How wide are your handlebars?

[spokewrench]

Years ago, I got tennis elbow soon after buying a Radrunner. The pavement around here is bumpy. Each bump causes a sharp deceleration of the bike. You lurch against the bars. When I took my left hand off the bar to signal, I'd lurch against the right bar only, requiring tremendous torque with my right hand and ( and elbow ) to keep the handlebar straight. That tore an elbow tendon.

I moved the seat back for better steering control and discovered several fringe benefits. One was that my legs could help stabilize me against lurching. My tennis elbow healed.

I bought a Radmission, a one-speed that looked like a traditional 3-speed. Moving the seat back like a classic 3-speed improved handling, pedaling, and comfort, but it felt a little unstable if I took one hand off the bar. I didn't know why.

My Abound was great unless I had to take a hand off the bar. It seemed as if one day I would go into oscillations from which I could not recover. For two weeks I rode the Radmission while I awaited a replacement part for the Abound. I noticed that the one-handed instability was less severe on the Radmission. The Abound's bars were 72 cm wide. The Radmission's were 67.

I swapped bars and the Abound felt more stable. I realized why. Legs can't absorb all lurching on bumps. Most of the pressure from a lurch probably happens at the base of the thumb, about 9cm from the end of the bar. The one-handed torque I would have to apply against a lurch would vary with the distance of the base of my thumb from the center of the steering tube. With a 72 cm bar, that would be 27 cm. With a 67 cm bar, it would be 24.5 cm. 24.5/27 =0.907. One-handed, it took 9% less torsion to maintain control with the 67 cm bars.

I checked with Sheldon Brown. For road, street, and gravel riding, the standard width is 48. Longer handlebars are for mountain bikes because they offer more precise steering at very low speeds on rough terrain. In a situation like that, I can touch a toe to the ground. I'm more concerned with the possibility of being thrown on my head because I hit a bump while signaling with one hand at 15 mph.

Brown said wide bars often come with marks for those who wish to cut them shorter. I haven't seen any marks, but I will caution them shorter.

 

[RunForTheHills]

My Jones H-Bars did indeed come with markings to cut it shorter. Which I did with a pipe cutter.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I checked with Sheldon Brown. For road, street, and gravel riding, the standard width is 48

Outdated. Sheldon Brown is not among us since 2008.

For road or gravel, drop handlebars it could be anything from 36 to 48 cm, depending on the rider's arm spread. Gravel handlebars are flared to increase the hand spread in the drops for more precise ride control in rough terrain.
A typical modern all purpose flat handlebar bike has the bar width of 66-68 cm.
MTBs -- depending on the subtype -- can have anything from 75 to 85 cm.

It is not the handlebar width that decides about the bike stability but the bike geometry, where the handlebar width is never reported.

 

[6zfshdb]

I also use Jones H bars, which I cut down from 710mm to 660mm in order to clear vehicle barriers on trails I ride.

I also experienced some of the symptoms you describe, and along with the Jones bars, I also added a Redshift Shockstop suspension stem.

ShockStop Suspension Stem for Gravel, Road and Mountain Bikes

The minimal design of the ShockStop Stem blends seamlessly with the aesthetic of modern bikes, while reducing fatigue and strain. Along with the ShockStop Suspension Seatpost, this system works together to suspend the rider and smooth out rough terrain on the bike you already own, making your...

redshiftsports.com

I chose the 2.5" rise, but other options are available. The combination of the two all but eliminated many of the discomforts you mentioned.

 

[stompandgo]

I ride 40cm on the road, and 68cm on the flat bar bike.

 

[spokewrench]

Outdated. Sheldon Brown is not among us since 2008.

For road or gravel, drop handlebars it could be anything from 36 to 48 cm, depending on the rider's arm spread. Gravel handlebars are flared to increase the hand spread in the drops for more precise ride control in rough terrain.
A typical modern all purpose flat handlebar bike has the bar width of 66-68 cm.
MTBs -- depending on the subtype -- can have anything from 75 to 85 cm.

It is not the handlebar width that decides about the bike stability but the bike geometry, where the handlebar width is never reported.

The chain drive made the modern bicycle possible, but riders preferred high-wheelers until John Starley's Rover in 1885. He had improved bicycle geometry by moving the seat well aft of the crank. What's more, the seat could be adjusted fore and aft as well as up and down.

Brown wrote about what had been learned about bicycle geometry in the next 123 years. Did that become obsolete 18 years ago? What is a typical all purpose flat handlebar? If "all purpose" means "fashionable," that may have changed in the last 18 years.

Are these people wrong?

Handlebar Width Calculator - Find Your Perfect Bar Width

Handlebar width calculator for road, gravel, MTB, and hybrid bikes. Find your perfect bar width from shoulder measurement instantly.

bike-size.com

They say that except for mountain biking, handlebar width should be close to shoulder width. With the two bikes I have now, headwinds are much worse than I recall from years on a 3-speed. The bike fitters say yes, wide bars increase air drag.

For stability, I wish I could increase trail. It's only 6cm on my Abound and 7cm on my Radmission.

