azza_333

I currently use 42cm FSA compact bars on my group ride bike, i'm building up a ne touring bike and im thinking if I would be better off on 44cm bars. Is there any negative effect on comfort for running wider bars, and how much does it effect your comfort.

Rowan

Based on my personal experience, yes. I went from 42 to 44 and am now moving all my dropbar bikes back to 42. Think about the geometry of it. The wider spread of your hands brings your torso closer to the stem, which changes the angle of your back. The wider spread of your arms may or may not suit you; for me, it meant more pressure on the inside of my hands while on the hoods, and therefore more susceptibility to numbness.

This was not a flash-in-the-pan experiment -- it was over three or four years and included randonnee, touring and tandem bikes.

The accepted mesaure is the straight-line measure across your shoulders.

Still, as always with you, I get a feeling I just wasted my time posting this.

BobG

azza-

If I rode 2 identical bikes all season, one with 42cm bars and the other with 44cm bars and had to guess which bike had the wider steering wheel without using a tape measure...? I'd have about a 50% chance of guessing right. That's only 1 cm difference per side, .39".

Squeezebox

So how wide are your shoulders?

bradtx

azza_333, This is up to you. My target size is 44 cm, but I'm okay with 42 cm and 46 cm wide drop bars. The 46's are on the tandem, but wouldn't be a fair choice for anything else, IMHO, because I have light forearm interference when in the drops.

There is also so many styles of drop bars, some offer more flare in the drops or a different amount of reach that can effect your comfort.

Brad

saddlesores

i think if i'd be using drop bars on a tourbike nowadays,
i'd want dirt drops:

Dirt Drop Bars

79pmooney

The time honored way to find optimum width of drop bars as used by racers for probably a century: Take a pair of those bars and place the ends of the bars on the balls of your shoulders. Optimum width is an exact fit to 2 cm wider.

Go to a shop and try bars until you find the pair that is an exact fit. Note the width and make. (Make because there are two standards for measuring width, center to center and inside to inside. 2 mm difference.) Use bars with no plugs. It is easy to feel when the bare bar exactly cups the shoulder balls.

Ben

BobG

I used the One One Midge dirt drops for about a year. I liked them at first then decided that the canted brake hoods were not as comfortable as plumb hoods. Perhaps a little easier to reach the brake levers from the drops but more awkward to grip up top. The bar width of the Midge bars (hood to hood) was identical to my conventional drops. Only the drop section was spread wider.

Years ago I had a "fit kit" measurement done. My recommended bar width was 40-42. So even the professional fitters leave a little wiggle room in there.

Erick L

I went from 40cm (more like 39) to 46cm and I love it. You can always put your hands inside a wide bar but not the opposite. Wider bars give a bit more leverage on gravel at slow speed.

forresterace

Asking, on an internet forum, which size handlebar would be the most comfortable is like asking what size shoe you should wear.

robow

As always, I respect Rowan's thoughts, but I tend to build all my bikes up with 44cm bars and generally run a 55 or 56cm frame. Wider does give me greater leverage and greater control on descents and curves. If you look at professional racers, most all use wider bars than you would think for that very reason. btw, I don't think you have to be that astute to see and feel the difference of 2 cm's in width. That being said, you might like narrower bars and can save a few grams at the same time.

Steve B.

I've also heard that wider bars open up the chest muscles and make breathing easier. Mind, that was 25 years ago and might well be wisdom from the Dark Ages.

I've wide shoulders and use 44 on my carbon go-fast, but 46 Nitto Noodle 177's on my tourer and steel road bike. I generally like the shape and width of the Nitto better, but admit to being able to go faster on my carbon.

veganbikes

I have liked switching to wider bars but I went from round bars to flat top drop bars and a slightly shorter stem. I can't say enough good about a flat top bar not necessarily a super aero profile (because those can be a bit too thin). I personally have the Zipp Service Course-SL 70 Ergo in 44cm and I have no intention of changing them. If you were looking to go cheap, Dimension does a flat top bar in all the sizes.

