XC handlebar width

[LegendRider]

I just bought a new (used) mountain bike - hardtail 29er - with 600mm width bars. I know wider is more common these days, but I'm not sure I need to make a change. Most of my riding will be XC style, not hardcore trail - no jumps, no big drop offs, no downhill courses, etc. Is 600mm still too narrow for my type of riding?

[RudAwkning]

I just bought a new (used) mountain bike - hardtail 29er - with 600mm width bars. I know wider is more common these days, but I'm not sure I need to make a change. Most of my riding will be XC style, not hardcore trail - no jumps, no big drop offs, no downhill courses, etc. Is 600mm still too narrow for my type of riding?

What model and year is the bike? A lot of it will depend on the bike geometry. Older "Norba" geos are designed around longer stems and narrower bars. The trend lately is short stems (50mm on average) and wider bars (720-780).

I've been running 720mm Answer ProTaper carbon AMs on my BMC FS02 Fourstroke for the last 3 seasons. My hands kept wanting to creep out further. Switched to a set of Thomson carbon XC 730s that were on my Woodsmoke. I just installed some Answer 750s on the Woodsmoke. I'm going for my first ride with the 750s today. Will report back.

[Mr Cabletwitch]

I ride 710s on my XC hardtail and 750s on my squishy bike. I wouldn't ride anything narrower than 680 unless its a vintage ride.

[dougefresh]

760 on my XC FS bike.

[Dirtdiggler]

Just installed Pivot brands Phoenix 800mm wide cf bars with Easton Havoc 60mm stem on a Trek Top Fuel 17.5 29-er bike. Very wide bars. I will also carry a chainsaw to trim any trees so I can fit on the trail (joking).

[LegendRider]

What model and year is the bike? A lot of it will depend on the bike geometry. Older "Norba" geos are designed around longer stems and narrower bars. The trend lately is short stems (50mm on average) and wider bars (720-780).

I've been running 720mm Answer ProTaper carbon AMs on my BMC FS02 Fourstroke for the last 3 seasons. My hands kept wanting to creep out further. Switched to a set of Thomson carbon XC 730s that were on my Woodsmoke. I just installed some Answer 750s on the Woodsmoke. I'm going for my first ride with the 750s today. Will report back.

It's a 2015 Stumpjumper carbon hardtail 29er with a 105mm stem.

[John H.]

Decide for yourself based on feel.
600mm is narrower than the current fashion, but you did say it is for xc use.

I run 675mm for XC- I have tried 720, 700, etc.. I never liked them that wide.

[.RJ]

Decide for yourself based on feel.
600mm is narrower than the current fashion, but you did say it is for xc use.

I run 675mm for XC- I have tried 720, 700, etc.. I never liked them that wide.

^^^ This

That said, I've been slowly getting wider on my bikes (hardtail & FS). I tried a wide (720mm) bar on my hardtail when I built it up last year and I've really enjoyed it. I've since moved the other bike to a wider bar as well. I dont think I could go any wider and not hit trees on most of the local trails I ride.

I find the short stem/wider bar combo does tend to slow the steering down a little, but also gives me a little finer control of the front end of the bike.

I mostly ride east coast XC-type local trails and not a super fast rider, so YMMV. I know guys that live out west and bomb down boulder fields at 30mph and use 800mm bars.

[Ken Robb]

I have ridden some trails with trees so close together that I occasionally got stopped when my bars were wider than a gap between trees or the fit was so close I got stopped when my brake lever hit a tree when I got bumped a little off the ideal line.

Due to this I have occasionally cut down the width of some bars.

[benb]

Yah depends on your trails.. I often think I might find wider more comfortable.. but I've got the old school 600ish width bars, and around here I still have hairy moments *every ride* where I think my bars aren't going to fit through the trees, and I have actually crashed a few times from hitting the bars on a tree.

Every ride is through deeply forested areas here.. a lot of videos I see from other areas of the country everything is very very very wide open so you'd never worry about bar width and trees.

I kind of get the impression the disappearance of bar ends has a lot to do with the width of the bars.. bar ends on 700+ width bars around here would be suicidal.. you do not want to hook a bar end on a tree.

Some of it all is just fashion.. IIRC bars went a lot narrower than 600 at some point too back in the 90s.

I jump off stuff just about every ride.. nothing huge but I don't really understand how wider bars would be better for that.

[crownjewelwl]

that seems pretty narrow...

i have some shimano pro carbon bars cut to 720 if you are interested...they are just sitting in my bin

[christian]

I run 810 on my DH and Enduro bikes.
I run 740 on my trail bike. I wish it were 780.

