Hi,

Just bought some new grips, wider than my old ones, would look stupid on my current bars which measure 630mm. Was thinking about instead of sending them back getting wider bars, am I right in thinking this gives more control or is it less?

Anyways, my stem is of a wider or oversize middle, do bars only come with two widths across the centre?

Does any of this make sense or is it easier just to send the grips back and get narrower ones?

630 is quite narrow for these gnarly times…. keep them if you feel comfortable and in control with them though.

How wide are the grips?

wider is more control. Peopel bleet on about the turning being slower but i dont notice it since its much easier to turn the handlebars, the difference comes when there are trees about you cant go as tight.

You get oversize and “normal” clamp size, modern mountain bikes are usually oversize now though.

I’ve gone in steps from 610 to 710mm over the past year and my stem from 100 to 65mm.

Much more controlled and puts your body in a better postion for trail riding.

Get a wider bar.

Wider bars are not necessarily better. If you are a big strong dher fair enough. If you are a whippet maybe less so. If you are in the middle ground you may or may not like em.

Things can be taken too far.

Well they are 150mm wide, I toyed with getting these bars

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/truvativ-stylo-team-riser-handlebar/

As a cheap ish replacement for my cheap bars I have at the moment.

The rule is: Read magazines and websites until you find what the current fashionable lengths are for bars and stem.

Then attribute any old nonsense to them, and say they’re a lot better than the old ones, how did we ever manage etc. etc.

Preferably write the above before actually riding the new ones, or better still, before buying, because you may find it’s changed.

Easier to turn, my arse.

Easier to turn, my arse.

Is there no difference in feel between different width bars then?

I’ve also just gone up from 685mm to 710mm for bars and down from 90mm to 70mm on the stem.

Wider bars will move your position on the bike forwards if you stick with the same stem length, so it’s all a bit of a balancing act.

I don’t think I’d want to go any wider than 710mm, so as you’re at 630mm I’d probably give a set of bars somewhere around 670mm – 685mm wide a go.

There are plenty of people selling bars in the classified section, so you should be able to get hold of some bars reasonably cheaply & if you don’t like them, then you should be able to sell them for what you bought them for. I’ve had very good experiences so far buying via the classifieds, so I’d recommend it.

580mm here, going up to 600mm on my new build for a little more control. Theoretically wider has more control but I honestly believe it’s what you’re used to that matters – a few hundred km’s of riding 580mm and you’ll be just as confident as you were with your previous wider bars. I also didn’t like my mates bike which has quite wide low rise bars – the amount of arm movement it took to turn the bike just a tiny bit annoyed me. To each his own I guess. The current trend is for low and wide.

You would adapt to any slight differences in no time. Its like me switching between cars – one has power steering and the other doesn’t. One also has a “quick rack”.

I don’t crash I just adapt my steering input accordingly, without even thinking about it.

so bigjohn

Your, in effect, saying these bars are AS EASY as each other to turn? Perhaps the differences aren’t noticable on a shop floor however i think theres a reason beyond style that DH racers use such wide bars.

I would also take into account the width of your shoulders.. this is probably one of the most important factors for me when I’m choosing a bar wodth..
too narrow makes for less control.. too wide leads to mega shoulder and neck pain.. lack of control and looking daft..