[Closed] Handlebar widths

😯

Is there any bar extensions available to just increase width of existing bars,

Just attach your lock on grips at one end, with most of it sticking out past the bar? 😛

Grumm. Have you tried this

Sorry it was a joke - please don't do that! There are some cheap wide bars out there by people like Funn if you want to give them a try.

Had a wild thought of extending using a piece of cut off bar and some sort of wedge like hope head doctor to link both sections together.
Got some raceface atlas 725mm bars for FS but wanted to achieve same on HT .

There are some handlebar extendors available. They were in dirt a while back, I don't know the name and they're quite weighty though.

I've run 710 for 4 years on my hardtail and that's great for rad stuff. I run 740 on the bouncy bike and certainly wouldn't want that sort of width on most trails, it's OTT.

ooh! - i love a good 'width thread!

760 on my Dh/daft bike - and it's great.

760 on my daft hardtail/xc bike - and it's probably a bit too much if i'm honest.

440 on my road bike - i tried 420's and it was like trying to steer a door.

bmx? - haven't the slightest idea.

yes - you can buy extenders - for about the same price as a new set of handlebars...

(i've got long arms - wide bars are one recent 'trend' that i'm very grateful for)

ive got 440s on my road bike, like em,
and 680s on my hardtail, and if im honest, not wide enough.

I ride XC and general mucking about. I feel most comfortable on 800mm. Even then i hold the bars at the ends.

I have 720 on my FS and 685 on my HT, which I use mainly for commuting. The HT also has bar ends.

680 on the Helius CC - would be happier to go to about 710mm I reckon

It's all relative to the width of your shoulders, so it's all relative to each individual riders build.

do you lot not ride anywhere with tight tree lined singletrack?

Nothing too narrow unless you think Chase tight singletrack.

my 700's on the single speed don't down some of the cheeky trails, 685's on the other bikes just squeak through.

It seems a very odd fashion to have massive boom handles for bars where for most riders it's just overkill

I experimented with bar width by replacing my handlebar with a 1.2m length of copper piping from B&Q, I then gradually cut it down until I got to the optimum width*

*not really

I like my nukeproofs but they are a bit wide for comfort, great on techy stuff, but on all day rides and level singletrack i usualy end up wishing for my old eastons.

do you lot not ride anywhere with tight tree lined singletrack?

Not really, riding in the woods is shit when there's rocks to be had.

680 plenty wide enough for me. wider is uncomfortable and I don't like smashing my knuckles on trees

Recently became a victim of fashion and got 720 on my HT. Seems to work ok.

When did wide bars become the norm? When I rode in the 90's we use to cut our bars down as narrow as possible. Now I struggle on anything wider than 600mm.

i have wide bars and there soon to be cut down they are a pain in the ass. i always clip things down small byways etc and in tight single track they are in the way.

I have also clipped my little finger a few times at full pelt and it kills

I too end up cutting down bars to around 66 cms, as anything wider gives me shoulder pain. Wide bars are a real nuisance in the woods. I reckon the current trend is almost entirely fashion driven. I use Mary bars on one of my bikes and they are very comfortable for me with their distinct rear sweep, but I have never seen another bike with them. We are strange creatures in the way we either slavishly follow fashion, or take pride in ploughing our own furrow.

ride XC and general mucking about. I feel most comfortable on 800mm. Even then i hold the bars at the end

You don't ride off piste in the woods with those on do you?

710 seems about right. Never found anything too tight, apart from a bridge at Rivi.

But then, they're only 12.5mm wider on each side than the standard 685mm on my bike, it'd have to be a bloody tight gap to mean I could fit through with one set and not the other.

I run 710mm on a 2004 Enduro and its transformed it. Before then I was running 640mm bars and now it feels planted and confidence inspiring. Wish I'd done it sooner to be honest.

But then, they're only 12.5mm wider on each side than the standard 685mm on my bike, it'd have to be a bloody tight gap to mean I could fit through with one set and not the other.

This.

Granted 800mm wide bars might make tight, wooded singletrack a bit of a squeeze, but surely the difference between 660mm and 700-725mm is negligable in real terms? Are people really so precise that they regularly avoid trail obstacles by less than 2cm?

ashfanman - there's two places on my local loop where if i forget to 'slow and wiggle' -my 720 bars jam solid- luckily nobody has ever seen my elegant stopped dead - "i meant to do that" dismounts.

But presumably you'd slow down anyway if you were using narrower bars?

I use a broom handle for an ultra wide 1200mm super gnarly ultra rad look.

Can't get the bike out of the house cos the doorway's too narrow.