[gdw]

Pick up an inexpensive set of wide bars and trim them down to a width that offers good control and is comfortable. I'm running a 90mm stem and 640mm flatbars with bar ends for fast xc riding. They work great and it's easy to get the bike through the regular sized door to our storage room.

[Benneke]

There is no reason to run anything narrower the 700mm unless you are very slender or have super tight trails. ~710mm seems to be the standard on the pro XC circuit these days, and many riders would benefit from even wider bars. Buy some really wide bars, because the best thing about buying flat bars is you can always chop them down to size.

[HenryA]

If you're comfortable on the bike then ride it like it is. I've got the same width on my 650 B Hardtail and I cut it down to that width on purpose for southeastern trails. Compare to your road bike -- 600 is wider by a good bit.

[SlowPokePete]

If I remember right my Niner Flat Top carbons (both mtb's) are 710mm.

SPP

[Mr Cabletwitch]

I ride narrow northeast terrain and I held off on wide bars for a while but I've slowly been getting wider and honestly after a few rides I don't notice the width when I'm squeezing through trees.

[ofcounsel]

I run 740mm bars with a 70mm stem on my XC bike. I run 760mm bars with a 50mm stem on my more aggressive trail bike.

But if you like the feel of your 600mm bars, then that's ok.

[joev]

I have heard that you should try to have the handlebars as wide as you need to have your arms to do a "comfortable" push-up. I have a newer 2017 Trek Top Fuel mtn bike and it came w/700 mm bars. I think I can go wider since I always ride it with my hands slightly off the bars. I also have an older Gary Fisher single speed w/660 mm wide bars. The geometry is, of course, different but I feel comfortable with those bars on that bike. Maybe you can have a trial run of a couple different bars from your LBS to see what works? No, the 600's aren't too narrow if it feels natural.

[Blown Reek]

Back when real men rode mountain bikes, you'd cut down your 580mm Answer Hyperlites even shorter. With the bars these days as wide as they are, there is no way I would have fit through the trails I used to ride- I can barely ride through a standard door frame en route to the gym.

[stephenmarklay]

I have ridden some trails with trees so close together that I occasionally got stopped when my bars were wider than a gap between trees or the fit was so close I got stopped when my brake lever hit a tree when I got bumped a little off the ideal line.

Due to this I have occasionally cut down the width of some bars.

Same here. My bike came with 700mm and I put on a 780. This slowed the steering and made it a bit hairy in the tight stuff as above. I think I prefer the 700 but it is very subjective albeit very different.

[yashcha]

I've got a 2011 26 inch cannondale trail sl frameset that I would like to build up this year. It came with a 90mm stem and narrowish bars. Even for a 26incher are most riders going to much shorter stems and wider bars?

What model and year is the bike? A lot of it will depend on the bike geometry. Older "Norba" geos are designed around longer stems and narrower bars. The trend lately is short stems (50mm on average) and wider bars (720-780).

I've been running 720mm Answer ProTaper carbon AMs on my BMC FS02 Fourstroke for the last 3 seasons. My hands kept wanting to creep out further. Switched to a set of Thomson carbon XC 730s that were on my Woodsmoke. I just installed some Answer 750s on the Woodsmoke. I'm going for my first ride with the 750s today. Will report back.

[sandyrs]

6'5" here, 70mm stem with 750mm bars and a 68 head angle (this information is useless unless all presented together). Full suspension XC rig. I never get more than a few feet off the ground and it's all in an XC trail riding context. I also am getting into racing.

I could see going down to 720 if I were a really dedicated XC racer first, trail rider second. My bars feel wider than they "need" to be for XC racing around here especially when riding in a straight line on fire road sections and trying to get "aero." But for a bike that's my only MTB and sees most of its time on rocky New England singletrack, 750 has treated me just fine. There are only one or two places where I run into the possibility of clipping trees with my bars, and I just ride those sections carefully.

[sparky33]

Using 750s...Tight trees come with the most interesting trails here.

I can't decide if perfecting my body english to avoid clipping trees is a skill or an annoyance.

[stephenmarklay]

Can you help with understand the head angle and stem length contribution? I get that the shallow angle will slow steering as well the going wider and a shorter stem will quicken it but is there a formula or something to use as a guide with these variables?

6'5" here, 70mm stem with 750mm bars and a 68 head angle (this information is useless unless all presented together). Full suspension XC rig. I never get more than a few feet off the ground and it's all in an XC trail riding context. I also am getting into racing.

