After this year’s tree clipping crash fest I thought I’d go down to 750 from 780.
They used to feel great last year before I went wide but now feel horribly narrow.
I’ve got sub 700 bars in the shed that I used to be perfectly happy with.
Is it possible to go back and how long does it take?

So you’re really that sensitive to a whopping 1.5cm inward on each hand? I can move my hand position on the grips more than that.

So you’re really that sensitive to a whopping 1.5cm inward on each hand?

I can definitely feel the difference between all the bar widths I run, (750, 760, 780 and 800) it’s not something that bothers me too much, but the difference is noticeable.

You’ll get used to them pretty quick.
My XC HT has ridiculously narrow bars (good for the gorse though) and even the 11yr old finds them narrow. I got used to them very quickly in Lockdown March.

The new “shared HT” is 760 from my “normal” 780…. weirdly I was happy with cutting them down further but Jnr wanted longer. After riding the XC they don’t feel bad for me at all now.

I’ve got 660, 710 and 780. You’ll get used to it, just do it. Don’t forget to consider stem length too.

You could cut your bars down a bit at a time until you find a width that you are happy with .

As long as you don’t ride a wider bar, it’s really not hard to go backwards. The question is, what happens when you ride a wider bar again. Are you an addict that’s just avoided the substance, or are you cured?

I go from 780 on my trail bike to 740 on my xc bike, a bit odd to start with but I soon get used to it

You could cut your bars down a bit at a time until you find a width that you are happy with .

Surely he’d eventually find a width he wasn’t happy with, at which time it’d be too late 🙂

I went from ~685 up to ~750, and it initially felt huge as ****. Not noticed the 760, 780* really much different.
I think it would play on my mind, even if it made very little difference in the real world, to go back to something narrower.
Also, Nino Schurter (sp?) didn’t win last week, and runs 680mm bars. Without bothering to check what his competitors were running, I’m 100% convinced that anyone who’s serious needs 780mm as a minimum even for XC.
*probably won’t go much wider now, but I though that at 750.

Get the 700 bars out of the shed and fit them. After a few rides on those 750 will feel really wide again.