Originally Posted by
Gramercy
You guys can really tell the difference in 1/2 to 1 inch in bar width? Also, how would one get a new bar? How much do they cost? I have a lot to learn, obviously. I think the bars on my bike are pretty wide and would consider getting something slightly narrower, but I don't even know if I would feel the difference. Since my frame is 58cm I think the bar width is 44cm.
An inch is 2 cm, give or take, so it's about one size bar. It's definitely noticeable, especially if you climb off one bike and climb onto another.
For me 1 cm is less noticeable, but since bars are usually made in 2 cm increments it's not like you can get the same bar in 1 cm increments. For example I found that a 41 cm bar was fine, 39 cm felt narrow to me. 40 cm is slightly narrow, 42 cm is slightly wide, 44 cm is really wide (but appealing in its own way). Mind you this is over about 25 years, from about 1988-1989 to now. In the fall/winter my thoughts veer to wider bars for more relaxed riding. In the summer I want narrow ones, optimized for the only thing I can do reasonably well on the bike aka field sprint.
1 cm is within my "tolerance" range. It's sort of like my (effective, i.e. pedal top->saddle top) saddle height - I can tell the difference if I raise/lower the saddle by a few mm, i.e. 2-3 mm. I tend to raise it a bit in the spring, then lower it in the fall, all over about a 5 mm range. That's my "tolerance" range for saddle height.