Classic & Vintage - Handlebar Width?

So I found a seatpost and a seat to throw on the old Fuji, and took it up and down the street. NICE!! Very smooth, shifts well, etc. No brakes yet:eek: But I noticed that the handlebars seemed very narrow, and I felt a bit squeezed. i realize that I'm used to riding my other bike, which has a wide, nearly straight handlebar. The bars on the Fuji may not be original; in fact I suspect that they're not. But at what point does one measure the width of a road (drop) handlebar? I'd also like bars with a bigger, more open curve. Will the wider bars have them anyway? TIA

Narrow width bars were common back in the day, usually 38 or 39 cm. I'm a little guy & don't mind since they are about what I need anyway. Wider bars are available, measure your shoulder width from the bump where your arm begins over to the other side & that dimension is a good place to start. Bars will have the size marked on them & they come with different amounts of bend, also newer ones are available with anatomic bends. Bicycle Swap meets are a good place to find cheap parts. Don

I'm sold on the Rivendell view -- go wide. I switched from a 40cm Cinelli to a 44 cm Nitto Noodle and I don't want to go back.
http://www.rivbike.com/webalog/handlebars_stems_tape/16111.html

I'm sold on the Rivendell view -- go wide. I switched from a 40cm Cinelli to a 44 cm Nitto Noodle and I don't want to go back.
http://www.rivbike.com/webalog/handlebars_stems_tape/16111.html

One day I'm going to try something like this just to see. When I was 12 (1974) I bought a Bottecchia. I loved the handlebars but of course at the time I had nothing to compare them to. In recent times I've tried numerous modern bars as well as other vintage bars, always to be disapointed. The closest I came are the Deda 215's I run on my modern Bianchi. They are great for riding the hoods or tops or for short sprints in the anatomic portion of the drops but they suffer from the same issue as all of the modern bars I've tried: the flat portion of the drop is too short and won't fit my hand. But they are 44cm and that seems about perfect. I even tried Deda's deep bend (non-anatomic) bar but they also have relatively short handles on the drops. Most other vintage bars the bend isn't deep enough and it I position them so the the drops are at the right angle then the brakes/hoods end up too far forward and at a weird angle. My current 1972 Bottecchia has the old bars I knew and loved but they are narrow. I want bars exactly like them but in 44cm (at least). These Nitto Classic bars [http://www.velo-orange.com/niclba.html] at Velo-Orange seem pretty darned closed but I'm an OCP :) and I can't deal with the Nitto logo on the sleeve for my Italian bikes. I just picked up an old Panasonic touring bike though so I might try them on it just to see if I like them.

Both links are bookmarked. Lookin' good!

ETA: Judging from how I fit on my other bike, I think I'm looking at 44.