The comfort of narrow handlebars.

[KWalker]

A PT with a decade of fitting pros did the test, but it basically involved riding the ergo with torso in various positions, closing my eyes and lifting my hands off of the hoods straight up. From there he applied force with a steel rule unformly on the tops of my hands and had me resist, then on the bottoms. For that test its less precise, but when my hands got ~38 or narrower and ~42 and wider the amount of force that he could exert both pushing and pulling was exponentially lower before I had to significantly enlist my spine and other muscles and thus break my position.

When he worked with Garmin and Cervelo, who were two of the first teams to start using narrow bars and wind tunnel testing road positions he used this test with a lot of riders to actually demonstrate that they wouldn't lose any strength going narrower. In specific he noted that Hushovd, Bos, and Farrar were all on 44s before and all went down at least 1 bar size with Bos and Hushovd going to 40s. In his experience this year 40cm is the most common size of bars in the cohort he works with.

In his experience those that use extremely narrow bars such as track riders adapt over longer periods of time, often are much stronger and/or do weight training movements with that hand/shoulder width, and are also not really on the bike long enough for it to matter anyways.

From a strength training perspective if you think about riding as somewhat of an incline bench press and lat pulldown if your grip widens or narrows there is a difference in upper back enlistment and internal/external rotation. The test my fitter performed essentially found an approximate comfort zone to lower both of these things from happening as they would lead to undo fatigue over the course of a road ride or race.

I know that some of the trackies are on ultra narrow bars, but what about the six day/points guys? Wasn't Meyer on 38s? Most of the six day guys are on 40s or at least the ones I've met, but that could be because they also race on the road.

[11.4]

@KWalker, there's no consistency in anything with six-day. This is partly because it's a mix of trackies and roadies and pure six-day types, and partly because they ride different configurations for different events. (Six days aren't just long madisons but a combination of all kinds of events these days). Furthermore, madisons require a bike that's stable on pretty squirrelly banking with uneven entries and exits, frequently prominent joins, and the steering issues involving handslings. Six days never went super-wide like road did, and in madisons don't do super-narrow today like pure trackies (34 cm and narrower). However, it'd be a mistake to think their rides were short -- 2 to 2.5 hours, 140-145 cadence, 88-89 inch gears, and incredible continuous speed.

In the end, the concern I have with a test such as your PT did on you is that the more force you're applying, the more you're able to resist deflection at any bar width. An ergo test like this isn't necessarily as indicative as actual road (or track) experience. That's where most of my riders have collected their experience. I'd be delighted to see a really definitive test worked up. Yours is a good start. As always, I end up asking what people win with and among pure track events the median is 34 cm. On the road, given the popular bars today, it's 40 cm on the drops but 37-38 cm on the levers. In six-days it's 38-40 cm in the drops and nothing else really matters since for a top grip bar width is irrelevant.

[KWalker]

The test he runs on pros involves more than that but I am a mere peasant. Can you further articulate what issues you have with the test? As I said it is pretty basic with the idea being to monitor tension of the upper back/shoulders to just begin to root out possible fatigue points that could lead to inefficiency and/or discomfort.

The issue I see when riders go too narrow on the road these days is they are unable to properly roll their shoulders and end up rolling because they have to not because they want to necessarily. I only see this with a few riders these days on the road as most tend to still be on something "normal" its just that it has changed from the past.

You're correct about 6 days, I expected their setups to be more like a road riders given the event durations, which was probably lost in my post.

[Rick]

For me, 183cm, it is far more comfortable the 46cm o-o when I am climbing out of the saddle. More control too, on fast descents on my 73º head angleset frame.

That is really where I noticed the increased "comfort" the most when I went back up to 42cm from 40cm.

If it were just the comfort of the in-saddle position, I probably would not have noticed too much. But I didn't feel as stable when getting out of the saddle. I was really surprised at what the small difference in bar width did t the feel of out-of-saddle riding. Both on hills and in sprint situations.

Not that I am very fast or anything, so I might as well feel stable and comfortable.

[Kermithimself]

Probably should look into getting narrower bars then. For those who have made the transition, how is the sprinting with narrower bars?

[Tapeworm]

^ Sprinting is the same as it ever was, certainly no less "stable". I am a big fan of them.

[smokva]

I'm 188cm tall with shoulders 44cm. I ride exclusively 44 cm c-c bars. I tried 41,5 but that was too weird and felt unstable when sprinting and descending.

[hasbeen]

I can remember feeling unstable in the first week when I went to 40s. Same thing when I went to 38s. Stability came back in both widths.

[smokva]

I can remember feeling unstable in the first week when I went to 40s. Same thing when I went to 38s. Stability came back in both widths.

I started riding on 41,5 but never liked the feeling....felt like fish in the water first time I tried 44 cm. All measures c-c.

[benzebub]

1.93m with 47cm shoulder width.

switch to 46 bars from 44.. does feel a little more comfortable but it wasn't a life changing experience for me. When I switch back to 44 (bad weather bike) I really feel the difference, but after 30 minutes the feeling fades away.

[Multebear]

I'm 1,86 m, and run 38 cm 3T Ergonova Ltd. I love them and bought another pair for the winterbike. I tried another bike with a 44 cm handlebar, felt completely wrong and awkward. I don´t se any reason to run bigger than 42 cm. Nobody needs it for the road.

But what concerns me is, that you feel very comfortable riding your hands close to the stem. Obviously that's true, because that puts your back in an upright position. But you should feel comfortable riding in the hoods and in the bend as well. If you don't, then you need to experiment with different stem angles, lengts, handlebar positions and hood positions. You ought to feel comfortable in all 3 main handpositions on the handlebar or something's wrong with your fit.

[kulivontot]

Does any of the reasoning for wider bars for mtb translate to the road? I think you'd have better control on a wider bar. Somehow I also think you'd get more leverage pulling up on the drops during a sprint since lever arm is longer. Can somebody get specialized Win Tunnel to quantify these aero claims?

[nathanong87]

those aren't even aero claims , wider would be more surface area in the realm of aero-ness.

[KWalker]

Control is a matter of lots of factors, but all being equal wider bars on MTBs create a longer arc when steering and allow for a tad bit more control or precision. Not really that much of a different with road.

[prebsy]

Probably should look into getting narrower bars then. For those who have made the transition, how is the sprinting with narrower bars?

Sprinting is fine. It's funny I posted on the first page of this thread and at the time I was riding 40s. Since then I've been riding 38s for a while and LOVE them. I never think they feel narrow or experience any discomfort.

I think I lose a bit of leverage in the sprint and really don't torque the bike like I did when I rode 44s or 42s . Does that mean I'm slower? I don't think so, just because you can throw the bike around violently doesn't mean you are faster. I will admit I am starting to look a bit comical on the bike.