Common Bar Width?

2SLOFATASS said:

Is there a common bar width for fatties?
Thinking on a 820mm bar, full suspension fat-e used all year long riding in single track.

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Probably fine if you’ve got 44”+ shoulders, long arms, and no narrow trees to fit thru. 820 is pretty wide regardless of the kind of bike.


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Agreed on the point that I don’t think that a fat bike leads to a different optimal bar width than other types of mtn bikes.
I say go for the 820 anyway. You can always slide in your controls to test shorter widths then cut down if needed. I currently prefer 820 and have a 188cm wingspan. 800mm bars used to be optimal for me but due to some repetitive use (non bike) nerve issues i am now much more comfortable with extra wide bars to keep my chest spread wide open. Plus living on front range CO tree clearance is not often an issue. I’ve mentioned this on other threads but think its worth repeating.

CCSS said:

Probably fine if you’ve got 44”+ shoulders, long arms, and no narrow trees to fit thru. 820 is pretty wide regardless of the kind of bike.


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What if your arms are long enough to pass a joint to your neighbor without laving your chair?

Wider than my other bikes on a fat-bike because accelerating on a fat-bike is harder and the additional leverage helps with that.

BansheeRune said:

What if your arms are long enough to pass a joint to your neighbor without laving your chair?

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Why do you think i run 820 bars?

Monty219 said:

Why do you think i run 820 bars?

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Wouldn't have anything to do with you and your neighbor getting stoned, would it?

I think that would be 840 then… 420x2


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… or just cut the bars you’ve got down to 420.
=sParty

Sounds good. I'm on 800 as the ideal width for me. My Syntace 780s are so comfy too, but now feel a bit too narrow. If your bars have more sweep though, they will be effectively narrower. I'd probably be good with 820s are all. I have long arms (6'3" span) but a 40/41 chest, down from 42/43.

I used to run 780, then got 800, now have 820. I’m happy with 820 but I ain’t small. There are 3 spots on my local trails where I need to be careful of the trees. Sometimes I remember, and sometimes it hurts!

I imagine most people will select a bar width exactly the same or close to their mtn bike just for familiarity alone.

I run 740mm on my mtn bike, and this year I put my old 685mm on my fatbike. After 5 min of riding it felt totally normal and I haven’t noticed any advantages or disadvantages in handling since!

I honestly thought it would feel terrible and would handle poorly, but it hasn’t been the case.

CanmoreBruce said:

I used to run 780, then got 800, now have 820. I’m happy with 820 but I ain’t small. There are 3 spots on my local trails where I need to be careful of the trees. Sometimes I remember, and sometimes it hurts!

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There are a couple trails in regular haunt list that require us wide bar users to sway the bike through the trees or be rather sorry we didn't do so. I'm a little disconnected from it lately and will need to get that rhythm back on the front burner before I hit those haunts with the 4bbl wide open!

Flyer said:

Sounds good. I'm on 800 as the ideal width for me. My Syntace 780s are so comfy too, but now feel a bit too narrow. If your bars have more sweep though, they will be effectively narrower. I'd probably be good with 820s are all. I have long arms (6'3" span) but a 40/41 chest, down from 42/43.

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What do you mean by “effectively narrower”? I just swapped some bars and found both spank spike and surly sunrise measure true to 820, measuring a straight line from end to end, same for a raceface aeffct 780.

and i highly recommend 820s. I figured i will try them and probably cut them down… never wanted to cut them down. I am 188cm with 1:1 ape index.

Monty219 said:

What do you mean by “effectively narrower”? I just swapped some bars and found both spank spike and surly sunrise measure true to 820, measuring a straight line from end to end, same for a raceface aeffct 780.

and i highly recommend 820s. I figured i will try them and probably cut them down… never wanted to cut them down. I am 188cm with 1:1 ape index.

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Monty, you freakin' stoner!

BansheeRune said:

Monty, you freakin' stoner!

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It gets worse, check my dropper lever thread 🤙

CanmoreBruce said:

I used to run 780, then got 800, now have 820. I’m happy with 820 but I ain’t small. There are 3 spots on my local trails where I need to be careful of the trees. Sometimes I remember, and sometimes it hurts!

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I manufacture bars on a tiny scale, and I have local trails where the trees are very close together, this is a common problem to me and I'm interested in some kind of technical solution. The purest solution is behavioral -- avoidance -- but I forget too when I get tired. I have not yet broken any knuckles, but, ouch. From a tech perspective, what do you think is the correct thing to do? Armored gloves? Grip shields? I can certainly make some grip shields and they are nothing new at all, I'm just concerned with unintended effects such as inability to let go during an over-the-bar occasion where perhaps the backside of the palm becomes trapped in the inner surface of the grip shield.

I run 780 on my FS bike and 750 on my rigid Fattie. I tend to do less agressive riding on the fat bike, and I prefer a slightly narrower bar for that.

760 Raceface Next Carbon on my:
9:zero:7 FB
Santa Cruz 5010
Santa Cruz Chameleon