Shoulder/bar width sizing

[in4]

Should straight bars be the same width as ones shoulders? I think drops are gauged according to shoulder width but what of straights or indeed comfort bars ( sounds a bit odd that 'comfort bars'!)

[julk]

It all depends what you find ‘comfortable’.

I now like the comfort bars for width and backward sweep, but when younger I preferred a shorter straighter bar length.

Try borrowing some to find what suits you best.

[Danneaux]

Ian,

I second Julian here; it really is a matter of personal taste, tempered by intended use.

I've gone progressively wider on my drop handlebars over the years. My rando bikes have Nitto Randoneur-bend drops, which I love dearly for their "upsweep" and shallow drops and flare that gives me a wider stance when down on the drops. My Nittos are 45cm c-c at the ends...and only 37cm at the brake hood centers. I would have thought that too narrow, but on those bikes it is fine for very long day rides on pavement or "gravel-grinders" and for conventional loaded touring.

On Sherpa and the Nomad, I went with wider drops in Maes bend, mainly for a bit more leverage with extremely heavy expedition loads on really rough roads and cross-country. I didn't really find a match for my needs in Thorn's anatomic drops, but am very pleased with my Bontrager compact drops on the Nomad. Drop and reach are much as with my randonneurs, but the tops are flat and there is no flare. They're described in more detail here: http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=5019.msg26677#msg26677

Both are fine for my needs, and it really is a matter of horses for courses and what feels right. I'll defer to others for advice on straight or comfort 'bars as I've found my wrists, elbows, and shoulders really need my hands largely facing each other and multiple hand positions to be comfortable on long rides. Again, just one of those individual variations and preferences, though I do use the drops whenever I have to deal with a headwind.

Best,

Dan.

[David Simpson]

Of the three points of contact with your bike (handebars, seat, pedals), the handlebars offer the widest selection of styles.  As Dan has said, your choice of handlebar style is highly personal.

I prefer straight bars over drops, and when I built my Nomad last year, I tried several different bars until I settled on the Thorn Flat Track bars.  They have a 10 degree sweep-back which I find perfect for my wrists.  But relevant to your question, they are a 640mm wide and have 10mm markings on each end, which make it easy to cut the bar down to your preferred width.  Since the bars are straight, from the center bend to the end of the bar, it is easy to adjust your grips/brakes/shifters in or out until you find the perfect width that fits you.  I currently have about 5cm of bar sticking out past the grips on each end.  I should get around to cutting it down sometime, but I like the flexibility of moving them later if I want.  Of course, if I want to have bar-end grips, I would need to settle on a width and cut the bars.

If you prefer straight bars (as opposed to drops), the Thorn Flat Track bars allow you to experiment with the width until you get it to your liking.

One more point: Hold your arms out in front of you as if you were riding.  Move your hands together or apart.  Notice that your hands move in an arc, not straight in and out. To me, this suggests that if you have wider handlebars, you probably want more of a sweep-back angle than if you had narrower bars.

- Dave

[IanW]

For many years I rode what was originally a drop-bar set-up,
but I had inverted the drop-bar and sawed-off most of the "dropped curve"
such that I had what was effectively very narrow straight bars with a pair of bar-ends pointing forwards with the brake levers underneath.

This was really quite close to shoulder-width and was very comfortable.
And I really do want to ride with my wrists rotated outwards for some of my riding, for comfort.

When I bought an RST, the Rohloff shifter persuaded me to switch to straight bars, but I opted for the Ergon GP5 grips in an attempt to again approximate the same bar configuration. But this definitely felt too wide and, as Dave noted, thus a further reach.

I did consider some "butterfly" bars, but this seemed just a bit too radical a change for me.

So I now have GP1 grips that are set 20mm inboard of the bar-ends
and then a pair of Cane Creeg Ergo II bar-ends on what would otherwise be redundant 20mm of excess bar on either end.

I guess that everyone has to find their own preferred "points of contact" configuration with a bicycle.
But then it would be a very boring world if we were all the same.