Wide bars on 26"

Are you saying that at any point you have struggled to turn the bars on your pushbike?

Of course I’m bloody well not you pillock.

This forum and the whole bike press is full of people saying wide bars give you more leverage and more control. Why aren’t you arguing with them?

Is your headset seized? The bearings can rust up and get stiff.

Thanks for calling me a pillock , good luck with the thread.

Edit for the hell of it, what is the contact patch difference between say a 2.3″ 26″ tyre & a 2.3″ 29er tyre?

Sorry – but that did sound like you were trolling. If it were a struggle to actually turn the bars on any bike you wouldn’t be able to ride it at all.

TBH, I can see your point to a degree, but wheel size makes F all difference, if you asked if there was an appricial difference between say 650 & 700mm+ then I could see your point.

26″ wheels.

I run a yardstick and have jubilee clips inboard and outboard so I can move the grips depending on whether I’m climbing or descending or bridleslaying.

I don’t have a stock of incredulous pics, sorry

I’d have thought* that a 26″ wheel would be more easily deflected by a given lump than a 29″, and so wider bars might help the weak of grip to control them to a greater extent with little wheels

I’d also have thought** that most “turning” should be achieved by leaning rather than, err, turning and so that aspect would be moot

Furthermore, I’d have thought*** that the height of the bars above the ground just might be the most relevant meausrement if you’re doing mental geometry

* ** *** I don’t waste my time thinking about that shite. I have moderately narrow bars because I ride between trees & gorse bushes now & then. They’re ones that I’ve cut down after learning something – that was that my knuckles hurt because of proximity of local flora rather than lack of control. If I was going to ride DOWN an open hillside at balls-out speed without riding between trees/gorse to get there, I’d probably have wider bars

If it were a struggle to actually turn the bars on any bike you wouldn’t be able to ride it at all.

Wider bars would help with that.

So it looks like most people who don’t like wide bars are on 26, so far on the thread?

Need more data…

need more something, fo’ sho’ 😉

I have 720mm on my 29 and 780 on the 26,the 29 is an xc bike so narrower show have some advantages but… My shoulders are wide so they feel narrow after a while.

As for older bikes I think I put 760mm on my 09 heckler back in 2011 and it was great.

As for leverage and the rest for me it’s to do with comfort and where my arms sit, becomes more obvious when you see your arms angled right in to the stem on narrower bars.

Assuming just for a minute that you’re not trying to out Ken M Dave T I’ve pretty much always tended to wider bars.

BITD when my mates were cutting down Renthal flat bars I was riding (cut down) Azonic World Force jobs (on a ’96 Explosif). No idea the width, but used to get a right slagging for it

I remember going ‘wide’ at 685mm on my Soul and FS. Then 711mm then 762mm (on 29er, always meant to chop down to 750 but got used to them) and 750mm (on 26″ trail FS). Ironically I’ve chopped down 685’s (to 673mm, to fit in the bike locker at work) on the soul atm. Keep meaning to put on the 750’s… Only riding singletrack through trees has really stopped thus far.

But I’ve 46’s on the road bike. I’d ride 48’s or even 50’s if they made them. The 42 stock bars made me squeak like a pip.

I guess I just like wide(-ish). Find them much better for control and comfort. Got broad shoulders though.