[Closed] Very wide bars

It makes you look gnar

And makes you feel Gnar

With bars that wide I felt I was using a 1970s chest expander!
Cut down to a more sensible 740 and they felt a lot better. Wider isn't always better, depends on shoulder width, arm length, stem length, narrowness of trees, etc.

Personal taste, really, may suit you, or you may prefer it a bit narrower,

I'd suggest using it for a bit, see how you get on, then slide your grips in 10mm (without cutting the bar), see how that feels. Experimenta bit, you'll find your own sweet spot and you can cut (or go wider) as needed

A rough guide I use is fall forwards onto a rail and put your arms out to grab the rail and catch you. Try to not think about your arm position but let them go to a natural position. Measure the width and see how it compares. You may still want to tweak it in or out but I find it pretty good as a way to find my natural comfortable arm width where I feel safe and in control.

Wider bars can do a few thing.

Open up your chest.
More sensitive control.
More force for steering.
More weight on the front, so better front tyre grip.

All this depends on your bike and your body shape - so try it before you cut it.

Some of it is hard to notice and some you only notice after time. Leave them wide and move the grips/controls in. Once you cut you cant uncut.

Everyone is different, there is no such thing as a "Formula for bar width".

780 isn't very wide, it's 2017 normal. Give it a year and MBR will be calling it too narrow.

TBH I know there's loads of reasons people give, for me it's purely that it's comfy. I ended up putting a 750mm on my hybrid! There is a formula for optimum size though- if you cut 10mm off a bar, then you will find the correct size is 10mm longer than the bar now is.

As above, depends on size. Being fairly broad shouldered and a smidge over 6ft 3 I like my 780mm bars. Troy Brosnan on the other hand - a man who I would consider to be an equally capable rider - rides 760mm because he's a shorty.

Well people say 'more control' but this is Theresa May levels of vagueness imo.

Personally I think it makes for a somewhat more natural position if you're sitting more upright. Not sure it's appropriate for your intended riding, mind. I have 780mm on the Patriot now and now I have the correct set up it's nice when chucking your bike around; not sure I'd want it for a mile muncher.

I found that larger wheels with a greater moment of inertia needed wider bars to control them; however on my 29er they are only 680mm.

Tyres have gotten both bigger and heavier, the gyroscopic forces of a wheel moving at speed thus need more force in order to turn it, wider bars provide this force through additional leverage.

Back in 07 I was happy with 2.1" Conti Speedkings at 450g per tyre. Now the lightest decent tyre I can find is almost 750g and is on a bigger wheel. MUCH more rotational energy.

Try it. Take your front wheel off the bike, hold it by one of the axle ends and spin it as fast as you can whilst keeping the wheel upright. Now, try and turn the wheel. Remove the tyre and repeat; the different in required force is phenomenal.

Daffy - Member

Tyres have gotten both bigger and heavier, the gyroscopic forces of a wheel moving at speed thus need more force in order to turn it,

The bars on my motorbike are narrower than on my mountain bikes but the front wheel assembly- tyre, wheel and rotor- is heavier than the entire bike. And I've never tried to get a pushbike to turn a corner at 100mph.

You seem to have a scientific mind OP. Ride with the wider bar for a bit and come back to tell us what you think.

That kind of width won't suit everyone, but it's just about right for a lot of us - so it's good to hear Genesis are so on the ball.

The bars on my motorbike are narrower than on my mountain bikes

Yes but you probably don't need to turn quite such sharp corners on a motorbike. In fact I suspect that if you were able to move the front wheel as much as I do on an MTB, you'd crash instantly.

Rather than theorising about motorbikes, I actually have direct experience of this. I built a 29er with 580mm bars and bar ends, like I used to use back in the day on 26ers, and it was quite hard to turn the bars and it felt awful.

molgrips - Member

Rather than theorising about motorbikes, I actually have direct experience of this.

No theory involved. I don't think you're the only person that has experience of turning a bike via handlebars.

The force needed to turn any pushbike bars is trivial, and the gyroscopic forces are very low. You might [i]like[/i] more leverage, but the idea that we need it now because of bigger wheels is ridiculous. Or for that matter the idea that wheels and tyres have got heavier, because 26er dualplies and dh wheels outweigh most 29er wheels and went round corners just fine with narrower bars.

It's just faulty logic. There's perfectly good reasons for using wide bars, no need to make up extra ones.

So much bullcrap in so few posts : )

Ride what ever width bars you like and feel comfy with.

The 'best' width also depends on the geo of the bike. If your bike has quick steering then 700-720 will probably be fine and any wider will feel twitchy. Slacker bikes need more leverage and thus wider will work better.

Talking (sports) motorbikes... they have 17" front wheels and 67ish degree head angles, so can still steer with narrower bars, even at 100mph.

In other words, the width that works can't be separated from the thing that it's on.

I'm using about ~720s, I tried longer and ended up cutting them down after a few rides as it just felt a bit unwieldy.

Although my bike uses 29" wheels with 2.3" tyres I seem to have enough upper body strength to turn the handlebars. Not meaning to show off or anything, but I find it quite easy.

wide bars are for the weak.

Unfortunately when the Forestry Commission planted lots of trees in the 40s and 50s, they didn't factor this in...I struggle in places with 650mm bars if I want to preserve my fingers.

If it feels like a canal boat tiler it's too wide.

I wasn't suggesting that it's hard to turn handlebars in general riding, but I've definitely noticed that when hooning down long twisty descents, that it takes a lot more effort to hook a perfect line if there's a sharp change of direction at speed involved.

I certainly feel like I've had a decent workout and never used to. Maybe I'm just getting old.

