Flat bars: how wide?

[KnottedYet]

My beloved Kona Dew, the $400 bike with the $100 pedals, turns 3 months next week. So, it gets to go back to Recycled Cycles for it's check-up and tune-up.

Now, I won't belabor the obvious difficulty the commuter-mobile has been having due to stretching cables and such. Growing pains. I can dig it.

I've got bigger fish to fry... or wider fish.

Those darn flat bars are wide enough for Bigfoot! If I close my eyes and just reach out to grab, I have 2-3 inches on each side to get rid of. I know that drop bars are supposed to be the same width as your shoulders, is the same true for flat bars?

I was thinking of having the guys hack off 1 1/2 inches from each side, thinking that I can always chop off more later if I need to. Cutting off too much might not be cool.

Anybody have any tips or tricks with flat bars?

[SadieKate]

I assume you are talking about the type of bars that come on mountain bikes? Are these truly flat bars or are these riser bars? Flat bars typically are 23" wide but they can be found wider. Riser bars will come much, much wider for downhill mtbikers. They all can be cut down.

I used to use flat bars 22" wide because that was the standard years ago. I discovered I liked a wider bar because I wanted the slower steering of a wide bar. My XC mtbike has a flat bar 23.5" with bar ends. My freeride bike has no bar ends and a riser bar 25" wide.

To give you a size comparison, I am 5'3" with somewhat broad shoulders.

I am putting a new flat bar (Salsa Pro Moto) on my cyclocross bike which is set up as my townie. I'll cut it down to the same 23.5" width as my XC mtbike.

This best advice I can give you is to consider the breadth of your shoulders and the steering (narrower makes it faster; wider makes really tight turns and narrow spaces harder).

[KnottedYet]

Here's my critter:
http://www.konaworld.com/shopping_cart/FrontEnd/Products/product_detail.aspx?productid=346&parentid=253

The bar is a "Kona Riser", but it's a pretty low riser. The bar is a honkin' 25 inches long! (measured straight across end-to-end) Why on earth they put a bar like your freeride on a commuter bike, I don't know. If I chop off my 1 1/2 inches from each end, it'll end up the 22 inches you're describing.

I'm 5'8 with monster-wide shoulders. I have a hard time finding women's tops to fit my wide shoulders and long arms. But I am not comfortable with these wide bars.

I never measured my bars on my recumbent, or my Trek Fast Track, or my Diamondback, or my Raliegh, or my Nishiki... I'm sure I'm missing some bikes in this list. What's that Waylon Jennings or Willie Nelson song? "To all the Bikes I've loved before"? ;)

Sounds like I'm pretty safe cutting the bars down to 22 inches. Thanks!

[SadieKate]

22? Why don't you try 23 or 23.5 first? You can always cut again. It is very easy. Remember that your cables will all be resized to fit and it is easier to make stuff shorter but not longer.

I've been migrating away from the old 22" standard. It feels very narrow and I'm much smaller than you.

[KnottedYet]

I've been going by the amount sticking out when I put my hands where they "want" to be. Which I can't do when I'm riding, cuz my hands "want" to be on the shifter housing. That leaves a whole lot sticking out beyond my hands. I suppose I should take it easy and only get an inch taken off each end. See how it feels when I actually ride on the shorter bar.

Ah, me, I want instant gratification!:rolleyes:

Thanks for the voice of reason!

[fatbottomedgurl]

Knotted: I laughed at the description of you bike. I ride a $350 Diamond back with $100 pedals and an $80 seat. Now I am going out for a ride, but first am going to measure my bars!

[Geonz]

I got my bars whacked when I bought my 7500FX at the advice of the LBS guy who had ridden one. Only problem was when somebody gave me some bar ends and they took up an inch and my hands wouldn't fit.
I have PUNY shoulders though... it really is very easy to get them hacked off so I'd take off an inch and try it first. It's a lot harder to lengthen them.