A quote from On-one regarding their 810mm bars.

If your riding involves a bit more full-throttle speed – and full tilt technicality – then you’ll really benefit from running a wide set of bars.

Sure, you’ll whack a pinkie finger every Preston Guild but that’s a price well worth paying for the benefits of big bars.

More stability. More room for a bit of the ol’ Body English. Better cornering. Oh Lord, such better cornering. You genuinely become a better rider, having more fun, when you slap on a pair of wide bars.

Honestly, all it takes is one brakes-off hooning drift around a slingshot corner to convince you that wide bars are unassailably awesome.

Sounds intriguing, so what’s the truth if any behind this?

I run 680mm now and wondering if a step up to 750mm would help. This is for my full bouncer which I use mainly for trail centre hooning with an aspiration toward what might be coined freeride.

So my questions are:
1) Is the above statement in any way justified?
2) Am I likely to benefit from a 70mm increase, or should I maybe go wider?

1) Yes
2) Yes,Maybe (750mm is my limit so far, I’m not willing to try more than that for fear I will become addicted – once you’ve gone wide, you can’t go back!)

Dave

i went from 680mm to 750mm bars with short stem, I’m loving it and wont go back.

I’ve re-writted their advertising bumph for them

Lets face it, you loser. Narrow bars are a fashion faux pas equivalent to turning up at your local trendy bar in a pair of Oxford bags and a tank top.

I bet you’ve only just got rid of the bar ends, haven’t you fatty? You know when you’re getting your bike off the roof rack at Llandegla, they’re mocking you. They are. Those rufty tufty freeride doods. The ones you secretly long to be accepted by. They’re ridiculing you. Sniggering behind their hands

Why? Isn’t it obvious? Look at the width of those ickle weeny bars. Pathetic. In this day and age, everyone knows that the width of your bars is a powerful symbol of fertility. So get some of these you winkie-todgered spod

Oh… and lose the 110mm stem as well fatty. FFS!

😉

I’ve just gone from 685 to 760mm (with an aim to reduce if needed). My first ride out was up Hayfield on a very wet, windy, muddy, rutted day I fell off loads of times due to the change in steering and the conditions.

Went out on Sunday around the Clwyds and absolutely no problems at all. Think I descended much faster than usual and felt much more in control and confident (even in the slop).

£40 for some Nukeproof Warhead bars that also have cut marks to reduce if needs be. A well worth expense to experiment with.

Oh Guy Martin also rides with 760mm bars (as seen on his Orange factory trip) so they must be good 🙂

EDIT: This is on my Pitch which I wouldn’t necessarily take around Delamere forest and tight singletrack 🙂

Depends how long your arms are! I’ve got 770mm on my HT and they feel W I D E and I’m more simian than most.

I found 760mm bars too wide for some tight singletrack (yep I said it).
I’ve gone down to 711mm which is perfect for me and I ain’t a small chap.

By having your hands further apart you are effectively reducing the suspension travel of your arms, so wide is good up to a point. Obviously your shoulder width and arm length are going to play a part in what is right for you. Buy a big set of bars and move your grips about on them trying different lengths for a few rides each. Once you’ve settled on the width your happy with cut the extra off, happy days.

Try them, you might like it. If not, trim them down until you find a length that suits. It’s a lot easier to cut down wide bars than it is to lengthen narrow ones.

Anyone I know that’s tried wider bars has liked it. Ignore the hordes on hear who burst into tears and scream “fashion victim” every time something new is suggested.

I am considering wide bars too, however it seems all good for hooning but what about darting through the trees on technical downhills like that bit on Energy at Afan. I have enough trouble missing trees without sticking a couple of anchors out each side. Comments?

I tried 760mm bars and they were far too wide for me. 710 is about right.

745-750 for me but they don’t feel right on a longer stem to me, 40-50mm is the best feel again for me, tried a 65mm stem felt strange. depends on your build , I have some 760mm on my hard tail and they do feel too wide, will hacksaw them soon, you have to try it and see if it feels ok to you, some trails with trees do require some care, but you get used to it, they may not be for every one , plenty of peeps saying its all hyp , my mate cuts his 680’s down thinks they are too wide so its each to their own.

Dont take the chances of clipping your pinkie lightly. I clipped mine just before Christmas at Cannock and have buggered up the nerve in that side of my hand. my pinkie is almost always numb at the moment.

I thought it was quite amusing in the Orange film when Guy Martin says he doesn’t do wide bars and he wont go any wider than 760. FFS 760 is wide!

Definitely not going back!

680 -> 710 -> 780 (dh bike)

680 -> 710 -> 740 (trail bike)

I have been riding a 29er hardtail with 80mm stem and 711mm bars for the last 8 months, finished building a 26er 160mm full sus bike for the Alps at the weekend with a 60mm stem and 780mm wide bars, the 780mm and the shorter stem really does quicken the steering, with the smaller wheels and slacker headangle being so different to what i have been riding for so long, i kept wanting to understeer into trees and the like.

You will learn to miss trees after a short while. I ride 810 and clipped a tree or two in the first month, now I dont clip them.

Go wide and trim to suit – it needs to suit your riding and your body, but dont be shy of trying new stuff to see what works. But dont believe marketing bollocks, find out for yourself.

I’ve gone from 660-685-745 in the past year though my hard tail has the 660 bars on now. It makes a difference but not that much imo. I mainly bought the wider bars as they were cheap and a nice colour 🙂

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=48619

Regardless of what size bars you run (and I’m still quite happy with 685 Monkey Bars on my Heckler, for now) check out the Guy Martin at Orange video ‘cos it is very interesting and dead funny.