Handlebar widths?

Hi all
thinking of changing to wider bars, so what is everyone else using. oh and what rise.
Pros and cons, pics

dunno, what you got at the moment?

685mm Eastons work best for me..mid rise with a 90mm stem

685mm Eastons work best for me… low rise with a 70mm stem
.
that’s on a 5″ hardtail
I’ve got the same on the 7″ full suss with a 50mm stem but tempted to go an inch or so wider

I think sunline V1s are 710?
don’t quote me though
80 mm stem, pretty much perfect for everything. Wouldn’t mind trying a shorter one to see how the steering becomes quicker though.
the sunlines are also about an inch rise I think

for me, stem length doesn’t seem to affect the ‘quickness’ of steering – i’m not even sure what that means…

but fitting a longer stem is a good way to help keep the front wheel under control on steep climbs.

fitting a shorter stem helps when you need to make the front of the bike lighter – for manuals etc, and to move your weight back for steep descents.

and of course a longer / shorter stem as you desire for comfort and stuff.

I’m running 660’s on my Helius CC with a 90mm stem, and also 660’s on my SS and geared HT’s, 80 & 90mm stems respectively.

They just feel right to me, didn’t like the wider bars on my FS

660mm low rise here with a 100mm stem. Feels good.

750mm and a 80mm stem, works nicelyon a 140mm hardtail

737mm Sunline V1’s, 19mm rise with a 90 mm stem, although want to try a shorter stem.

Just cut mine down to 600. Kept banging on trees.

685’s on 2 bikes, 710’s on 2 bikes. Used to be 685mm all round, think I’m gradually going to get them all to 710 as it becomes time to upgrade, though I’m in no rush.

Wider than 710 is too wide for me, I’m not that big or wide in the shoulder and really wide bars only serve to slow the steering too much for me.

actually, i was talking rubbish. i wouldn’t want to ride a bike with a 150mm stem even if the ‘reach’ was the same as my pig.

maybe there is something in this ‘stem-length-affecting-steering-feel’ thing, for now i will call it ‘quickness’.

50mm stem + 760’s on my Dh bike, 70mm stem + 760’s on my pig.

(although i will admit that they feel on the wide side for climbing – they may be getting chopped a bit – 740 ish?)

710mm 90mm stem feels about right on my full sus, possibly shorter if I’m of for some DH’ing Gnar

Had to scavenge from the DH bike tonight so I’ll be running 760’s tomorrow :):) a bit mad me thinks

760mm bars and 65mm stem on full sus and hardtail. Got 685 on my scratty bike and it feels far too narrow now!

710 and 70mm here, did have a 60mm stem previously and was noticeably more difficult on slow, techie climby bits.

685 low rise Eastons with a 50mm stem and 90mm fork on my more Xc bike, 710 with 50mm stem/110mm fork on my Hack/DH HT. Think I’d benefit from a longer stem on the XC bike, short and wide is great for DH and trail hacking but the shorter eastons seem to suit more general XC and all day riding. Worth considering your build as well I’m 5’10″/12ish stone and have moderately wide shoulders don’t think I’d go much wider than 710 personally. Its all about propprtions I reckon, you don’t want to feel like you’re being crucified nor do you want your thumbs 3″ appart, wider your shoulders/longer hour arms longer the bars you need. Anyone come up with a formula for this one yet?

730 with a 50mm stem.

It wasnt until i rode at Wharny that i realised why id cut my old ones down 🙄

730 with a 50mm stem.

It wasnt until i rode at Wharny that i realised why id cut my old ones down 🙄

685mm and 70mm on one XC hardtail and

700mm and 65mm on the other, tougher hardtail (trimmed down from 711)

710 and 50/60mm here. I’m pretty wheels on the ground too.

745 sunlines with a thomsom 50 stem! love it! 44 inch chest, the bars just seem to fit width wise, short stem, sits me back slightly on the bike!

I went wide 760 but going aback to 710 feeling about right. I personally think if your bigger then a wider bar makes more sense. Don’t get this “banging into trees” thing. Just don’t experience the problem even when I had the widest bars on. Definitely found a problem when at the start of a busy race, hard to barge past people.

My Enduro has an 80mm Thomson stem with 710mm Funn bars.

The Wolf Ridge has a 65mm Srtaitline stem and 760mm Nukeproofs.

The latter feels under-forked on Revelations… although neither bike feels particularly unwieldy, the Enduro feels all the better for having wider bars.

Apparently the formula is your shoulder width plus four inches, just measured and found that this is spot on for what I’m using. But as with most bicycle related formulas, it could all be bollocks.

I’ve got v.wide shoulders… 710+ feels just fine to me.

How did I cope with 600mm bars back in the day?

I’ve not fallen for the fashion police yet – I find that it’s not the width that counts but how it affects you … a narrower bars means I feel more comfortable thru narrow gaps. Run @ 680mm I think but it varies on each bike.

I’ve been going up and down but seem to have settled on 680mm-ish as the best compromise for me.

How do you measure shoulder width? Is it from outer to outer or centre to centre? Would like to try wider bars as 685mm Eastons do not give me enough room to use index finger for 1 finger braking, need another 20mm on each end.

I find wider than 680 uncomfortable as it splays my arms too wide. I don’t have wide shoulders tho. I also find them a pain in tree lined trails

725 mm on both bikes

Race Face Atlas AM’s on the DH bike – 0.75″

Race Face Atlas FR cut down to 725 mm on HT – 0.5″ rise

I’m pretty small so 725 is the max I would go, but definitely noticeably better control than the old 710’s I was running.

Both low rise, – much better on climbs compared to the risers even with the big forks on the HT. Like being a bit more over the front. Don’t think I’d go with completely flat bars though.

710 is the magic number for trail bikes.

740 is the magic number for bigger bikes.

660mm is the magic number for race bikes.

Unless you’re the incredible hulk.

@ spokes – and this is according to?

I don’t think that there is a magic number when it comes to bar width, it’s whatever you feel most comfortable with.

685 race face atlas am low rise with 60mm stem, want 70mm stem, maybe 700ish bars (I only have wee arms and 38″ chest)

Trimix on here runs 800mm bars on his custom Transition Covert used mostly for XC. He’s not the incredible hulk.

The trees round this way have been taking a battering and his knuckles are permanently purple.

685 lowrise Eastons for general xc (actually a bit wide for some local back woods stuff, but really comfy), and 710 highrise Eastons for more demanding stuff. Same bike.

Got 710mm wide Sunline V3’s (nice & cheap & not oversize) on my Inbred with a 70mm RF Deus stem.
On the Stumpy FSR I’ve got the standard Spesh riser bars – think they are 660mm wide. Also with a 70mm stem (I think).

Since I got the Sunline bars I think the Spesh bars feel a bit too narrow, but the Inbred bars are probably a bit too wide. It’s all relative though – if I ride the Stumpjumper immediately after the Inbred the bars feel REALLY narrow.

I’m gonna get new bars/stem/post for the Stumpjumper at some point as the standard ones don’t really do the bike justice (in terms of appearance) and will probably get 685mm ones.
I’ll probably cut the Sunlines down at the same time to about the same.

Hmm, I was surprised today, I put 680mms on my rigid and that seems like the logical size but all day I was wishing for wider. Didn’t expect that at all.