I'm thinking about going wider. My monkeybars are 680-ish mm and I'm 6'2", quite um, bulky.
A non scientific average width of the favoured bars in last months ST came out at 719mm.
I reckon an extra 40-60mm would about do it for me.
Also, from the Ragley site:
'We offer 25 and 38mm rises for shorter and taller riders.'
Can anyone explain what they're getting at? Taller = more rise? It's not clear to me which might be the preferred option, based on height.
720mm bars and I'm quite small in the shoulders. I reckon it's a bit like someone a bit bigger with 750mm bars.
The whole wide bar thing has nothing to do with fit, it's for extra leverage and control.
Can you explain please how having your arms out stretched at 'ten to two' can give you more leverage?. cheers
Im a relatively small build (5'10" but quite thin), and use 685s on my niner air, and 762s on my tracer.
i find with the add width that it gives you more conferdence to throw the bike into corners a bit more.Its all personal preference at the end of the day. I think for xc 710mm is about the widest you want to go as the single track tends to be quite tight (especially in places like stanmer). I think the general thinking behind them is that the faster you go downhill the wider the bars, hence why DH bikes tend to have stupidly wide bars and XC bikes have quite narrow bars.
The idea of wider bars, is that you run them with a shorter stem. I run at 80mm stem on my niner and a 50mm stem on my tracer so my weight stays in a similar position on the bike.
If your quite tall i would suggest that you go with a higher rise bar, but again it all depends on how you set up your bike. My suggestion would be buy a cheap set and see how you get on with them, at the end of the day if you dont like them just cut them down 
I find wide bars uncomfortable - 685mm for me - 5' 10"
There's only a few cm's difference between 750 bars and 685mm ones. Give them a try.
It really is pointless asking for advice/opinion on this subject because it's all entirely subjective.
Sure, there are sound arguments around body position, weight distribution, leverage, steering effect etc all of which will be altered by the width of your bar and may well contribute to better control when you take a purely 'physics' approach to the argument.
But none to of that really matters if you're uncomfortable on the bike with a wider bar, or if the style just doesn't work for you.
Most people could over time adapt to almost any kind of set up (within reason, I.m not talking about drop bars for example :lol:) and find that they are riding at close to their maximum in terms of speed/efficiency/control even if they never quite squeeze out 100% of that.
Personally, at a shade under 6ft, I find a 750mm bar perfect and I've been riding this width for about four years now. But for me to say that everyone else should also be riding a bar this wide would be like me saying everyone should also hate marmite because I think it tastes like a racoon's arse.
Yes, there are sound, scientific based arguments for wider bars. But the only way you're going to know if you can take advantage of those is if you try it for yourself.
Buy a cheap wide bar, say 750mm-780mm (only because that's the default width they come in these days) and see how you go, cutting them down as you prefer.
...(re riser bars)...Can anyone explain what they're getting at? Taller = more rise? It's not clear to me which might be the preferred option, based on height...
for a given model of bike, the front end of a 'large' frame will be about the same height as that of a 'small' - the head tube might be 10 or 20mm longer on the Large frame, but that's about it.
but the saddle on a taller rider's bike can be much higher than the saddle on the bike of a shortarse shorter rider, my saddle will be about 150mm higher than the saddle of a rider whose inseam is 150mm shorter than mine.
a taller rider may want more rise on their handlebars to help reduce the extreme 'arse-up, head-down' position.
they may not, this may be the position they're after, but choice is nice.
...Can you explain please how having your arms out stretched at 'ten to two' can give you more leverage?. cheers
i don't know about 'ten to two' - my forearms are roughly parallel when my paws on on the grips.
(i'm 6'2" / 185cm ish, and lanky with it. My saddle is miles above my handlebars, but/because i use flat 760mm handlbars)
It really is pointless asking for advice/opinion on this subject because it's all entirely subjective.
+1
and fashion
711 on the jumpy bike
700 on the XC bike
and fashion
+1
and what the mags say
and what the mags say
That is fashion!
i don't know about fashion, my bikes look ridiculous!
(comfy though)
ahwiles - thanks. As I suspected, but thanks for the clarification.