I liked the bars better for climbing because I had come from exclusively flat bars so having the wider profile felt more natural but I feel like if I had a longer stem it might have caused some minor pain.

I would say Rowan is correct but the shorter stem helped with that and if you got a stem that had some rise to it as well you could probably eliminate the back issues?

saddlesores

should the method be modified?
he's not racing.

DropBarFan

I like the 44 cm handlebars incl current Nitto Noodle even though my shoulders aren't too wide. Seems like wider bars give better control & it feels OK if forearms aren't perfectly parallel.

Squeezebox

Splitting hairs.

It's really not much of an issue!

79pmooney

Oops!

79pmooney

Do you ride upwind? Do you enjoy working harder than you have to? I cannot answer those questions.

Ben

Rowan

I will say I "loved" the change to wider bars, but the on-going issues with hand numbness and some other issues meant going back again to the narrower width. Without putting too fine a point on it, with randonnees, the issues are magnified.

PhilPub

I kind of agree with this; surely it depends on a number of things including preferred riding positions? I used to ride 40cm bars because that's all I knew. Then I moved to 42cm which felt way wider, but I got used to them and soon realised they were more comfortable. I now used 42cm on my fast/nice weather road bike and tour bike. I think the only reason I would consider different sizes is if I had widely differing positions on different bikes. (Narrower drops on a track bike maybe?)

BobG

As always I respect rowbow's thoughts, but I still contend that a 2cm difference in handlebar width would be imperceptible to the average rider. Yes, that increase in reach would be noticeable, say going from a 70mm stem to a 90mm stem. But 1cm to the left and right? Here is a sketch of the angle change based upon my 40cm shoulder width and 55cm arm length, shoulders to bar...



(2 squares= 5cm)

Steve B.

[QUOTE=BobG;18872411]As always I respect rowbow's thoughts, but I still contend that a 2cm difference in handlebar width would be imperceptible to the average rider. QUOTE]

It's not. I don't really notice things like different road tires handling and riding differently and the difference between my carbon road bike on 23mm tires isn't that different then my steel with 28.

I do notice right away, the difference between one bike with a 44 and the others with 46.

djb

interesting Rowan, I have 42's on my dropbar bike and going from photos over the years on this forum, I am sure that I am much slighter than you, ie more narrow shoulders.
I guess it comes down to preference, I find that over the years, I like the fact that the 42s for me have that slightly wider stance that in some situations (slower ones, going over rough stuff) I like having the width that seems to me to work well.
There are times that I am in downhill fast runs or really strong headwinds that I find myself bringing my elbows etc in as much as possible, which kind of supports the theory of slightly narrower ones would be good also for me, but I still find that I like the 42s for the forementioned reasons.

as with so much of bike stuff, it comes down to personal preference and figuring out what works best for you personally, which touches on your last comment. ie, Azza, you really have to decide for yourself and compare to what you ride on. If you like your 42s, stick with them.

azza, as a bit of a reference, my dropbar bike gets ridden in all kinds of surfaces, mostly on pavement, but I really like that I can comfortably go over anything and feel good with the bar width for rough pavement, dirt, bumpy stuff going slow, going fast, whatever.

robow

BobG, you may be correct in that the average rider might not be able to perceive a difference of 2 cm but for those that have been riding a long time and have ridden many miles, I think you do get to the point where you are able to appreciate small differences in bike set up/fit and you are more likely to have developed preferences. After 20 years of building my own bikes, I know that I want 175 cranks, 44cm bars with a specific reach, etc. Yea, I've become that discerning and yes, maybe it is psychological as well as physiological, but the cool thing is that you can come off seemingly very knowledgeable when you start tossing out all those desired components and specs with your buddies who don't know their bottom from their bottom bracket.

djb

so Mr Aussie, have you ridden with 44's before? Have you decided? What made you think you wanted to go from 42 to 44?