Is there a general rule for this?

Mainly do free ride, trails, prefer to have my bike set up to go down hills faster than up them.

Buy some that can be cut down. That way you can try the full width and gradually prune until they suit. On one have some ‘el guapo ancho’ bars at 810mm that look good.

Edit: to quantify ‘can be cut down’, some bars are over size at the centre and quickly taper down so you have plenty of bar estate for grips and brakes etc. Others such as hussefelt & superstar have quite an extended taper so at their full length still don’t leave much room for cutting down and have brakes inboard. Admittedly I don’t know how good the on one bars are for this.

Really depends…plus wide bars on a long stem won’t return much in the way of benefit.

My xc full suss and hardtail both have 710mm bars. My AM bike has 760 jobbies, but they’re a little OTT. I’d happily settle for 740 there.

i run 685mm on all my bikes usualy its the width of your sholders apart plus a inch each side is the sweet “comfort” spot but it really is a can of worms.

711mm

680 for me – bigger is uncomfortable. there is no right answer to the question and a lot is about fashion

I’ve gone from 710 nukeproofs up to 720 fatbars, they were at 740 but bit wide for normal trail riding. Few brown pant moments when making like a Jedi through the trees! Pretty perfect now I’d say, but as previously said, start wide and you can always trim them down if needed.

As wide as you want. But 710mm seems to be The Size for me. Downhill bike is slightly wider but I don’t think that’ll last.

I prefer 685mm, although I am currently using 710mm as I gave my son the 685mm ones.
I keep moving my hands in as they aren’t comfy using the full width.

Must look out for some cheap 685’s…or get the pipe cutter out

As above there is no answer to this other than to try and some and see what you like. 740-760 for me across all my mountain bikes.

Bar width is very personal – other people’s dimensions are just random numbers even if you know height, arm length, stem, top tube, riding style, bike….

Buy wide (>750mm) and slide the grips in and adjust controls to feel but for mostly DH, ride them wider than you think for a few rides before reaching for the cutting tools.

Yep as above, bought some fat boys a while ago with the intension to cut them down. Thought I would try them at full whack first, left them like it since, they do look a bit crazy when parked in shed! Have very short hope stem.

Start off too wide, then cut them down a bit at a time untill they’re too narrow, then start again, repeat untill you go mad.

I’ve got 680, 720 and 760mm, all reel right/wrong at some point every ride!

I found that I needed a shorter stem when going from 685 to 750. I went from 60mm to 40mm.

You might be different but I’d recommend trying a shorter stem before getting the hack saw out.

then start again, repeat untill you go mad.

This is probably where giving full width a good outing before trimming comes in to play.

There’s a real wide bar trend going on right now, same as with slack head angles – seems to be getting wider and slacker every year. Go back 10 years and people rode the same trails with 600mm wide, 71 degree head angle and didn’t find it a problem….

Wider bars will give you more control (in theory) but then narrow bars will fit through tight single track with less risk of clipping trees etc..

You need to find a happy medium for your riding style. I ride with 680mm for XC/trails.

Go back 10 years and people rode the same trails with 600mm wide, 71 degree head angle and didn’t find it a problem….

Go back 10 years and people rode the same trails with 600mm wide, 71 degree head angle and didn’t find it a problem, they now look at younger better looking riders riding them twice as fast on slacker bikes with wider bars and head off to STW to tell everyone how they rode the same tracks first and were greatfull for their girvin flex-stems.

In most cases, i.e. average trail riders, I don’t think they do go any faster, it’s just a fashion thing, wider bars and are really in vogue right now.

greatfull for their girvin flex-stems.

No Girvin flex stems were s**t,

and it wasn’t 600mm bars, try cut down to 480mm bars and 135mm stems.

they now look at younger better looking riders riding them twice as fast on slacker bikes with wider bars

don’t see it, sorry, speeds haven’t really changed for the average rider, suspension has had an effect but even that isn’t much. Maybe the average rider has changed, fat middle aged IT workers rather than young XC wanna-bes?

and while i ranting about stupid ideas

as for what should be brought back, and yes it was crap but it sounded so good…

and the ultimate pointless build, but it didn’t stop people doing the same.

