Will I notice much (if any) difference going from 580 to 680mm bars?

Can’t shorten the stem any for various boring reasons.

Yes but go wider and cut down if you don’t get on with them.

680 is particularly wide. But should find handling will be improved a lot. For Xc 680 is about spot on (in my opinion)

I have some excellent condition (just two small marked where brakes were clamped) Race Face Next carbon bars i’m selling if you don’t want to spend too much just on case you don’t get on with the wider bars.

685mm wide, 195g in weight, OS clamp.

Could do them for £35 posted.

Shindiggy – I might be interested in those. Can you drop me a line? email in profile.

Will do, i’ll ping some pictures over too.

Yes, 680 is plenty wide and will feel much better than 580. I went 640 to 680 as my hands used to just naturally hang slightly off the ends, not any more.

i put a 777mm on my 29er, with the intention of cutting it down, but it feels wonderful, the 711mm on my 26er now feels far too narrow… which, i know, sounds a bit ridiculous

not wanting to be contradictory but 680mm etc is silly narrow once you try wider, and wide bars are just as good for XC as they are for trail/DH. Wide bars are great for climbing out of the saddle in particular.

750, ride them a few rides, and cut down if it doesn’t work for you.

I’m up to 785mm now, for XC and singletrack in the Surrey Hills, nothing gnarrrr.

I used to find 685 RF next xc risers to be the sweet spot for xc. I then went 740 flat bars on my xc race bike that will go anywhere in Squamish and whistler and 777 flat on my Soul but should cut these down really.
740 is my new sweet spot for tech xc.

From 580, anything will feel weird but stick with wider for a decent amount of time before getting your hacksaw out as you will need to get used to it before you’ll realise the benefits.
Even jumping to 680 will be a huge benefit IMO

680 is particularly wide.

roflmao

I just replaced a set of 670 mm wide bars with 762 mm ones. Also went from a 90 mm stem to a 60 mm one. Only one ride so far, but it felt fine.

Start at about 1.20 toddlers then work down from there.

I’ve gone from 680 to 720 and really not getting on with it. Fashion dictates that I persist…

^^ did you shorten the stem at the same time? 720mm’s not wide really.