Originally Posted by
Moisture
I dont see any improvement in balance or geometry, especially not when I can't even fit the damn bike through singletrack without nearly hitting every tree.
I can manage with it just fine, I can sort of see how the geometry is designed for it, but I'd much rather not.
I guess I would ask whether all the other people who use those trails with modern bars are hitting every tree. If not, it's a skills problem and not an inherent fault if the bar.
Again, it's ok not to want wide bars. Just that, the further one goes down the technical mtb route, the more they make sense and work. If the trails you ride don't require them yet, you don't "need " them.