Fashion? Maybe. But riding my current bars, I find my hands naturally want to sit wider, to the point that I'm actually hanging off the ends a little bit. So confort is my primary motivation.
But anyway, the most important factor is obviously: which colour? 
I quite fancy white for my Orange Soul. What do you reckon?
Gold FTW
and fashion
Fashion is subject
any cheap (sub £20) wide >750mm bars on offer anywhere?
want to try one out...
810mm, Im five foot 11. Puts me in a nice position, wide chest, good control etc. Its personal as others have said as well as physics.
trimix likes his Soundgarden* bars, despite not being able to get through some of the tighter stuff in woburn with his pinky fingers intact...
I'm a skinny 5'10 and recently went from the old 685 standard to 710. So much more comfortable and stable feeling. In my regular seated position my forearms are parallel to each other and the top tube when looking down, which feels "duh why didn't i always ride this" natural.
All very subjective but I'd recommend trying some wider bars, esp at your height. 685 is/was just as arbitrary a width choice as the newer wider options, your probably riding that width as that's what everybody used to make.
740 / 0 rise on the XC bike.
780 / 0 rise on the DH bike.
I find them comfy - nothing to do with fashion at all...
xiphon - MemberI find them comfy - nothing to do with fashion at all...
Exactly. If you were concerned with how your bike looks, you wouldn't have two Orange bikes.
I guess its a comfort thing. I'm 6'4" with a 49" chest so I'm pretty broad. I swapped the stock 685mm bar on my EX8 for a 720mm bar and got a shorter stem (was 120mm). I find it more comfortable tha before, it also allows more space for cockpit adjustment. I could have gone wider but on my XC/trail bike I din't feel like it warrented it for the reasons outlined in earlier posts. I don't do any DH or mega rough stuff.
A wider bar offers more leverage. If you go too wide I guess it could get a bit uncomfortabel and ofrce your bodyweight forward thus altering your centre of gravity. Just a thought
6'2" & broad shoulders.
640s & 90mm stem on the XCJ bike
710s & 55mm on trail bike A
730s & 45mm on trail bike B
740s & 40mm on the FR bike
they all work fine (for me). Could go wider but wouldn't fit through the trees.
White bars tend to be painted (thicker) and you will find SRAM controls and some lock-ons are a pain to fit.
As above, the width of the bars is a personal choice. For me, 685mm on all bikes due to tree clearance.
The issue of high rise bars and raising the height at the front end of the bike is a big issue for me. At 6ft 6inches, most bikes feel very low at the front, like I'm gonna go over the bars on steep descents. I've had to buy new forks on all my bikes just to get an un-cut steerer tube! This gives a weird look on my bikes as I have shed loads of spacers below the stem to jack the front up. I also use high rise bars. The 'line' between the top of my saddle and the top of the handlebars is now much the same as most other riders.
Exactly. If you were concerned with how your bike looks, you wouldn't have two Orange bikes.
If I was concerned with fashion, one frame wouldn't be over 10 years old with a mish-mash of parts.... the other wouldn't be bright pink (and 8 years old)
Mine are 685mm but come in around 700mm with ODI lock-On grips. I use them with a 70mm stem.
Any wider and you'd struggle to fit between the trees on my local singletrack playground.
I don't struggle between trees, I make them move with the ends of my bars.
My bars have already experienced some serious tree-hugging over the years, 740mm+ bars would make this far too frequent.
All seems a bit 'kings new clothes' to me. Plus i'm a bit late on this trend. Might just save my money & hop on the next one.
Plus Sam Hill seems a bit out of favour at the moment.
420mm on road bike
Flat 685mm on 100mm travel 29er HT with 90mm zero rise stem
Low rise 711mm on 140/130mm travel FS with 65mm 10deg rise stem
To be fair the ones on my FS are "starting" to feel a bit narrow after riding a couple of bikes with 750's on them recently, might swap them, but then again might not
All seems a bit 'kings new clothes' to me.
Well it isn't, there are benefits otherwise the pro DH racers wouldn't all be using them. I agree that whether you can make the most of the benefit is down to personal preference and riding style, but there are still benefits to be had.
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