Are people really so precise that they regularly avoid trail obstacles by less than 2cm?

going from 685 - 750 on the 456 means i can't fit through some gaps i used to.

also if i session some twisty DH runs i will be running my endcaps across trees to take tight lines.

i also have smashed my hands on trees. 😥

do you lot not ride anywhere with tight tree lined singletrack?

i too am mystified regarding the current fad for wide bars.
for super fast DH rock fests then maybe but on the 'normal' woodsy singletrack i really can't see the point and can think of a couple of trails where tree gaps would be too narrow.

the only useful change in bar types (for me) has been getting lower rise bars to put the c-o-g lower over the front and have better weight distribution as fork lengths have lengthened and head angles slackened over the last few years. i guess that's why you see integrated stem crown's for DH bikes to lower the bars.

There is one bit of trail locally to me that threading between the trees is very hard with wider bars than 700. I hit a tree each side at teh same time with 680s

damo2576 - Member
When did wide bars become the norm? When I rode in the 90's we use to cut our bars down as narrow as possible. Now I struggle on anything wider than 600mm.
POSTED 13 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

snap used to cut down so there was just enough width for shifters brakes and grips - oh how times change! Got 660mm on my fuel ex, felt odd at first - then put some 685mm cnt monkeylites on my 29er, feel perfect, love them to bits, if I could find another pair new for 50quid I'd snap them up!

I love my wide bars, for a couple of places I ride I have had to learn to "shimmy" them through the narrow gaps... it feels ace when you get it right... which is all the time... I never mess it up anymore... oh no 😆

Do you think it would be extremely dangerous to have my lock-on grips a couple of centimetres off the ends of my carbon bars, just for a little extra width?????

I seem to be happy anywhere from 680 to 710mm, I'm pretty narrow so I daresay that plays a part. Weirdly my cheapo rigid project is the only bike I have that feels like it needs a 710mm bar, by rights it out to be the hemlock but it's fine with 680mm.

ds3000 - Member

"Do you think it would be extremely dangerous to have my lock-on grips a couple of centimetres off the ends of my carbon bars, just for a little extra width?????"

I wouldn't do it for long or for harder riding, but it's fine just to get a feel for it. IMO of course.

millimeters yes, centimeters no.. both lock-on clamps need to be clamped to the bar or the grip will spin.

760mm here! Don't like narrow bars makes me feel like my body's folding in but I have broad shoulders!! When climbing I shift my hands in sometimes, then on the downs it's arms wide and away you go. Depends on body size and shoulder width and of course what feels comfy.

"both lock-on clamps need to be clamped to the bar or the grip will
spin."

Not the case, not for light use. And also some have only one set of clamps anyway.

I reckon the current trend is almost entirely fashion driven

-1

I reckon some folk [i]may[/i] buy them because their favourite mag has said they're the next big thing, but unless you try them you'll never know. They're what some of us have been waiting for.

It's all relative to the width of your shoulders, so it's all relative to each individual riders build

+1

That to me is the issue - I'm 5'11" with a 46" chest and wide shoulders. If I ride anything less than 710mm wide bars I feel like I'm squeezing a cleavage.

Funnily enough, I prefer to ride a bike that has top tube and seat tube dimensions that make it comfy for me, but also allow me to move around the bike quite a bit. I also buy trousers and shirts that fit me correctly - why shouldn't I have components that fit good as well?

I have 720mm on the hardtail and 750mm on the full sus'. I've had Spike 777's fitted but couldnt fit through gaps in trees, especially at cannock. They're also a bit antisocial when riding in a group.

On my bike I have 685, while my buddie rides with 720. After a test of 720 decided I want wider bars, as I preffer more stable slower response to my cornering. To confuse people even more, my buddie preffers my 685 set up, as he likes the bike to be on a -Darty side with faster steering Sega Rally style.

Suppose choice of bars width depends on a style how you ride, some people steer handle bars and some push or lean on them, maybe that explains preference of width against body geo?

Ps I am wider than him too.

I don't care what anyone says works for them, unless you're running bars at least 710mm wide then you're all just doing it wrong. The whole point of a thread like this is for everyone to tell you what you should be riding after all.

I'm riding 540 to 560mm bars, often with bar ends.

Thank you for this thread, clearly I need to get with the programme - 720mm Spank bars in wet white will look just so on the '88 Stumpjumper.

careful big ted, cantis or V brakes on bars over 560mm will automatically kill you as the extra miles of cable needed to reach the end of the broom handle will put so much drag in the system that you will never stop.

Your boar chewed body will be found in the Forest of Dean as a testament to your sudden desire to not be retro.

Just say no!

I've got two sets of bars. 685 low risers which are still a bit wide for some of my favorite local singletrack (but I'm a big bloke, so much narrower feels uncomfortable), and 710 highrisers for more open rocky stuff. I rode singletrack with the wider bars the other day and the steering felt far too slow. Might just be psychological though.

changing to wider bars (745 mm) and shorter stem (50 mm) provided a definite improvement to my bike handling.