Flat Handlebar Width

[Goggs]

Hi folks. I've been tinkering again. I came to the conclusion yesterday that my handlebars are too wide at 68cm. That's quite a bit wider than I've ever used before so I decided to cut them down a bit today. I was going to go for 62cm but found that my 31.8mm bars taper so gently that I couldn't get all the hardware in position if I went for 62cm. So I've settled on 63cm & I have to say the bike feels much better. A bigger improvement than you'd maybe expect for such a relatively small reduction in width. The steering is more accurate & less twitchy and my wrists are far more comfortable.

Still, I wonder how I could get the bar down to 62cm. It's only 10mm but I think it would then be perfect. Perhaps I can find a bar that has a more pronounced central bulge but that tapers more quickly to the ends.

 

[roadrash]

a more pronounced central bulge but that tapers more quickly to the ends

sounds like one of @Fnaar posts about something mmiss goodbody is looking for.....

 

[Nibor]

Or ones that are narrower to start with?

 

[Deleted member 23692]

Is this on your Hyde? Mine came with 58cm bars, which are perfect for the bike. It's also a 25.4mm dia in the middle. Lovely Easton gear too

 

[Salty seadog]

58 on my Whyte Montpellier too, took a little getting used to as anything does but love the width.

 

[Goggs]

I think 68cm is ridiculous on a bike that's primarily aimed at the urban environment. The 63cm width I have them at now feels pretty good though & it's got me thinking I was perhaps a bit rash in changing the stem so quickly. So.. I'm now going to change the stem back to the original. If that works out OK then a new, narrow, bar is on the cards. My local Decathlon has a decent riser bar which is 31.8mm in the middle but it's just a bulge so I'd have far more space for levers, bell etc. It's ridiculously wide but it has markings and I'm not averse to wielding a hacksaw.

 

[Goggs]

The best I can find right now are these..

http://www.probikeshop.com/en/fr/fsa-afterburner-flat-handlebar-31-8-630-mm-black/78901.html

The thing I don't like about them is the obvious branding. I'd much prefer just plain black, like the bike itself. The price seems pretty reasonable though.

Any opinions?

 

[Fnaar]

a more pronounced central bulge but that tapers more quickly to the ends...

This is one for Trevor, Miss Goodbody's ever helpful plumber.

 

[bonsaibilly]

Overthinking!!

I would have thought a narrower bar would make steering *more* twitchy because the same distance moved fore-aft with your hands at each end of the bar creates a larger angle change on the steerer axis, the narrower the handlebar width.

bb

 

[Pale Rider]

The best I can find right now are these..

http://www.probikeshop.com/en/fr/fsa-afterburner-flat-handlebar-31-8-630-mm-black/78901.html

The thing I don't like about them is the obvious branding. I'd much prefer just plain black, like the bike itself. The price seems pretty reasonable though.

Any opinions?

It's hacksaw time.

Just remember to chop 5mm off each end, not 10mm off one end.

Bike shops in the UK do it routinely, particularly with mountain bikes which come with very wide bars for steering leverage.

Many owners don't need that, and narrower bars are more comfortable.

 

[Goggs]

It's funny you should say that but I'm not sure it works that way. A wider bar gives more leverage so, while you're right to say a shorter bar will move the steering further, it really depends on the force exerted in the first place.

Many years ago I had a beautiful Marin Redwood. It was based on a Columbus triple-butted steel frame & kitted out with a full Shimano 700CX groupset (anyone remember that?). The bars were titanium and around 560mm wide. Trust me, nobody was faster around Edinburgh. I loved that bike. So much so I eventually got it resprayed by Bob Jackson. Alas, it ended up in a shed for so long it rusted to bits (back injury). When we left Scotland it was still in that shed.

Sorry for going off on a tangent

 

[Pale Rider]

My Trek hybrid came with ludicrously wide handlebars.

Seems to me a lot of modern flat bar bikes come with ludicrously wide handlebars.

I've chopped the bars on my last two pushbikes, a Cannondale mtb and an Evans Pinnacle hybrid.

Apart from comfort, the narrower bars are much handier at the many motorbike restricting A frame gates we have around here.

 

[Goggs]

I made a mistake earlier when I said my Marin hadlebars were titanium because they weren't. They were aluminium but they were made by X-Lite. Whatever happened to them?

 

[HLaB]

Can you be more clever with the accessory mounts to get you that extra cm? For example putting lights upsidedown/ on the underside of the bars so you can get things closer together. Or mounting things in a certain order so that their height difference lets you get them closer together. Or stem mounts? Out front mounts? Bar extenders?

 

[Goggs]

I wish. The only things on my bars are brake levers, one Nexus shifter & a bell. The brake levers won't move far enough, never mind anything else. Good try though.