Whatever feels comfortable. Rule of thumb is thae wider and taller you are the wider the bars.
It looks very funny when tiny kids are running huge flat bars with their chins on the stems. I run 750mm on all my bikes, but recently had to ride my old 685 wide bars and honestly didn’t really notice much difference.

I’ve been wondering about this too but for single speeding. I recently found that wider bars made climbing up hills easier on my singlespeed because I could get more leverage.

Recently got a pair of the previously mentioned on one el guapo ancho bars, too lazy to cut them down, so been running 810mm for a while now. It’s quite fun, but you have to watch out for trees/buildings/people/fences a bit more.

711 is about the limit for my local riding. Even then there are trails which are quicker on the HT with 685 monkeylites.

there is a rule have you not got the list!!

How tight is the gap between the trees?
How wide are your shoulders?

Try a few on mates bikes

I run 745 HT and 760 FS, every time I rede my gf’s Bikes with 680’s it feels like I have my hands crossed

If you like going downhilll, wider bars help. It’s nowt to do with fashion when they work.

I’ve got 2 bikes with the same RaceFace Handlebars which were 660mm wide, on one I cut it down (width of shoulders with no extra inch each side, that’s what I cut off), on the other I left at full width to find out which was the best width for me.

I find that on the cut down bar my hands are hovering on the ends and most of my weight is on the end of the lock-on grip, which can be a tad uncomfortable over any distance. Basically, I need to replace the cut down one to the wider width to match the uncut one.

I’ve got 745mm on my FS, 736mm on my 29’er HT and 420mm ony road bike

I was firmly in the wider bars are just fashion camp, then I got my Ironhorse Sunday and it had 745mm sunline bars.

After having a go with the 745mm bars I noticed crc had similar flat bars on sale for £20 = £30 depending on the colour / model. Now I have 762mm bars on my Trek Fuel EX and Sunday and the 745mm bars are on my shop bike.

Have to say I really like the feel and amount of control or responsiveness of the wider bars.

You do tend to clip more stuff though!

Go back 10 years and people rode the same trails with 600mm wide, 71 degree head angle and didn’t find it a problem….

Ok, a bit more than 10 years but….things have come on a bit since..

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-32KVUU3OU[/video]

Mind you, I’m guessing a fair few STW’s still look like this… 😉

Ok, a bit more than 10 years but….

Yeah just a bit, thats 20 years ago!

Telescopic handlebars are where the party’s headed !

There’s a real wide bar trend going on right now, same as with slack head angles – seems to be getting wider and slacker every year. Go back 10 years and people rode the same trails with 600mm wide, 71 degree head angle and didn’t find it a problem….

Did they? People seem to be quicker and smoother these days….

Having ridden wide, narrow, HT, FS on loads of trails repeatedly I have to say wider bars help in technical, descending and fast trails.

People seem to be quicker and smoother these days….

Thanks professor, thread over 🙂

It’s personal preference; I’ve just fitted some Pro Taper 780’s which just felt wrong the first time I rode them, but they’re starting to feel more normal. I like a wider bar because I run my brakes pretty far down the bars for single finger braking.

I haven’t ridden many tight trails yet with the new bars, so they may get a bit chopped off the end soon.

I was always told that your bar length should be equal to the distance between the outsides of your hands when you’re in the press up position.

The rule generally is that whatever distance apart your hands are, there should be a bar in between them (with a stem about halfway along said bar…).
Otherwise you’ll just fall off.

The exception being one-handed can cans etc etc…

DrP

about this wide is traditionally considered to be most practical

but these days you will always encounter the foppish ‘look at me look at me’ types