Mountain Biking - Bar width?

What is a good bar width in inches for a hardtail cross country bike? I know that bar width is an important issue for a road bike (max comfort and breathing balanced with being aero). With a road bike, my former coach recommended a bar the width of your shoulder bones. I believe he was right as I went wider than he spec'd and was arm hurting but I sure could breathe well, lol. I went narrower to his spec and found the best of all worlds. Same with a mountain bike bar? My bar is pretty dang wide (arms feel spread out too far) and I was considering cutting off about 2 inches per end. I tend to grip the bar inwards that far now, so I figure the cuts would be good. Handling issues? Thanks.

i ride both 22 and 23 inches, i prefer the 23" bar though.

i run mine at 23 inches, i have narrow sholders. but this is what feels right to me.

Here's what I did for my wife. Took about an hour of testing, adjusting, riding, re-adj...etc.


I measured her shoulders and compared that to the width of the handlebars. The bars were about 1.5" wider, so I set the grips/shifters so the outside of the grip was 1" wider than her shoulder measurement. I then put on a pair of bar ends, but told her not to use them. She tried that around a quick loop.

I then set her grips so the shoulder width was the outside of the grip.

I then moved the grips and bar ends in-bound of this another 1/2".

Turns out that she "Felt" best with the grips set 3/4" inside of her shoulder width. Then and only after riding for a little while in this position did I cut the handlebars. (Measure Twice, Cut Once!).

Just took some trial and error to find that "sweet spot".

L8R

Great measuring method--my junior high woodshop teacher used to say that about measuring and cutting. thanks!

People say that MTB bars should be high for an upright position, and wide for better control, but if you look at how competant cx riders set their race MTBs up, the bars are pretty low and the width is quite narrow. Looked at from the front, their arms are curved out at the elbows and in at the hands, to form a shock-absorbing bow or spring.
Novice riders tend to ride with very wide bars, which triangulate their arms out, preventing any shock absorption.
One advantage of flat bars over drops, is that you can adjust the width without much trouble. Move the contols inboard a bit, and tape up the bar to test a hand positon.

Michaelw, thats one resson i have my narrow. locked arms are no good.

Originally posted by MichaelW

Novice riders tend to ride with very wide bars, which triangulate their arms out, preventing any shock absorption.

I don't know how far you'll get with this theory/generalization.

All three of my mtbs have wider bars. Two have the Titec flat tracker, and the third has the Titec hellion, all 3 measure 25.2" wide. Once one bike had a wider bar, I hated riding the others with narrow bars.

In the end, though, it is personal preference.

A

widish 42.5 cm shoulders but use 22" bars to bow my arms. much more comfortable and better for control onmy HT.
Triangulated positions that Risers promote are no good unless they're narrow enough to allow a bowed arm position.
Don't see many people do this though.

http://www.anthonysloan.com/rockville/as2.jpg

25.2

Mine are 27 1/2" wide. Being a motocrosser I went with the widest bars that I could get. In the world of dirt bikes, wider = more high speed control. Narrow = quicker turning and clearance in tight, east coast woods type of riding. As far as shock absorbtion goes, it's about keeping your elbows up regardless of your handlebar width.

I think the wider bar craze was started buy DH and FR riders. I have a narrow bar because I need it on the local single track.

The problem with this thread is it isolates bar width from all of the other important fit variables. Stem length/rise. Bar rise/sweep. Even proper frame fit. Heck, even riding style and terrain.

Wider bars work quite well for a lot of people.

I think it is misinformation to imply that they are any better or worse than a narrow bar. Bar width should be ust one out of many factors in cockpit set up.

I'm running a 23" flatbar but I have barends which soak up a bit of room at the ends so my effective width is around 21".

Most of the bars I go to have about 30 to 38 inches wide. Beer taps usually in the middle and stools all around!

L8R

Singlespeedster, that is a great point about the various factors of fit. Fortunately, I have the others figured out already. I went with a 3 degree bar 580mm in length. The 24 inch stock steel behemoth bar has a 6 degree sweep. That sweep compressed me in the cockpit a bit much and had my wrists a bit tweaked (I was always creeping my hands inward to a flatter part of the bar). My old bar width was ok but I knew it could be better. I noticed this after getting my road bike pro-fitted so now I am more sensitive to good bike ergo. Thanks for your thoughtful input.