Wider bars

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Sounds like I've headed in the right direction! Have had a Spank Oozy 760 on for a while with a 70mm Giant connect stem, felt totally wrong on my new frame so just put on an Oozy 50mm, feels awesome so far! But the nagging question in the back of my head is how do I know I have the height of the bars right? Tried to match the previous height for now, but what would lowering it do? I ride mostly trail, not so fond of gravel travel but have to do that occasionally for training purposes, what's the verdict?

Lowering it would place more weight on the front end. Good for climbing, can be good for corneting on bikes with longer wheel bases (weight the front wheel to give more grip at the front) but may be more difficult to manual the bike and unweight the front for drops.

 

Depends on the bike really. Stack height (distance from ground to top of head tube) has a direct effect on it. But if you feel it's too low, use a higher rise bar rather than more spacers as otherwise it affects the reach measurement.

 

Also - steeper trails generally require a higher front end / more spacers / higher bar.

[RockCoach]

Ive always then wondered about whether bike setups are really worth it as they fit you to your cleats, generally recommend longer stems and bars that fit your shoulders which scientificly seems all good bit what about the trail rider set up? Is there a thing.

 

If i rock up with my flat shoes, 60mm stem and 780mm bars, will they be able to fit me with not changing that?

 

Regarding bar height: i think it's more about getting you in a more upright position, same as with stem angle that attempts to raise the bars...i think..:-).

 

My setup is a 60mm stem with 8 degree rise, all spacers at the bottom of the stem and the rapide 780mm bars. Would like some more room to play with the spacers but the steerer tube is not long enough.

 

Your seat height and seat/pedal position can be set up perfectly. What happens on the bars (on a MTB) is personal preference.

 

Although I do sometimes cringe when I see bars higher than the saddle - especially kids on bikes too big for them. They will have just about no front end grip like that.

[AlanD]

Your seat height and seat/pedal position can be set up perfectly. What happens on the bars (on a MTB) is personal preference.

 

Although I do sometimes cringe when I see bars higher than the saddle - especially kids on bikes too big for them. They will have just about no front end grip like that.

Agree on setting the seat height but pedal position, how would you do that with flats? I would think that you put your foot on the pedal in your natural position which is about mid foot (correct me if I am wrong), and then ensure your knee, behind the patella, dissects the pedal axle in a straight line...if that makes sense..?

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Agree on setting the seat height but pedal position, how would you do that with flats? I would think that you put your foot on the pedal in your natural position which is about mid foot (correct me if I am wrong), and then ensure your knee, behind the patella, dissects the pedal axle in a straight line...if that makes sense..?

Depends on your preferred pedalling foot position. Once that's sorted, exactly the same. 

[igg]

After going for a setup, and getting my seat position right, I had to switch from a 50mm to a 70mm stem. This is on an XL frame with 770mm bars.

I'm convinced some of these bike manufacturers have never seen a tall person. It's way more comfortable now and I have a lot more control, it just looks odd putting such a stem on a slack frame.

[Patchelicious]

Found a pic of Myles living by the sword.

 

https://instagram.com/p/BMJSx62Dj_o/

[Goblin]

Read somewhere the ratio is supposed to be about 10mm stem for 20mm bar.

So for the numbers (680 /100) you posted, a 60mm stem should provide similar reach for a 760 mm bar.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Found a pic of Myles living by the sword.

 

https://instagram.com/p/BMJSx62Dj_o/

Lol.

 

Would you believe that there are bars out there called "yardsticks" purely cos they're a yard wide!?

 

I mean, im a wide bar / short stem advocate, but that's a bit much for my tastes

[Uni]

While I was having a mosey around at Rapide, OH picked up some goodies for his Orbea. He switched from 680 bars to 780 and a 110 stem (someone help Myles up off the floor :-P ) to 65mm, he's been on the road with his bike, but first time on the trails today and he's like the pig in poo - he was a bit worried about getting round some smaller gaps - but no problems at all.

[JXV]

I am on a medium Giant Anthem 27.5. 780mm Rapide bar matched to a 80mm stem. Found the 60mm stem abit too twitchy as the top tube length is fairly short.

Its not the short top tube that makes it twitchy with the short stem....its the relatively steep head angle.

 

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[RockCoach]

While I was having a mosey around at Rapide, OH picked up some goodies for his Orbea. He switched from 680 bars to 780 and a 110 stem (someone help Myles up off the floor :-P ) to 65mm, he's been on the road with his bike, but first time on the trails today and he's like the pig in poo - he was a bit worried about getting round some smaller gaps - but no problems at all.

 

You see Uni, when you have a short stem it's so much easier to flick/swivel/swim wide bars through narrow gaps.

 

Tell M congrats on the change 

[Uni]

You see Uni, when you have a short stem it's so much easier to flick/swivel/swim wide bars through narrow gaps.

 

Tell M congrats on the change 

He's got the sads. He's on leave this week and he broke a spoke today, so no riding for maybe next 2 days. He's milking it big time to convince me he needs an affliction of N+1