Originally Posted by
grolby
Look up a picture of track racers doing a madison sling, and make a note of where the slinger's left hand is: on the bar tops next to the stem. This is because they can put a lot of pull on the bar from that position without moving the front wheel very much, which would obviously be a problem.
Two hands on the bar is a very different proposition than one. When slinging, the objective is to
not steer the bike.
A better model is modern mountain bikes. The greater the need for stability, the wider the bars seem to get.