SamSam77

I have something of a 'chicken or the egg' question with the handlebars and grips on my hybrid-style bicycle with 25-inch-wide, end-to-end, handlebars.


Since I bought the bike, I have noticed an annoying tendency for the grips to move inward, towards the center of the bar and away from the ends. Every once in a while I will pull them back out the end where I think they 'should' go and where it looks most aesthetically appealing. I recently went on a very long ride where this grip movement issue was pretty extreme over the course of the trip, with the grips moving as far inward as they could go (~2 cm per side) before being stopped by the brake attachment rings. At the end of this ride I had a lot of shoulder pain, which can be caused (at least in part) by improper handlebar fit. This got me thinking about the cause of this grip movement and, more importantly, what it might be telling me about my handlebar fit to my body and/or its role in my shoulder pain.


The question I am thinking about is which of these options, if either, might be correct:

(1) Are my handlebars/grip position too wide and my body is subtly pulling them inward to what might be a more natural fit?

(2) Does the inward creep of my grips pull my body out of a otherwise 'good' position and contribute to the shoulder pain?


Another dimension to consider is that, in this most recent case of extreme inward movement, the grips were stopped by the brake attachment to the bars. Maybe my brakes are set too far inward and thus, by using my brakes, I am gently pulling the grips inward as well. I sort of doubt this is the case, though, since it happens nearly evenly on both sides, despite very unequal brake usage, and also I never feel like I have to 'reach' for the brakes.


I'll also mention that, at least on shorter trips, everything feels very comfortable and I am very happy with the wider-set grip position.

badger1

You are overthinking this.

Your grips are not securely fastened to the bars. I'm assuming they are not lock-on.

Step 1: purchase a decent pair of lock-on grips. Install them.
Step 2: try them in normal (end of bars) position. If the shoulder pain does not reoccur, the end. If it does,
Step 3: move them inboard a bit. Try again. Pain gone? Cut bars down to fit, the end. If it reoccurs, move 'em in a bit more, and try again. And so on.

All of this is trial/error. There is no simple answer; no one here can tell you exactly what is going on re. shoulder pain. The cause of your shoulder pain might be something entirely unrelated to 'effective' bar width, which is what you are talking about here.

hokiefyd 

In agreement with @badger1, I think the only thing we can say for sure is your grips are not secure. Whether your body wants to or not, it shouldn't be able to pull grips inward on the bar. I second the recommendation to get lock-on grips and try them in various positions on your bar to see what you like best over time. Don't be in a hurry to switch stuff around -- ride for a week or two in the outer-most position. Them move them in 5mm or so and ride for another few weeks. You'll probably find that small differences in ergonomics can make a big difference to comfort.

SamSam77

Perhaps I am overthinking it, but at the same time I don't think a purely trial-and-error approach is optimal either.
Aside from it being a minor annoyance, the grips moving inwards is not an issue on short rides and, in fact, everything feels fine. It's only on very long rides that I've experience any real problems. I am not enthusiastic about the idea of spending days iteratively injuring myself until I can get things dialed in just right, hence my desire to analyse the situation at least a little bit before acting.

I completely agree, the grips should not be moving on their own and getting some lock-on grips sounds like a good idea (actually, I did not know these were a thing as I've always used 'friction' grips my whole life).

I agree. As you said, even something like 5 mm might have an effect, which is why I was getting concerned about 20 mm creep on my grips (per side).

Obviously I do not expect anyone here to be able to diagnose my shoulder pain. There is likely a combination of factors at play here, this incident was just what triggered this line of thinking for me.

Korina

Your hands should be about shoulder width apart. Too wide handlebars could cause shoulder pain; check with a bike fitter. My Giant hybrid came with ridiculously wide handlebars, which I had cut down over my husbeast's objections. They fit much better after that; I would have taken another half inch off, but there wasn't room.

Helderberg

Before you cut the bar or spend money on lock on grips why not use the brake lock rings as a stop point? Slide the grips out to the outermost placement move your brake rings out to touch as a stop and try that. Then if you want move the brake handle rings in 5 cm or so and slide the grips up against them ad try that. Once you know where the grips feel the best you can either buy lockons or not. Just a thought.
Frank.

Korina

Genius always looks so simple afterwards.

base2 

Bars have become ridiculously wide in recent years. The reason is to afford more leverage on super relaxed high trail geometries. It's rarely an issue because the rider is seldom on the bike in any one position for any length of time.

Hybrid & Mountain riders just don't hammer down in a tuck for 60 plus minutes the way roadies do. So the wide bars of mtn bikes & hybrids are selected for other reasons than aero fit and/or efficiency.

The other posters are correct. Ideally the bars should be about shoulder width. Being too wide places undue stress on your arm/shoulder/neck muscles whe the the job of supporting your torso should be done by your core muscles instead. Changing bar width may mean a stem length/height change as well.

I'd venture a guess your bars are both too wide & too far and it's the action of your core muscles "pulling" the grips inboard and towards you. Narrower bars *may* solve everything, put your torso in an upright position and relax your neck muscles. How's your lower back? Muscles tight after a long day in the saddle?

Ask in your LBS has any "take-offs" before buying new bars. If they do, then it's a simple matter & a huge discount off MSRP.