 

[stompandgo]

My shoulders are about 40cm wide. I've never ridden the latest shifter setup with splayed levers, which could change the calculation a bit.

 

[Gionnirocket]

I decide flat bar legnth by body size and comfort. I prefer bar legnth slightly wider than my shoulders width which makes for a comfortable sleek fit but still provides enough steering leverage. Personally that's about +30% wider / 66cm

 

[stompandgo]

I would have preferred 66cm but I needed room for the clamps.

 

[DaveMatthews]

I believe my Stance came with 78cm

 

[mclewis1]

In the 90s after 20 years of "10 speeds" I bought my first flat bar bike (I had never done much MTB style riding as a kid) - it was a hybrid style bike for around town use and I really liked it comfort wise. Later I built up an ebike using an adventure style frame (sort of a heavier hybrid or lighter rigid MTB) with flat bars and found I didn't enjoy the "cockpit" feel as much. It took a while but I finally realised that flat bars came in different widths (duh) and the 73+ cms are not something I enjoy for longer periods. Control wise and around town I could ride just about anything for an hour but this was about comfort on 2+ hr rides.

So I'm with stomandgo on the 68cm flat bars (also with the issue of crowded bar space), but I appear to also have slightly wider shoulders so I prefer 42-44cm road bars. I rode 44cm bars for years (in the 80s) but with old style narrower brake levers (no STI) so that limited riding on the hoods - the bars also had aero extensions which helped the comfort taking the weight off of my hands. In the 90s when I went to the thicker integrated shfter levers (either Shimano or Campy) I could ride a lot longer on the hoods using a 42cm bar. The first metric century training rides on the new bars/levers were a revelation from the lack of tired hands.

In the 2010s age and a bad back caused a migration away from road bikes and bars to flat bar ebikes, but now (after 6+ years of ebike riding) being able to do 80+km rides again things have changed a bit. I've recently switched bark from a flat bar back to a road bar on my lighter ebike (Surly Cross-Check) and the comfort from multiple hand positions (hoods, corners, centre bar) on longer 2+ hr rides is noticeable ... and so is the overall efficiency improvement (about 10%, so now just 6wh/km on rolling roads) from the slightly more aero riding position. This improvement is also peaking my interest is adjusting my PAS power levels - I'm thinking of lowering my level 1 from 100 to 75w.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Brown wrote about what had been learned about bicycle geometry in the next 123 years. Did that become obsolete 18 years ago?

There have been more changes I could even remember, for instance:

• Pedal bike -> e-bike. Have you even noticed?
• Alloy frames -> carbon
• Wheel size: from 26 through 27.5 through 28 to 29" wheels. Now, attempts to create 32" wheel bikes are made
• Extremely wide wheel rims. The general increase in the tyre width
• Tubeless setup and TPU inner tubes instead of butyl or latex tubes
• V-brakes -> mechanical disk brakes -> hydraulic disk brakes. Six-bolt and Centerlock varieties of the disk brake mount
• QR drop-outs ->thru-axle. Several standards for the thru-axle have been set
• Many changes related to the bottom bracket
• 3x -> 2x -> 1x drivetrain. Narrow-Wide or similar for the chainring. A clutch or a damper for the derailleur
• 7 speed all way to 12 or even 13 speed drivetrain
• Carbon drive belt instead of the chain combined with IGH up to 14 speed
• Electronic drivetrain
• Gravel bikes
• I'm sure there have been more...

Handlebar width has undergone major changes. As I said, the flat handlebar width for the most typical all-rounder bike has standardized at 660-680* mm. It is even hard to fit all the controls of a modern e-bike on narrower bars. Please check the specs for several major manufacturer e-bikes. Also, the handlebar stem area has thickened. While the standard size of most handlebars is still 31.8 mm (1 1/4"), the MTB handlebars got the jumbo size of 35 mm. Also, MTBs have got extremely wide bars, such as the 780 mm on Dave Matthews Stance.

*) You mentioned yourself your Radmission came with 670 mm bars.

A 2008 Specialized Stumpjumper. Hardtail, 26" wheels with 2" tyres, 9-speed 3x drivetrain, QR axles, mechanical disk brakes, handlebar width 60 cm.

A 2026 Specialized Stumpjumper. Everything has changed (starting with full suspension). The handlebar width is now 81 cm.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

This is a how long is a piece of sting conversation. Whatever works. I swapped out the flat bars on my Vado SL the first month I got it, nearly 6 years ago for something with a bit more back sweep, and that came up a bit narrower then stock bars, they are still on the bike and no complaints, very comfortable.

On my steel drop bar bike I have Surly Truck Stops 48mm width bars, similar to Spesh's Hover bars (on the Creo) but the Truck Stops have 30mm rise, the hover bars 20mm (i think). And I've literally just bought a second pair of them off a fella couple of towns away! Just got back now, and noticed this thread. They are almost new, unused, to go on my new, well 20 year, new to me, old cross bike, as the position is far too low for my liking! Going to pair them with an old Ritchey 90mm stem I have on another bike, with I think 25 or 30% angle rise. Try that first and see how they feel and look. Might look very odd... but the reach should feel better. The bars are a bit wide for it, but I'm used to them on the other bike, again very comfortable.

