Not exactly apples and oranges. Roll rides his hybrids on the roads, with roadies and I think he sets the handlebar height and reach to put him in a similar position as the roadies he rides with. So it makes sense that the distance between his hands should be similar as well. If his shoulders are 42cm wide, than sub 17" flat bars might make sense.
Why are you guys measuring your MTB bars in mm? I understand why giantcfr or Aladaar might make such a gaff but you're Americans, dammit! Going metric means the terrorists won.
Of course twitchiness is a word.
I was just trying to talk him into some dull gray bling, but I don't think he's buying it.
The fact that these bars are still in production 25 years after I bought a pair says something about the quality. The fact that my Titec 118s are long gone but I still have the steel Salsa bars they replaced says something about the relative durability.
It was so long ago, I don't remember exactly why I gave them away, but I think they got bent near the end in such a way that they no longer worked well with barends but were still usable for someone like the friend I gave them to, who didn't use barends.