So my existing bar is a lauf smoothie bar. Reach is 80mm. Backsweep of 3 degrees. And drop of 125 mm. This is the bar I had with my bike fitting done with. My main issue is the drop of 125 mm. I can’t say I’m the most flexible and don’t feel like I need to be uber aero.

so I got a ritchey wcs venture max. It has 75mm reach. 102mm drop. 4.6 degree backsweep. The drop is very nice. What seemed odd on my first ride with it was the bars seemed too close to me. More than I would expect a 5mm difference compared to my old bars. The tops felt too close making me ride oddly upright. The hoods also felt too close.

so I’m wondering how many mm difference a backsweep difference if 1.6 degrees would be between the bars. The one thing I screwed up with ordering the bars is I ordered a size 42 accidentally instead of 44. I assume wider bars have an affect on reach?

I’m trying to figure out if I order the size 44 bars will that make a difference in reach. My current stem is 90mm. So I could put on a 100mm stem. My concern is my lauf bars have a 80mm reach and that’s pretty good for the hoods. So if I put on the 44 venture bars and a 100mm stem that would put the reach 5mm more but that doesn’t factoring in the backsweep difference.

I don’t know if I’m making sense or just rambling.

any suggestions? Get the size 44 bar and slap on the 100mm stem? Honestly I wish the lauf bar just had a shallower drop