Currently trying to find some old Campy 10 speed shifters to pair with the Sora front mech & Deore rear on the new cross bike, man they've shot up in price! Collectors items now it seems.

Bottom line for me with bars is whatever RIDES comfortably. With other components - I hate the way gearing & even brakes has become so proprietory, Sram this, Shimano that, different cable pulls, different hydraulic fluid etc etc, endless, $$$$$.

Currently I have bikes with cantis/Vs, mechanical, and hydros. 1x, 2x and triple, click shift and friction. All are great, when everything works!

 

[RunForTheHills]

I went to Nitto Noodle bars on my drop bar bikes and like them a lot. I think they are 44cm.

 

[spokewrench]

There have been more changes I could even remember, for instance:

• Pedal bike -> e-bike. Have you even noticed?
• Alloy frames -> carbon
• Wheel size: from 26 through 27.5 through 28 to 29" wheels. Now, attempts to create 32" wheel bikes are made
• Extremely wide wheel rims. The general increase in the tyre width
• Tubeless setup and TPU inner tubes instead of butyl or latex tubes
• V-brakes -> mechanical disk brakes -> hydraulic disk brakes. Six-bolt and Centerlock varieties of the disk brake mount
• QR drop-outs ->thru-axle. Several standards for the thru-axle have been set
• Many changes related to the bottom bracket
• 3x -> 2x -> 1x drivetrain. Narrow-Wide or similar for the chainring. A clutch or a damper for the derailleur
• 7 speed all way to 12 or even 13 speed drivetrain
• Carbon drive belt instead of the chain combined with IGH up to 14 speed
• Electronic drivetrain
• Gravel bikes
• I'm sure there have been more...

Handlebar width has undergone major changes. As I said, the flat handlebar width for the most typical all-rounder bike has standardized at 660-680* mm. It is even hard to fit all the controls of a modern e-bike on narrower bars. Please check the specs for several major manufacturer e-bikes. Also, the handlebar stem area has thickened. While the standard size of most handlebars is still 31.8 mm (1 1/4"), the MTB handlebars got the jumbo size of 35 mm. Also, MTBs have got extremely wide bars, such as the 780 mm on Dave Matthews Stance.

*) You mentioned yourself your Radmission came with 670 mm bars.

How do any of these changes make what Sheldon Brown said about bicycle geometry, obsolete?

In 1902, the Thomas Auto-Bi had a more powerful engine than a Harley or a Hendee. You'd lean forward a bit on the former, while the other two forced you to sit straight up with bars that swept way back. Forcing the rider to sit straight up made the motor feel much more powerful. Those bars were for consumers, not professionals. They were a big reason American motorcycles fell way behind in handling.

In 1969, BMW followed Harley's example, using swept-back bars to increase the consumer's perception of acceleration. I bought one second-hand in 1972 and noticed the clumsy handling and the potential for lethal oscillations. BMW solved the problem by redesigning the whole bike. I solved it with an $8 bar from a discount department store. It was 74cm long, had the shape I needed, and fit my motorcycle clamp.

These wide bars were BMX bars, 36 years before Brown died. Bicycle Motocross started when communities built tracks for kids on 20" bicycles to pretend they were racing motorcycles. "Gravel" and "MTB" were adult bikes that would otherwise have been called BMX.

 

[spokewrench]

Bottom line for me with bars is whatever RIDES comfortably.

What made me very uncomfortable was the way the bike could wobble if I hit bumps while one hand was off the bar to return a wave. Cutting my bar to 55cm worked for me. When I have to maintain control with one hand, I can steer with more authority. It also handles quicker, especially for u-turns. I'll have to see if I'm better in headwinds. I never realized how clumsy the 72cm bar was for mounting, dismounting, and parking.

Riding without my handlebar accessories would make me uncomfortable. The Wright Brothers probably encountered the same problem, building custom bikes for riders with lots of bells, whistles, lights, and horns. The bi-bar bicycle may have been where they got the idea for the biplane.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

How do any of these changes make what Sheldon Brown said about bicycle geometry, obsolete?

In 1902, the Thomas Auto-Bi had a more powerful engine than a Harley or a Hendee. You'd lean forward a bit on the former, while the other two forced you to sit straight up with bars that swept way back. Forcing the rider to sit straight up made the motor feel much more powerful. Those bars were for consumers, not professionals. They were a big reason American motorcycles fell way behind in handling.

In 1969, BMW followed Harley's example, using swept-back bars to increase the consumer's perception of acceleration. I bought one second-hand in 1972 and noticed the clumsy handling and the potential for lethal oscillations. BMW solved the problem by redesigning the whole bike. I solved it with an $8 bar from a discount department store. It was 74cm long, had the shape I needed, and fit my motorcycle clamp.

These wide bars were BMX bars, 36 years before Brown died. Bicycle Motocross started when communities built tracks for kids on 20" bicycles to pretend they were racing motorcycles. "Gravel" and "MTB" were adult bikes that would otherwise have been called BMX.

It does not change any trends in the bicycle industry.