I could see going down to 720 if I were a really dedicated XC racer first, trail rider second. My bars feel wider than they "need" to be for XC racing around here especially when riding in a straight line on fire road sections and trying to get "aero." But for a bike that's my only MTB and sees most of its time on rocky New England singletrack, 750 has treated me just fine. There are only one or two places where I run into the possibility of clipping trees with my bars, and I just ride those sections carefully.

[MikeD]

I'm on 650s. I tried different widths and settled on this. I don't see the point of really wide bars.

[sandyrs]

Can you help with understand the head angle and stem length contribution? I get that the shallow angle will slow steering as well the going wider and a shorter stem will quicken it but is there a formula or something to use as a guide with these variables?

There isn't a strict formula that I'm aware of, but generally if you put a short stem and wide bars on a bike with a steep head angle (like early 29ers) the handling will be kind of wild and if you put a long stem on a bike with a shallow head angle, it will steer like a boat. This is all hyperbole though, and I haven't ridden that many MTBs other than the couple I've owned so I can't back it up with a ton of firsthand experience.

[p nut]

I ride strictly XC. No AM/DH for me. I think ~700mm (typically 90mm stem) is a great width for me. But on my Singlespeed, I had Seven make 720mm bars, which I appreciate the extra leverage. I've got the original Jones bars on my other bike which I believe is 680mm. Works well. I'm currently building an "Allroad MTB" with pretty narrow bars for today's standards (580mm). It'll be a rigid 29er with "skinny" WTB Nano 2.1's. For mixed terrain rides where my gravel bike on 700x40 just isn't enough.

[.RJ]

There isn't a strict formula that I'm aware of, but generally if you put a short stem and wide bars on a bike with a steep head angle (like early 29ers) the handling will be kind of wild

Definitely not the case with my Jet 9... 71* HTA

[stephenmarklay]

There isn't a strict formula that I'm aware of, but generally if you put a short stem and wide bars on a bike with a steep head angle (like early 29ers) the handling will be kind of wild and if you put a long stem on a bike with a shallow head angle, it will steer like a boat. This is all hyperbole though, and I haven't ridden that many MTBs other than the couple I've owned so I can't back it up with a ton of firsthand experience.

Gotcha. Thank you.

[RudAwkning]

I've got a 2011 26 inch cannondale trail sl frameset that I would like to build up this year. It came with a 90mm stem and narrowish bars. Even for a 26incher are most riders going to much shorter stems and wider bars?

I'd experiment and see how it feels to you. 26" wheels aren't that much smaller than 27.5".

In general, with a long stem and wide bars, navigating tight switchbacks can be tricky as the arm furthest out has to push a much larger arc. With a shorter stem, that is minimized. But if you have a shortish top tube with short stem and wide bars, the bar can run right into your leg when turning the bar 90 degrees.

It's all a series of compromises. But I seem to climb and descend better with wider bars so I deal with the consequences in other areas. And as others have said, if you live in heavily wooded ares, wide bars might not be the best. I've snagged my bar a few times and it has never ended well.

That being said, these guys seem to have no problem!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjCHwPf3aX0

[tommyrod74]

Geometry trends in MTB, from enduro to XC racing (DH has been there a while) is to long top tube, steep seat angle (so long reach for a given tt length), slack head angle, short stem, wide bar.

These all work together to make for a bike with similar reach to the grips as the old setups, but much much much more stable in rough terrain and at high speeds, and still agile enough in tight stuff, while climbing well due to the steep SA keeping weight centered while going up steep stuff.

With our XC courses in the SE getting more interesting, I'm running a 760mm bar, 70-80mm stem on a bike with a 67.5 HA and a 130mm fork (120mm rear). You can build these things up to <25 lbs no problem these days, and oh my gosh are they fast. You just don't brake much, and you pick the fast (not smooth) line. They are fun.

Racing this setup in Pro/elite and masters' XC as well as endurance and stage racing with good success.

[yashcha]

Thank you, I will start with a 60mm and see how it rides. Crazy how quickly 26 inch rims have disappeared from the market place.

I'd experiment and see how it feels to you. 26" wheels aren't that much smaller than 27.5".

In general, with a long stem and wide bars, navigating tight switchbacks can be tricky as the arm furthest out has to push a much larger arc. With a shorter stem, that is minimized. But if you have a shortish top tube with short stem and wide bars, the bar can run right into your leg when turning the bar 90 degrees.

It's all a series of compromises. But I seem to climb and descend better with wider bars so I deal with the consequences in other areas. And as others have said, if you live in heavily wooded ares, wide bars might not be the best. I've snagged my bar a few times and it has never ended well.

That being said, these guys seem to have no problem!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjCHwPf3aX0