Handllebar size and comfort
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Well, my bike is on order and should be here the third week of November, and I am thinking about things I may need to change for better fit - mainly saddle and handlebars. The bike, a Felt F85X, comes with 420/450 mm handlebars. I'm not sure why there are two numbers, perhaps center to center and outside to outside? They appear to be compact, and have a 86mm reach and 130mm drop. Seems big for me. I just measured my shoulders and they are apx 390 mm. I looked at the women's specific Felt ZW2 specs and they come with a 380mm with a 77 mm reach and 123mm drop for the bike that would be my size, so I am wondering if that is what I should be looking for in a new handlebar.
My questions are: what size (width, reach, drop) bar are you using, does it fit well, and did you deviate from the normal recommendations to get that comfortable fit? Everything I read says shoulder width, but it seems some people find wider or more narrow to be more comfortable. What is your experience?
I should add that I do have rather small hands, so the drop and reach especially concern me. Even with women's small gloves, the fingers tend to be too long, so usually I resort to children's medium or large.
Last edited by Bones8; 10-26-2014 at 06:56 AM.
2007 Trek 7.2 FX
2015 Felt F85X with Specialized Oura seat, Specialized Road Pro II handlebars, and Look Quartz pedals