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Handlebar width?

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  • March 16, 2015 at 8:20 pm #23526
    WhatWouldJesusRide

    Yay, new poster to this forum!

    I’ve gone from a 29er with 68cm bars & 90mm stem to a CX bike with 38cm drop bars & 110mm stem, and I’m still acclimatising myself to drop bars.

    I got fitted for the CX bike and although I’m way more comfortable, the front feels extremely twitchy. I’ve lost confidence at speed & when I’m out of the saddle on climbs after I lost the front on a diesel spill, over compensated and crashed hard.

    Would wider bars at 40/42cm slow the steering down to a noticeable degree? I’m also thinking of raising the bars about 5-10mm as this might take a bit of weight off the front.

    Any help gratefully recieved…

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Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
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  • March 29, 2015 at 4:25 pm #837407
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    WhatWouldJesusRide

    The transition was something
    The transition was something of a surprise to say the least!

    I’m still wondering how riders are managing at speed out of the saddle, as my new bike felt extremely nervous to me & my sense of balance could be better.

    I went from feeling that I was sitting ‘in’ the bike to sitting ‘on’ the bike. I went from about a 58cm to a 56cm frame, 68cm bars to 38cm bars. Granted, the 68cm were comically wide and after 3-4 hours I did feel the strain on my shoulders. No real pain, but I felt discomfort.

    Having tried out 42cm & 44cm bars, I felt that 44cm is a compromise. The 56cm is a great fit and will compensate for the 44cm bars, which are much better than the 68cm ones.

    March 29, 2015 at 3:01 pm #837405
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    Kadenz

    I switched from the 42cm bars
    I switched from the 42cm bars that came as standard with both of my road bikes to 38cm and feel much more comfortable for doing so.

    I have narrow shoulders and found that 42cm bars made my shoulders ache.

    It made only a small difference to bike handling, though, so I wonder if your problem is more due to the transition to a road bike?

    March 17, 2015 at 1:00 pm #837403
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    WhatWouldJesusRide

    I’m booked in this Saturday
    I’m booked in this Saturday for a bike fit ‘n repair. Soreness should be gone by then…

    Pissed off about the crash, though. Brand new bike, so what were the odds?

    Miraculously, the only thing damaged seems to be the left hand brake assembly. It’s loose, the lever has lost all resistance and I’ve no idea what damage has been done to the bars.

    That’ll be a nice walk to the bike shop, then.

    March 17, 2015 at 12:38 pm #837401
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    joemmo

    Chris James wrote:I don’t

    Chris James wrote:
    I don’t find width makes that much difference, but 38cm sounds very narrow for a cross bike. Most cross bikes are fitted with 42-44 cm width bars.

    I guess the width is body / frame size dependent to a degree. I am six foot, my 56cm cross bike has 44 cm bars (2cm wider than my road bikes).

    similar here: 57cm bike, use 46cm (c-c) bars on my cx bike. I’m not particularly broad shouldered but I like the leverage for riding on rougher tracks.

    March 17, 2015 at 11:13 am #837399
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    WhatWouldJesusRide

    Will give it a go.
    Will give it a go.

    March 17, 2015 at 10:49 am #837397
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    P3t3

    Try dropping the front tyre
    Try dropping the front tyre pressure a bit.

    I find this lengthens the contact patch a bit and hence reduces how keen the front wheel is to turn. Sounds a bit odd but it works.

    March 17, 2015 at 9:41 am #837395
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    Chris James

    I don’t find width makes that
    I don’t find width makes that much difference, but 38cm sounds very narrow for a cross bike. Most cross bikes are fitted with 42-44 cm width bars.

    I guess the width is body / frame size dependent to a degree. I am six foot, my 56cm cross bike has 44 cm bars (2cm wider than my road bikes).

    March 17, 2015 at 9:34 am #837393
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    WhatWouldJesusRide

    True. I got my shoulders
    True. I got my shoulders measured at 38 cm and the position fells feels fine when I’m stationary on the bike.

    However, the bike does not feel ‘planted’ at speed or when I’m out of the saddle. I’m tensing up as a result, which is not good. Don’t know if I’ll get used to these bars or are they just not right for me.

    I’m going for another fitting and am going to try 42 cm or 44 cm widths. See how it feels.

    March 17, 2015 at 9:09 am #837391
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    MKultra

    Go as wide as you like, get
    Go as wide as you like, get some 46 cm shallow drops if it makes you comfy, I use 44’s at the moment and that’s only because they didn’t have the 46’s I wanted in stock at the time.

    You don’t have to ride on 38’s just because someone tells you to, It is not compulsory to give your self a humped back through always using the tiniest bars possible, you are not in the wind tunnel or setting the hour record.

    March 17, 2015 at 3:14 am #837389
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    userfriendly

    One way to stabilise the
    One way to stabilise the handling a bit is a longer stem, however, that will obviously affect the reach, might not be doable if your fit is already on the large end of the spectrum.

    Having said that, when I transitioned from my flat bar hybrid to my first drop bar bike I was really, *really* taken aback by the difference in handling. I too thought it seemed twitchy, less controlled. After a few weeks that changed and started seeming much more natural. A short time later I was completely used to it, and I found wide flat bars just as weird.

    So it might just be a matter of giving it more time.

    March 16, 2015 at 11:47 pm #837387
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    WhatWouldJesusRide

    I lost a bit of skin and had
    I lost a bit of skin and had to bin my fleece as it bore the brunt of my coming off. More shaken up than anything else. I got off lightly, but my left brake lever didn’t!

    The Midge bar looks a bit wide for me, I have narrow shoulders. I’m looking at bars with shallow drops as transitioning will be easier.

    March 16, 2015 at 10:49 pm #837385
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    CapriciousZephyr

    You might also want to
    You might also want to consider a flared drop handlebar, like the On-One Midge. It’s recommended that you do raise the bars if you do so, as you’ll spend much more of your time on the drops. You should check out pics of them mounted on bikes to get an idea of what they are like, as the unusual angles are difficult to imagine from a shot of the handlebar by itself (at least, that’s what I found).

    March 16, 2015 at 10:07 pm #837383
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    2 Wheeled Idiot

    The width increase will make
    The width increase will make slight diff, also many pro cxer’s run wider bars.
    Its most likely something you could get used to but I would get some cheap 42-44cm bars and give them a try.
    Bringing the stem up slightly could help with weight distribution but this is Dependant on your current fit.
    Hope you’re healed up after your crash, there’s not much that can done once you’ve started slipping on diesel…. 🙁

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