770 is obviously not wide enough these days for a shortish travel full susser aimed at the trail/XC market) and he would have preferred 800. He was a young guy, probably quite fashion conscious and impressionable. That was my interpretation anyway, lol. In fairness the overall review was pretty good, but some of these comments are hard to take seriously.

You just have to look at your own riding and ask yourself which of these fashion trends are actually going to help you out. For sure the current "enduro" trend is good for those seriously pushing the limits of their trail riding, but for me it just means more bike to have to haul around my local singletrack. As per my highly contentious 2015 vs 2019 geo thread I stepped off the LLS wagon when they started going over 1200 mm wheelbase. Simply because I have no use for a bike of that length and it would actually be a disadvantage for 99% of my riding.

Having said all that, maybe your bike REALLY is too small for you. The only way to find out is to actually try riding a larger frame and see if you are more comfortable. But I think chasing wider bars and shorter stems on your current bike is unlikely to get you anywhere. It's not like your current bars are in any way super narrow or you have an unusually long stem.

One other thing that occurred to me while setting the Stooges up, was grip length;
how long are yours and where are you mostly holding on? If you’ve got 800mm but have long grips that you always hold near the levers, then surely you need narrower.

That's a good point. I've noticed my wife rides with her hands well inboard of the grip ends (a good inch or more sticking out either end). I'm not that surprised as her bars are 780 wide and she's 5'6" with a very slight build. I should chop them down really, but she doesn't mind riding like that. Her natural bar width would probably be around 700.

I have stopped chasing. After another weekend ride (all be it very muddy and slippery) I ahev decided to just keep everything as is.

For some reason, and I hate it, I just reasd in to things too much. No idea why, just one of my worst habbits!

I don't think my bike is too small, but have been told it is too small. I need to learn to listen to myself lol

I’ve got progressively wider over time (as have my bars, boom boom, I’m here all week). But I’ve always favoured wider than average (as I’ve broad shoulders).

On my recent bikes I put on Renthal fatbars at 800mm fully expecting to cut them down to 770-780mm but over a year on I’ve not felt the need.

What’s more I roll them forwards, but that’s because rolled back I get shoulder/back pain. Something I first found running chopped down world force azonics back in the nineties on my kona explosif... MMV, so there... 🤪

I've tried wide bars and I just don't like them. My upper body feels strained and the steering feels clumsy. Not to mention smashing fingers between trees and the bars.

I've settled at 720mm on my enduro and 670mm on my winter-slop hack. Admittedly, I've cut those 670mm a bit short and can get a little sketchy but it does mean I can cycle through the side-entrance by the gate at ashton court without bashing the bars!

I’ve noticed my wife rides with her hands well inboard of the grip ends (a good inch or more sticking out either end)

Good way for her to clip the bars on trees. The body has very good spatial awareness of where each bit of it is. Not sure her brain will remember to add on a couple of inches automatically*
*Obvious joke is obvious.

That calculator seems fair enough, if you actually read the whole thing the calculation is your effective max with a usable range down to 5% less. That puts me at 732mm to 771mm, given right now I run old EA50s at what, 680mm? 770 seems plenty wide enough and I'd probably err to the narrower end.

I think the opening comments from that calculator link about sum it up for me:-

"Unless you have a custom setup, the handlebar width that comes with your bike is probably determined by:

Fashion. What is cool right now?

The style of bike. Is it a cross country race bike or a trail bike or an enduro bike or a downhill bike?

What the bike company thinks it can sell. What width handlebar do people expect on a bike like this? What width looks cool? Yes, that really happens — and wider bars do look cool."

For me the calc says 775-815, so "modern" bars would seem to suit me. My current bike actually has 770 bars, which do feel good, if a bit too wide for some of the tight tree runs. I could definitely cope with less width and probably would be faster due to all the tight twisty tree runs. I also remember when 685 mm EA70 monkey bars were considered super wide. How times change.

That calculator - eh? Bar width depends on a load of factors, mostly the bike you're riding and the kind of riding you want to do.

My long travel bike (26) has 760, my XC racer has 710 and my adventure rigid bike 660. They are all perfect for what they are intended to do. I'm 5'11.

What you want out of a bike ride and what you enjoy is also a factor. On my XC bike on climbs I move my hands inboard a few.cm because climbing like that feels really positive. But I don't want to cut down because it'd make descending worse.

Oh and my road bike is 440mm. That's positive feeling on climbs too 🙂

Actually. Maybe going wider on the long travel bike would increase effective bar reach without needing a longer stem.. as a longer stem makes the steering floppy. Maybe I could go up to 800 if there were a cheapo bar to try.

On One El Guapo are £13 and look decent but are 780. Tempted at that price.

i have an arm span of 6ft and run 780mm on my trail bikes and 800mm on my gravity bike as i want my trail bikes to be more nimble and the gravity bike to be more stable, especially as im not generally clipping trees on dh tracks.
im 5ft 11 and have owned a 15" frame Orange blood as my smallest bike and now ride a large modern bike with one of the longest reach measurements for its size. i also 'size up' as i tend to be at the top of a medium and the bottom of a large according to manufacturers. longer bikes definitely work for me but wider bars only up to a point.