?

Yes.

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Slammed. Campy. Tubulars.

Bigger quads may have something to do with it.

If it's a single speed (as opposed to a fixie), longer crank arms may help in certain situations.

...

I have two SS one with 170mm cranks and one with 175mm cranks. both feel just as easy or just as difficult to turn depending on how steep the hill is.

As to the orginal question

???????????

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www.thecycleclinic.co.uk

Umm, sounds like the legs job to me.

But yes, wider bars, and even bar ends, will help to get good leverage when you wanna mash.

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http://www.zencyclery.com

http://www.wheelbuilder.org

No excuse for legs, but it definitely helps. After 3 months of riding solid road on 42cm bars and no mountain biking, and then switching to my SS MTB to do a 8 hr race this weekend, I definitely noticed a huge difference in climbing by taking full advantage of the width of the bars. I was cupping my hands over the ends of the grips just to help increase the leverage (especially handy later on in the race when I was getting tired).

Of course, by some standards, my bars aren't that wide but I find them just right (3T Xida LTD @ 640mm).

Physics. Wider bars farther from the Fulcrum= more leverage....until the get so wide that the muscles you're using (less back/trap, more deltoid) become weaker. Again, quads, core strength, heart, lungs....all help.

the bike came with shorter cranks. 170's
once i changed to 175. i was able to turn the harder gearing.
but lost some spin smoothness
now i am at the point where when climbing the area just above the back of my elbows.
become tired after an hour of continuous climbing.
so i was considering wider bars to gain more leverage.
since the elbow area is showing the soreness

what bar width would you recommend ?

I have a 680mm bar that seems perfect for me.

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Trek 5500 - 13.75lbs on a $1400 Budget
20 gram 1x10 chain guide

I find a good run up always helps and big quads.Get climbing until it becomes easier.

I can't see this, you don't want leverage at the bars that only tilts the bike, in fact it would be more stable if you held the bars right by the stem (accepting you wouldn't steer straight) as that way the force back from the bars is more in line with the pedal.

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Impoverished weight weenie wanna-be!
Budget 26" HT build viewtopic.php?f=10&t=110956

I think bars should be at least 680mm for XC use. At least 710mm for Single Speed/trail/all mountain use. It feels awkward at first but once you have wide bars, you'll never want to go back.

Shorter crank arms will give you greater pedal-force peaks while longer crank arms will give you better spinning and leverage while seated

You can tell this is a weight weenie forum, 710mm isn't "wide" anymore

I've got 690mm on the SS, 720mm on the hardtail and 760mm on the Pitch, Horses for courses though as the 760's won't fit between the trees at places like Cannock Chase!



Back ot physics, force x distance, if you leg is pushing down with say 100kgf 10cm from the bikes centerline, you'd need to pull up (or push down on the opposite side, of 50/50 of each) with 30kg 33cm from the centerline to keep it still. Obviously that's an oversimplification as you can swing your body and the bike arround to use momentum to keep it upright, and when your really mashing on the pedals you lean the bike away from the pedal being pushed so that your force acts verticaly down on the tyres/center of the bike.