What're the other benefits of wide bars, Northwind?

I felt my 800 were too wide and wondered if it might be the reason for my tennis elbow.

But of internet reading and there was a sensible suggestion from an America coach who gave a good argument for bars being as wide as your natural push up. So, I checked it, and cut my bars down to 750. I now know 760-770 is ideal for me.

im on 800mm Stooge moto bars on my Plus bike, it feels Fantastic, 6'0 with arms as long as a baboon 🙂

Oh for goodness sake Northwind. Talk about manufacturing an argument for nothing.

I don't think you're the only person that has experience of turning a bike via handlebars.

I bet I'm one of very few people who've tried fitting 580mm bars to a 29er with 2.3 tyres.

Fact is - larger wheels have much greater moment of inertia, and wider bars give you more leverage, making it easIER to turn the bars. So your waffle means nothing.

You might prefer it, you might not. As said it depends on lots of factors. 680mm is good on my Salsa for what I want to with it, I wouldnt' want to go wider. 780 flat on the Patriot was awful, 780 riser is great. Easier to turn the bars means you have to move your hands more though, so that can become a problem.

molgrips - Member

Fact is - larger wheels have much greater moment of inertia, and wider bars give you more leverage, making it easIER to turn the bars. So your waffle means nothing.

I think it's you that's trying to manufacture an argument, since you seem to be out to misrepresent what I said. Or maybe you just didn't really read my post? Either way it's pretty annoying.

Frankly, an extra 30mm of leverage is probably neither here nor there. Turning any bars on a bike that's moving isn't hard. That moment of inertia argument really doesn't hold any merit as it's hardest turning the bars of the bike when stationary.
Wider bars will bring you further forward and that's probably where the perception of increased control comes from.

Your argument was what? That because your motorbike has narrow bars and heavy wheels that means bike wheels don't benefit from wide ones?

Immmmm no. Never mentioned my motorbike. For the record it's a dirt bike with wide bars and relatively light wheels for a motorbike.
Bigger wheels being a reason for wider bars is toss.

Try it. Stick some 580s on.

On a motorbike the turning happens due to the tyre shape and the bike falls over into a corner. Usually the bars are turned the opposite way to the direction you want to turn. Works on push bikes too just need a bit of speed.

I bought a Renthal Fatbar Carbon which is 800mm a good few months back. Had the intent of cutting it down to 760 but wanted to ride so fitted them at 800. Never got around to it and actually love how stable and controlled I feel at speed, so probably will leave them at 800. They also balance out the 20mm shorter stem I fitted at the same time.

I've just bought an 810 mm ENVE High Rise DH bar for my fat bike. Do I win this thread?

I've got 50mm stem on the Patriot at 780. Tempted to get a 35mm.

I went from 680 to 740 and I thought I would take a while to get used to it but actually it felt ok from the get-go. doing a blind grab puts my hands where the brake clamps are but that's cool because the new position will take a while to become automatic rather than part conscious but that's to be expected.

I just have an inkling that wider would be too much but of course that could be confirmation bias because the new thing I've bought feels ok 🙂

molgrips - Member

Your argument was what? That because your motorbike has narrow bars and heavy wheels that means bike wheels don't benefit from wide ones?

No. I don't much feel like repeating it though so could you just read what I said last time?

I did, that's all I could gather from it, sorry.

Then honestly, there's no point in me trying again because you'll still just see what you've decided I'm saying, not what I'm actually saying.

Wide[b]r[/b] bars are a wonderful thing, but (for a given set-up) there's certainly such a thing as "too wide". For me, 780mm is a touch too much. I'm happiest at 760mm. But each time I've ended up with new bars in the last few years, I've tried them wide first and then cut them down slightly. It's just worth remembering that it's very hard to add length ([url= http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/deluxe-bar-end-bar-extenders-3663-p.asp ]these aren't great[/url]).

🙂

I like wider bars because of the way it makes the bike feel like it now has power steering also when riding slow technical trails (this been relative to my meagre talent) as I feel I have better balance. I think it's like a tight rope walker with their wide balancing pole.

I've tried between 800 and 760 and stuck with 760 (all with a 35mm stem). Steering with 800 just felt really over pronounced, 780 felt good buy meant I still wacked my knuckles too much on the narrow stuff so I've settled on 760.

I've just checked my latest bike and although it's a 2017 model it's only got a 750mm wide bar. I feel so inadequate.

I've got a set of 800mm ti knucklebreakers arriving next week. the plan will be to ride wide and then trim accordingly to fit through some of the really wiggly stuff. I can always use use the trimmed bits to make piercing rings 🙂

Wider bars have really helped me get comfortable on a few bikes.

I currenly use anything from 780s to 640s (560 max on my retro bikes) on my bikes depending on the bike and riding conditions.

The width of the bar does seem to impact steering control with the wider bar offering more. This is all IMHO. I wouldn't want to ride my Puffin with a Bud fitted on a 560mm bar 🙂

A wider bar has also helped me get bikes to fit.

I'm not abnormally tall but have long arms.

I have my Stanton Sherpa 29, in XL, set up with a 90mm stem and a 760mm bar. Any narrower and I would feel I needed a longer stem! I'm not sure Dan designed them to run 100 stems 🙂

I run my widest bar on my longest bike with my shortest (70mm) stem

This thread has got me wondering just why I do feel more in control with wider bars? As Northwind says it isn't because I need the leverage to overcome centrifugal forces, they are relatively small. Both bicycles and motorcycles tend to narrow bars on the road and wide bars off road so is it related to low speed where centrifugal forces are low or is it about control over rough or slippy ground?