I’m doing some general upgrades to my wifes bike (GT Aggressor) as she’s really liking her biking – so she’s getting lighter forks, disk brakes, new lighter tyres, removing excess seatpost, etc. I’m thinking about changing the bars which are bog standard GT issue and probably heavy.
She’s 5’5″, would she be better off with 620-650mm bars or a little narrower?

Not sure what width mine are but we cut them down from standard. She probably will benefit from slightly narrower bars, yes.

I’d start with some 685mm Eastons and then cut them down if her elbows stick out too much and her weight is too far forward. It depends on the frame length, but I feel wider bars are better unless your being stretched out too much. My sister is 5’4″ and uses them on her Hustler and loves them.

660 mm flats on my gf bike 5’3″. I have 673 mm. I reckon about 650mm will be right.

Most people seem to prefer wider bars and I’d say standard mens XC bars are wide for someone 5’4″ and there cheap + light.

I’m 5’5″ too but with wide shoulders. I have really wide carbon bars and find them so good, particularly when it’s muddy. Also being carbon, they are light and absorb more trail buzz too.

OK. Thanks for the info. I think she’ll end up with about 640 which is 40 more than the ‘things’ on there now.
:?Decision now is whether to give her the nice carbon ones I’ve just bought or keep them for myself and give her my current (pretty nice) alloy ones 😕

Am I right in thinking that reducing the weight as much as possible is the way to go?

yes, get everything as light as you can – it does make a big difference.

Carbon bars 🙂 I have easton ones and I think we cut them about an inch down.

Mrs BNS likes bar wide enough to dance on

Can’t beleive I’m considering giving her the carbon bars……. it’s sooo unfair 😥

I reckon bar width and type is more to do with the bike than the rider.

Race hardtail? Narrow flats.
6in FS bike? 700mm risers, lots of rise
HT singlespeed? Wider flats and bar ends
Genaral XC bike? normal 660mm risers, medium rise

Yes, if someone is tiny (Man or woman) go a bit narrower, but don’t go overboard just because someone says you should. If they feel OK, leave them. If they feel wide, take 5-10mm off each end. It’ll make a noticeable difference. Just trim a bit at a time until it feels right, don’t go lopping huge chunks off!
🙂

oh and make sure you cut off from both ends 😉