? of Comfort: 26.0 vs. 31.8

[Hai H. Ho]

Background Info:

I recently built up a 90's Merckx Motorola SLX with a Cinelli X/E stem and Giro D'Italia bars that are 26.0 mm in size.

Then I built up a 2006 Merckx re-release of the 7-Eleven Corsa Extra SLX with a Ritchey WCS stem and Ritchey Carbon bar that is 31.8 in size.

Both bikes have steel forks.

Whenever my hands are resting on the bar tops just to the left and right of the stem, they just don't feel all that great whenever I ride the Motorola bike. I really want to keep the bike, but I need to enjoy it more to justify my decision.

Has anyone else experienced such discomfort / numbness of the smaller 26.0 bars as compared to the wider, more surface area of the 31.8 bars? Is this all in my head?

Thanks for your help.

[David Kirk]

I suppose anything is possible - that said I'd be looking in your own head.

You could wrap the bars with another layer of tape up there to mimic the diameter I guess. Fun experiment if nothing else.

Dave