We were just driving through Waterfoot, when we passed a guy on a white Marin with the widest bars I have ever seen. What’s with those? Is there some kind of advantage to them? I would say they were easily wider than shoulder width. They looked like… well… nothing I have ever seen before.

This guy?

What, like 23″? Thats crazy!

Shoulder width is what… About 440mm?! I don’t think MTB bars have ever been that narrow.

I did say wider than shoulder width. It’s hard to estimate, but I would guess at more than half a metre.

Wider than 500mm bars? Crazy stuff

Demo bike I tried had 800mm’s on (Kore Torsion), I assumed they were 760’s as I didn’t measure them till the end of the weekend. I’d always assume 800m would be stupid, but damn me if they and the short stem didn’t match the character of the bike (Segment) and felt great. I’m not going to buy any that wide, as there’s too many tree locally, but found it surprising how my preconception was so wrong

Half a metre = 500mm, even ‘narrow’ bars are 680, DH bars are frequently 800mm, I think the silliest bar currently available are the Superstar yardsticks at 915mm, maybe those are what you saw.

Alright, my flying estimating skills suck. Say 900mm? They were frickin’ wide. Trust me. AND they were yellow.

😆 lots of help about here. Saxonrider, I’d say most trail bikes are coming with 700-750mm bars just now and moving towards the burlier ‘enduro’ end 750-800mm. There are some bar manufacturers making up to 1000mm though but afaik these are aftermarket only . There is a good video on pinkbike somewhere explaining the idea behind it all. I’ll try to find it.

http://m.pinkbike.com/news/Tech-Tuesday-Handlebars-How-Wide-Affects-Your-Ride-2011.html%5D

omg gotta get some yardsticks didn’t realise they made them that big….an a discount code floating around..

I think with bikes you’ve got to suck it and see ….. I love short stems and wide bars but did wonder if it was just another fad..

Is that Rolf ??

even ‘narrow’ bars are 680

Not true. ‘Narrow’ MTB bars are old style XC 540mm. 680 are medium wide IMHO.

Of course it’s a fad. It suits the currently fashionable riding style. In 1-5 years’ time things will be different again.

To say it’s not a fad would mean that from now until eternity, mountain bikes will all have super-wide bars. If there’s been one constant in mountain biking right form the start, it has been change. Everything changes and evolves, and it’ll keep doing it.

Of course it’s a fad. It suits the currently fashionable riding style. In 1-5 years’ time things will be different again.

MTBing is young enough that the technology and geometry are still evolving. I can’t see any reason why narrow bars would come back into fashion – they have no benefit as speeds are not high enough to give an aero advantage. Narrow bars are a hangover from the roadie influenced NORBA geometry era (1990ish). Earlier MTBs had wide bars (although not as wide as some now).

You’ve got it the wrong way round.Narrow bars and long stems were a fad.In the beginning it was all aboot the width maaaan

Of course it’s a fad. It suits the currently fashionable riding style. In 1-5 years’ time things will be different again.

800mm bars give or take is the norm on motocross bikes, has been for 50 years. It’s just taken a while for mountainbikes to evolve to the same point. I doubt it’ll regress.

Wide should be relative t your size. People blanket recommending a bar of width xmm aren’t really thinking. Wide for someone of 5’2″ is going to be quite different than for someone of 6’2″. Bike should always be supplied with wide bars as it allows you to cut them down to the correct size for you and your riding style.

Gaaaaaaaargh! Why is there no ‘like’ button on here?

My Orange Gyro has 800mm Kore bars. They are wider than my DH bike and my Enduro bike. I thought they would be stupidly wide, but they are fantastic. The OP states the bars were over half a metre wide. A 500mm bar would be dreadfully small. My xc race bike has what i feel are minute 640mm bars.

My Orange Gyro has 800mm Kore bars. They are wider than my DH bike and my Enduro bike. I thought they would be stupidly wide, but they are fantastic. The OP states the bars were over half a metre wide. A 500mm bar would be dreadfully small. My xc race bike has what i feel are minute 640mm bars.

Alright, I have just looked up what my own bars are, and they are 640mm wide with a 12 degree sweep. Although I am very happy with them, I would say that they feel wide compared to what I had had before them.

On this basis, I’m going to estimate the what I saw was at least 800mm. And the guy riding with them looked very ‘stretched out’.

I agree with TheBrick it’s I think it’s down to your armspan , shoulder an arm width … The sweet spot length just seems to put you in a nice attack position to work the bike …

Also agree with Sunday jumper … Always amazed when people want to spend big on a ti frame when you could just buy steel/alu and not worry about skipping it in 3 years time when the next frame revolution occurs… Bit like buying a new allegro and driving around in it for the next 30 years 🙁

thElefant – Member
Of course it’s a fad. It suits the currently fashionable riding style. In 1-5 years’ time things will be different again.
800mm bars give or take is the norm on motocross bikes, has been for 50 years. It’s just taken a while for mountainbikes to evolve to the same point. I doubt it’ll regress.

^ This. Just took a quick look at specs for my renthals on my ktm and they’re 808mm wide.
I really don’t see much need for a bar wider than that on a mtb, where the forces are less than on a motocross bike.