Anyone use 38cm bars?

[SR500]

Just had a bike fitting, everything was close, but switched me to a 38 cm Salsa bar from a 42 (I believe) as I have a mens frame. Seems ok, but is taking a little to get use to. Anyone else use narrow bars?

[kaybee]

I do. When I got my Giant, I had a set of 38 Salsa bars put on it. They did seem very narrow at first, but after a ride or two, I became very comfortable with them. When I got my Ruby last month, I noted that she came with 40 cm bars, so I decided to try them, since there was *only* a 2 cm difference. That 2 cm difference was enough to bring back the old "achy arm syndrome," so I had the LBS put the Salsa bars Ruby.

KB

[GLC1968]

I do!

My old bike had 44cm bars and they were WAY too wide (though I had no idea until I came here to TE!). I was going to change them but then I ended up with a new bike all together.

My new bike came with 38cm bars and what a huge difference! All the constant upper body pain is completely gone!!

[Kathi]

I went from 38 to 34's. I really like the smaller size. The bike handling is much better and with these I can reach the brakes from the drops, big plus.

[mimitabby]

my new bianchi has 36's but I think a 38 is a better fit for me. The men's bars are HUGE!!!!

[yellow]

I have narrow bars and love them.

Just don't try to put too much "stuff" on there! If I put my aero bars on, then I don't really have anywhere comfy to put my hands (even the line to the hoods gets messed up). So they can't stay on. Kind of a pain but oh well.

[Geonz]

I didn't get 'em measured, but when I got the 7500FX my LBS dude hacked off the ends of the bars. I have skinny shoulders. I don't know if it was wider or is skinnier than my other bikes.

It did mean when I put bar ends on, I couldn't fit my hands on the grips any more... had to do some adjusting. (I have fairly big hands.)

[ridebikeme]

There have been some great websites listed here for information. The skinny about all of this is that the width of the handlebars should match the width of your shoulders....not only can it alleviate some of the problems listed here, it also puts you in a position to open up your lungs a bit more. Have fun!

[Triskeliongirl]

This question doesn't mean much if people don't also tell you their shoulder measurements. While I have relatively long femurs and a short upper body, so do better on a bike with women's geometry, I have broad shoulders so prefer wider bars (WSD is not one size fits all). My shoulders are 40 cm, and my favorite bars are 41 cm, nitto noodles. My first drop bar bike had 37 cm bars, much too narrow for me, so I moved up to a 40 which I liked much better. Then on my most recent bike I fell in love with the way the nitto noodle felt to my hands, but the smallest it came in is 41 so I tried it and like it even more, opens my chest up a bit more for breathing. Also be aware that some manufacturers measure their bars center to center and others end to end, and some bars flare a bit so the center to center and hood to hood measurement isn't always the same either (like on my noodles, center to center is 41 but hood to hood is 40).