Bicycle Mechanics - Bike fit question: straight handlebar width

I recently put bar ends on my straight handlebar road bike (Sirrus), and when I use them, I catch alot of wind, because my arms have to go significantly out to the sides. I'd like to chop down the 'bars so that the bar ends are more similarly far apart as the brake hoods on my drop-bar road bike (17 inches).

But you know, once you cut them, you can't uncut them. I wonder if there are any guidelines (other than personal preference) concerning how narrow is too narrow for a straight handlebar. I guess handling gets twitchier the narrow it gets.

Or has anyone ever put bar ends not on the ends, but somewhere inboard, so when you grab them, your hands are closer together?

i personally would cut them so that they're slightly wider than my shoulders, plus a couple of inches.

that's not to say i'll come round and cut them for you personally, but i'm sure you know what i mean. :D

1. Slide your brake levers, shifters, bar ends and anything else that you have on your handlebars inward as far as you can. Make sure that everything still works because sometimes shifters bind up if they are clamped on a curve. That's as much as it's functionally possible to narrow your bars.

2. You can always trim a little off and, if you still don't like it, cut off a little more. Practically, I've found that 3/4" has been about the max for me which still leaves them significantly wider than my road bars. My road bikes have bars that measure 18 1/2" to 19" wide outside-to-outside. My mountain and flat bar beaters measure 21 1/2" to 22".

If your bars turn back towards the end, the bar ends will be pointing outwards which will make them even wider. Twisting the bar around can reduce the backward sweep. I cut about an inch off the ends of my atriaght bars with no problem and set the bar-ends low so they provided a riding position close to "on the hoods"

There's no reason you can't mount the bar ends on the inside of the bar as long as they don't interfere with your brakes and shifters. Typically, the idea for bar ends is to use them for leverage when climbing, so they don't always work well for an "aero" position. You might want to look for some bullhorn style time trial bars with a bit of drop like these:

http://www3.big.or.jp/~number-1/Image.NittoRB021.gif

EDIT: on second look, those don't have much room on the tops, but there are bars made that have useful space on both the tops and horns.

OK, per RetroGrouch I shoved the brakes/shifters 1.5 inches inward on both sides, and everything still functions fine. I'm going to ride like that for a little while before I start chopping.

The Profile Design Stoker 26 looks about right in a TT-ish bar.