Fad or fab? I put some 710mm Funns on the big bike, I like them. I’m going to put some on the little bike too I think.

What do you think?

Fab! I run Easton Havocs on my Enduro and they’re a revelation for high speed handling.

I like wide bars. 660mm is narrow for me………
🙂

I like the Bontrager King Earl

Nah, old hat, just gone narrow myself… control, pah its a push bike, whats going to get out of control? Must be all of 3kg of forks and wheel to sort out, used to like em a bit wideish on my MX bike, but then an MX’r used to wag their heads a bit at speed them days….

About shoulder width, plus a bit in my opinion.

Just went for (slightly ~50mm) narrower bars. Only because they were what the shop had and I needed a set ASAP for the uplift day at inners.

Did not think I would say this but the narower are better. Still 685mm wide but that is plenty for 99.9% of my riding and better for getting through the local woods

I’ve got 660 on my Pitch – am I gonna notice much difference going wider? Esp for alps/Mega trip this year?

I run 750mm on both my DH and my trail bike. On the trail bike it makes getting through the trees a little tricky, but I personally love the control it gives me. Effectively it’s about greater leverage and less sensitive steering, i.e. it slows the steering rate down. That has the effect of reducing the impact of unintended rider inputs; with a slower steering rate, you need to make a more exagerated input to get the same steering output as for a much narrower bar.

Does this make sense?

Yeah that’s helpful thanks. I find already on my Pitch that the steering is not too good at slow speeds on more delicate stuff, it has a slight tendency to start slow and then suddenly whip round quite fast. Don’t wanna exaggerate that much more if possible.

A mate put some wide riser bars and short stem on his old fsr xc and said it made a world of difference to the handling.

geetee1972 yes it does in a roundabout way, sounds like you want to ride all agressive in style, and big wide bars let you do that & to feel fast, but feeling fast isnt strictly the way to go fast.

Anyhow, run what you like its your bike… Have a good weekend all…

Geetee,

It does but then you could also fit a longer stem. Obviously this will move your weight forward slightly, but then so will wider bars (unless your sweep them back a bit more) plus you’ll be able to fit between trees and ting.

I’d rather be able to get my bike to move where I want it to quickly and accept that it might be more sensitive to “unintended rider inputs”.

I find my EA70s a touch to wide but then I don’t have particularly broad shoulders

Like Tinsy said, it’s not like you need much leverage to move a push bike about. I think it might be a cross-over fasion thing from MX.

Tinsy – yeah, you hit the nail right on the head. That is exactly how I want my riding to feel. I’d love to get some coaching that really did you what suggest – i.e. be fast as well as feel fast. I think you’re absolutely right – feeling fast isn’t always the same as being fast. Sometimes when you look at people like Sam Hill, on video, he doesn’t always look faster than the other elite riders, it’s kind of deceptive.

I’ve got 660 on my Pitch – am I gonna notice much difference going wider? Esp for alps/Mega trip this year?

I’ve been thinking just the same. Same bike. Virtually the same trip.
I’ve come to this conclusion – When I sit on the bike and think about it, or ride normally, and think about it, the bars seem a bit narrow.
But as soon as I point it downhill and the speed rises, I stop thinking about it and there are no problems.
So I’ve concluded that as I can’t feel a difference where it matters, I’ll be wasting my time buying wider bars, even though I think they might help that doesn’t seem to be the case in practice.

If you see what I mean

So far I’ve sucessfully managed to talk myself out of buying new brakes, a new crank, new shifters and new bars, because it doesn’t really make any difference to the ride. I’ve made 2 sensible changes – Lock-on grips which I already had as spares (and they match!) and a 36t ring and bashring.
The bike is fine as it is out of the box, and I don’t want to spoil it!
🙂

EDIT – Although I did get some real bargain wheels off a mate with burlier, wider rims that I’ll probably fit for the Alps. The standard rims are only the same width as Mavic 717s!

I think it’s worth experimenting with things sometimes. Ok, so my reasons for trying wider bars were fuelled purely by the fact that pro DH racers were using them, but I enjoy a distinct downhill bias in my riding, so I tried them, not a huge investment, not irreversible. I’m glad I did, they suit my riding (sketcky), body type (lanky) and bike setup (more down than up).

The investment required to try flat pedals and suitable footwear was greater, but changed my riding and the direction my riding took for the better. OK so bar width won’t have such a profound influence, but given the only contact points when you’re trying hard are your hands and feet it will have an effect.

I fitted 710s to my Prophet last week and rode it both days this weekend at my local trails/jumps. I’m sure I’m not deluding my rapidly approaching middle-aged more money than talent self, but they do feel better to me. The extra inch over my previous bars gives more leverage, a feeling of greater control and also adds to that ‘steering the bike with your hips’ feeling you get when you really get a tight berm or switchback just right. I really didn’t notice the difference threading through trees, in a way it just made me focus on my timing and body/bike position more in the tight stuff.

I like.

i like my salsa pro moto 710mm bars a lot – feel great.

only downside was that in the alps, the tight switchbacks were a LOT harder with them, as when the bars were fully turned (~90 degrees past normal) my outer arm was at full lock, and the inner one was too close to my body – resulting in not getting round the tighter switchbacks, which the year before i did. i has a lot less control over the bike, due to my body position.
they’ll be staying on the bike, until i go to the alps, where i’ll fit my 660s again.

only downside was that in the alps, the tight switchbacks were a LOT harder with them

That’s what the back brake is for!
😉