What a difference 4 cm make! (handlebars)

Just took my Surly out for a quick ride in the rain. First time I've ridden on the 38cm Salsa Pocos (thanks PLL!) that I switched for my 42cm Salsa Bell Laps.

Delicious! :D

Gone was the sense that I was "muscling" the bars or that the steering was a little twitchy or awkward.

Smooth as silk and ever-so-comfortable!

Andy Pruitt talks about how everyone has a range of a couple cms or so that they can have the bike fit and be happy. 42 cm bars must be just beyond my "range". (I switched 42 cm Cinellis to 40 cm Salsa Short-n-Shallows on my other bike, same sense of blissful fit.)

Thank you to everyone who helped me with the levers, and thanks to Trek420 for picking the bar tape color.

And the bar tape color is?????? Better yet, post a pic!

Yellow. So my black bike with yellow bars will match her yellow bike with black bars. And it's bright and visible and fairly uncommon.

I'll post a picture one of these days.

great Knot!

I'd rather see your bike in person but a photo would be nice.

Photo, with flash making all the reflective stuff (including my helmet, which is also yellow) bright.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...t/DSCN0514.jpg

Looks great. Like the Ortliebs. I had the opposite problem. I increased my bar width by 4cm and now I am so much more comfortable. Didn't realize it could make such a difference!

I had 42s when I built my old bike. My new one came with 38s. It has definitely been an adjustment and I'm not sure I like the narrower bars. I have pretty wide shoulders and I'm thinking I'll split the difference and put on 40s whenever I get the energy to tear the bike apart.

Four cm, hah. Reference the discussions about crankarm length if you want to know how much difference 2.5 mm make. :D