This has probably been beaten to death, but I don't recall this ever coming up on the women's forum before, though I've found plenty of other articles - always from a man's perspective and much taller than I am. We all know the trend is wide handlebars and short stems, with the understanding that wider bars give you more leverage and control. But, at some point there is too wide. Women typically have narrower shoulders and shorter reaches, so what might feel great to a guy, may just be too much for a woman. I recently bought some Deity Black Label bars for my new bike (I'll admit - it was a color, pimp out my ride decision). They measure just about 800mm. I haven't cut them down because I wanted to see how they felt for a while first. And, I wanted to see if the wider bars gave me more of an advantage. But, I was out riding around in the yard after the snow finally melted, working on track stands and wheelies, and just felt ridiculous - like these are too long. What's more, my shoulders hurt. I should also mention the bike is an XS GG Shred Dogg.
I also have a small 2015 Salsa Mukluk. That bike is a bit long for me and I decided to give some alt bars a try (I do have Jones H-loops for it too, for touring/bikepacking). I got some Salsa Bend 2 bars that have a 23 degree sweep and are only 710mm wide. They go forward before bending back a bit so you should be able to run the same stem. And I freaking love them. My shoulders are happy, my wrists and hands are happy. But, I don't know how something like that would work on an aggressive trail or an Enduro bike. And they're narrow.
So, I'm likely going to cut my bars down, but I'm curious, what do you ladies run?
I'm 5'4", and my wingspan is the same. I read about the plant/push-up method for determining bar width and tried that last
night. My "happy" place seems about 680mm wide! I ride xs or small bikes. How tall are you, what size bike do you ride, what type of bike do you have, and how wide are your bars? Do you have a width where you go, nope, just too wide? And have you noticed anything with your bike's handling (good or bad)? I know this is all kind of subjective, and yeah, you should ride what works for you, regardless of the "standards", but I'm genuinely curious. Thanks in advance!
I also have a small 2015 Salsa Mukluk. That bike is a bit long for me and I decided to give some alt bars a try (I do have Jones H-loops for it too, for touring/bikepacking). I got some Salsa Bend 2 bars that have a 23 degree sweep and are only 710mm wide. They go forward before bending back a bit so you should be able to run the same stem. And I freaking love them. My shoulders are happy, my wrists and hands are happy. But, I don't know how something like that would work on an aggressive trail or an Enduro bike. And they're narrow.
So, I'm likely going to cut my bars down, but I'm curious, what do you ladies run?
I'm 5'4", and my wingspan is the same. I read about the plant/push-up method for determining bar width and tried that last
night. My "happy" place seems about 680mm wide! I ride xs or small bikes. How tall are you, what size bike do you ride, what type of bike do you have, and how wide are your bars? Do you have a width where you go, nope, just too wide? And have you noticed anything with your bike's handling (good or bad)? I know this is all kind of subjective, and yeah, you should ride what works for you, regardless of the "standards", but I'm genuinely curious. Thanks in advance!
