Originally Posted by
feetpower
i really dont know how people ride with such narrow bars! i've tried holding my bars closer to the center clamp to see how it feels and.... it feels unstable since im concentrating a lot of my weight in a smaller area instead of distributing it across the bars. ...seriously, how do you guys have the leverage to climb when you're gripping so close to the center?
On the other hand, when you do a handsling on the track, the partner being relieved comes in at full gas with the left hand right next to the stem (and the thumb behind the bolt on the old Cinelli 1A stems when these were what we used, when they had the single bolt clamping the bars), grabs his partner's left hand with his right, and throws him to full speed while scrubbing speed on the exchange. All the time, the bike is going in a straight line (relative to the track).
So I figure it's no problem maintaining a straight line with the narrow bars.
The problem might arise when you need to steer (rather than lean) a turn. Kind of removes some options. Combine this with removing the brakes and relying solely on skid stops and you've reduced the performance envelope of the bike considerably.
L.