I’m averagely proportioned 5’10”, currently using 740mm bars, pretty sure I’m going to go wider. thinking of 800mm then cut down if I want.

what width are you on? happy with it? would you go wider? interested to know if you’ve had 800mm on, was good bad, indifferent?

Mine are 760mm which feel just right for me (6′ 2″)

height is one part, how wide are you shoulders?

My bike came with 800’s found them too wide and cut them to 780’s. Kept clipping trees etc and found no benefit over having them at 780’s. I am 6-2 with long arms and ride “Enduro”!! Also have a 30mm stem.

Same height as you and on 800 Fatbars. Pretty average rider, riding local trails and the occasional trail centre. Anything narrower feels odd now.

5’11” average shoulders, running 785mm bars with ergon grips which add around 5mm each side. Just feels normal, I wouldn’t want them to be narrower.

mikewsmith, not huge (I wear a 38″ suit jacket) but longish arms. I’ve sat on a bike with 800mm (not ridden) and it felt good, but that was sat in shop.

SCSyndicate had a method where you put your arms out level with shoulders then let them drop at the elbow, measure hand to hand then works for me at around 790/800 currently run 780 and sit on the outside of them a bit

I’m 5’10, 38″ chest. Started with 800s, thought they were were great, moved the grips in a bit and just felt more natural, so trimmed the bars to 770. Feels more comfortable tbh. May even go narrower.
Think my ‘tip of one shoulder blade to the other’ measurement is around 440mm

800 on one bike 780 on another. I still find I move a couple of knuckles off the bar when climbing so I’d like to try 850 at some point.

I’m 6’4 and built like an orangutan.

I’ve been pondering this.

I keep seeing folk out (and kids I coach) on wide bars – so wide their elbows are almost straight when riding. I get wider bars – more leverage and all that.
A marginally narrower bar allows for more bend in the elbow, and allows a greater range of movement of the upper body when countersteering, weight shifting backwards and generally trying to allow the bike to move around under you. Clearly balanced against a lower leverage force.

IMO, lots of the magazine ‘oooh, wider *must* be better’ statements come from 6+, male testers built like orangutans (e.g. Doddy). For shorter, narrower, kids, women etc, then a balance is better IMO.

(I’ve just been on 745’s for the past 5 years, and though they were wide…)

800’s on both my bikes, at 185cm tall.

Rode a bike with 750’s on & it felt weird.

I remember when I first put 750’s on my DH bike, moving from Easton EA70’s, which were what, 685mm?

I hated them & took them off. I’m amazed I raced DH (badly back then!) with bars that skinny!

I am the same size as you. I have 720s on one bike. they are way too wide. 680 is fine for me. Last time out with the 720s I couldn’t ride one trail I usually use – trees too close together. Uncomfortable for me arm position as well.

Ride whats right for you and your riding style – not what is fasionable

We could have saved 30 years of stupid ergonomics if we’d just started with motocross bikes. They’ve been long and slack with 800mm bars forever.

800mm on my DH bike, had 760mm on my trail bike but they felt so narrow so now running 780mm on it.

I like the wider set up! FYI in 5″6.

I have found that trees are few and far between on motocross tracks.

I am happy with 750mm for that reason as I tend to come across them often on my MTB. I have tried more but that that becomes too much of an issue for me. I am 183cm.

179cm tall with fairly broad shoulders and very long arms (188cm armspan) – 810mm bars feel perfect. Have to have 750mm on the hardtail because that’s the max that fits through our local trails but the full-sus has the big bars. Have tried 670, 680, 710, 740, 750, 760, 800 & 810.

810mm are the only width where my hands don’t migrate past the ends over time. The bars are actually 800 but they measure 810 with Deathgrips and due to the single inner collar design I can use the extra width.

5’10 and +4 on the ape index, 780 is max width for me, happy at 760 .

A lot depends on the bike’s geometry and setup, I reckon.

Bronson came with 800 – actually 810 with the overhang of grips. Had to cut back to 780, as I had a couple of offs due to catching inside hand on trees. That’s the issue, you don’t ride looking at your bars, on familiar trails you ride the line you know or like.

I did like the 810 on flat out open stuff though. I’m 188cm and have pretty wide shoulders mind.

I have found that trees are few and far between on motocross tracks.

Which is why brush guards were invented. Odd they never gained much traction in the mtb world. I guess now the era of narrow bars is over they might become more common.

I got a set of 800mm.. they were comically wide!

