Brian Stacks
Active Member
- Location
- Chelmsford
Am looking at buying new handle bars but not sure what width to buy. I am 5"7 72kg with fairly short arms. At present I have 44cm width bars which came with the bike as standard. Advice please
Hi. My bars at present are 44cm and are slightly wider than my shoulders. I also feel after about twenty miles or so achy in my shoulders. My stem is also too long so will change that also.What's wrong with the bars you currently have?
Hi. My bars at present are 44cm and are slightly wider than my shoulders. I also feel after about twenty miles or so achy in my shoulders. My stem is also too long so will change that also.
My bike is a canondale supersix EVO 105 54cm. I did have a bike fit before buying it last year.The handlebar width, stem length and crank length are all standard sizes on an off the shelf bike. I would expect bars at 44 cms to come with a frame that is too big for someone who is 5' 7". Can you tell us what bike it is and the frame size?
Hi. My bars at present are 44cm and are slightly wider than my shoulders. I also feel after about twenty miles or so achy in my shoulders. My stem is also too long so will change that also.
Hi. My bars at present are 44cm and are slightly wider than my shoulders. I also feel after about twenty miles or so achy in my shoulders. My stem is also too long so will change that also.
I have just ordered 90mm stem with intergrated 42cm carbon bars. So fingers crossed. Will feed back once I've done a few hundred miles or soI have been experiencing the same problems. My bike fit last week recommended changing 100mm stem for a 90mm and 44cm bars for 40cm. I've also ordered some new shifters which I'm waiting for delivery of, so can't offer any feedback on the impact of these changes until I've got everything installed and done some decent miles, but it certainly felt better when trying it out as part of the bike fit.
This is not to say doing the same will work for you though; saddle height, top tube length and your own posture & core strength could also be factors in causing the achy shoulders. If you had a bike fit when buying the bike, and that's within the last year, perhaps you should call them and say you're not happy with the fit? If they're decent they should offer to give you another look over and see if some tweaks are needed. In fact, if they think you're looking at buying new bars/stem I would have thought they'd be only too happy to offer you a free once-over on the bike!
Of course if they were useless at setting you up first time around this might not be a great suggestion.