The standard fitting advice is to get a handlebar as wide as the measurement between your AC joints. Those are the bumps atop your shoulders where the collarbone attaches just inboard of your deltoid muscle. But many riders prefer a handlebar slightly wider than their shoulders. A wide bar opens the chest.
How wide should road bike handlebars be?
The ideal handlebar width for road bikes is 38-46 cm. For mountain bikes, the width is 740mm or 760mm. Narrow handlebars will give you more speed and agility, while wider handlebars will give you more control and stability.
How does handlebar width affect handling?
With the extra leverage of wide handlebars, these bikes are easier to keep going straight. If your handlebars are too narrow, your shoulders feel strained when riding in this position. Bars that are wider than your shoulders feel more natural if you ride with your elbows locked.
Should I get narrower handlebars?
Narrow handlebars can speed up handling and decrease steering accuracy, which isn’t what you want when riding off-road, or if you’re a less experienced rider. Because of this, Koop recommends narrow handlebars are “best suited to a more steady riding style” and more experienced riders.
What is the right handlebar width for your bike?
Even among modern road bikes, bars can be found in a fairly wide variety of widths. But what is the right handlebar width? The standard fitting advice is to get a handlebar as wide as the measurement between your AC joints.
Are your handlebars too wide?
Handlebar width plays an important role in the way a bike fits and feels; however, current trends have pushed riders to use wider bars than ever before, causing some riders to run handlebars that are flat-out too wide. At what point do we say wide enough is too much?
Why do cyclists use narrow handlebars?
Easier to thread through narrow spaces: That is why track racers use narrow handlebars, and why I prefer them when riding through forests and in crowded cyclocross races.
What size bike bars do you need?
Bars that are too wide can cause shoulder pains for these riders. Few riders need bars as narrow as Jan-Willem van Schip’s 38s, but 40–42 cm seems to work well for many riders.