Cut down to 780 and they feel perfect
Got 700 on the HT and they are ok her bikes got 680 and that now feels really narrow!

800 on all of mine, someone said to do a few press ups and measure the width of your hands, I’m not sure how accurate that is but it makes sense, I don’t hold the bars right at the end (don’t fancy smashing my little fingers off trees), so I guess 770-780 would be perfect for me but 800 keeps the pinkys safe lol

Ride whats right for you and your riding style – not what is fasionable

Fanks, could you be a bit more condescending please 😆 I’ve been riding for 20+ plus years, I don’t choose stuff on it’s fashion merit, I choose stuff that works. I’m on 740mm and they feel a bit cramped, and my hands are generally a couple of finger spans over the tip of the bars

My newest build has 800mm bars.

I find the benefit of a wider bar is that I can actually use a stem length as envisaged by the manufacturer ….. even with my ape like arms.

The down side to this for where I often ride is this:

They are “only” 760mm bars 😆

Aside from the risk of this ^^^ They do make adjusting to anything narrower really hard. I rode a bike at MM that had 560mm bars with bar ends ….. That was …. um …. interesting 😆

yeah, aren’t many trails with trees that narrow where I ride. loling at the collection of end plugs though…

nickc

~sorry dude – not meant to be condescending – the same applies if wide bars suit your riding style and location.

I guess my point was there is no right answer – just what suits you

aye, sorry, my post was was meant as a joke (hope it was received as such)

I know what you mean, but there’s sometimes an “attitude” on here to newer tech (and I’m probs guilty as the next guy).

Nick – you’re about the same size as me. I run 800mm bars on the stache and I love them. Run 780s on the rest (ahem) of my bikes except Jessie’s witch are 760s. I do clatter a few trees with the 800s but less of an issue where you live and you’re not as clumsy as me.

I have a spare set of Spank Vibrocores doing nothing so if you want to try some, have a borrow when you come down for BPW on my birthday…

letmetalktomark – is that a Stanton Sherpa in the photos above?

cheers Al, that would be ace.

thanks buddy.

760mm 5’8 44cm shoulders, going to try 740mm with grips pushed in just to try it as you never know till you try. But 760mm feels right on my bike, but that would all change or different bike with longer top tube i guess. Wouldn’t go wider as it would require too much torso movement to turn.

5’11 with narrow build. On 760 and like them most of the time. Sometimes think a touch wider would be nice but even 760 didn’t stop me clipping a tree last Friday and breaking my shoulder. 🙁

but even 760 didn’t stop me clipping a tree last Friday and breaking my shoulder

Which page is that on in the bumper book of excuses? 😉

I had a bike with 700 bars hat I was happy on.

Changed to 780’s and found I was going quicker on Strava and felt like I had more control. Made me nervous of narrow tree gaps and caught them on quite a lot of stuff.

Now got a new bike and it came with 760’s on it. Easier round tree lines areas and I’m quicker on it (but thats down to the bike which is way more capable than my last one). However it feels odd.

Need to find out what the Sweep and rise was on my last 780 if I can as it felt more natural. I think those factors are just as important as overall width.

@andy …. Tis indeed

I remember going to 720s and thinking I’d gone too wide and would be forever clipping trees, but now here I am running 800s.

Only just gone from 780 to 800 and it’s genuinely one of the most positive changes I’ve made to the bike in ages, but I am pretty broad shouldered and tall.

I have 780s on my proper bikes, 760 on my xc bike and 740 on my hybrid (once I got used to wider on mtbs it felt weird going back to narrow on the commuter). But I’m actually starting to think about going doing to 760mm on the big bikes too, not sure. I wouldn’t have done that on my old bike but the new one doesn’t seem to need it as much

I keep clipping trees on my 760s so whilst I like the theory of another 20mm or so, I don’t need any assistance in falling off.

Some food for thought here

https://nsmb.com/articles/going-wide-bars-and-back-again/

OP sounds about the same size as me and I’m happy on 760mm. Have gradually gone up by proxy over the years as manufacturers have specced wider bars. Newest 2 bikes have had 760mm, and I wouldn’t want any wider. Yes at times I still hang half a hand over the ends, but that’s as much just to get a change of position as wanting wider bars. It tends to be when just cruising on the flat or uphill. When riding singletrack my hands naturally settle in the centre of the grips. I also tend to hold the bars on the brake lever body on long climbs, again just for a change of hold.