silly question, but are vintage bike handlebars shorter than modern day road bike handlebars? What were the standard handlebar lengths for vintage bikes and modern day bikes?

If you're talking about width as you stated in the thread title, I'm fairly certain older bars are narrower than modern bars. I have a couple of bars from 70/80s bikes that measure 38cm or similar, and my modern bars measure 44cm or similar. You can find newer style bars in narrower sizes, but they're less common and you'll likely have to order new if you want them. As for the flat of the bars to front of curve measurements, that seems to have decreased as well for popular bar styles. It keeps a more consistent posture/stretch when switching between bar positions.

Not a silly question at all. One of the first things I swap out on a vintage bike is the handlebars. From the 60's and 70's the bars were somewhere around 38cm. I rode with 38's for years and I am a typical broad shouldered Chicagoan.

Wasn't until the 80's that I was able to find 40cm bars. What a revelation. The comfort was much improved. Then I got 42cm bars and again greater comfort. Now 44-46 is pretty common.

To throw another factor into the mix, I recently acquired a vintage Raleigh Super Course. It has what I believe is referred to as a Maes bend bar. It has a long reach, (long ramps), on the top of the bars. Measuring 36cm wde at the brake levers and 39 at the drop ends, I find them extremely comfortable. The long ramps give me multiple hand positions between the flat of the bar and the brake levers.

Not only the widths, but the curves, bends, and drop height too have changed. A lot of folks enjoy the "anatomical" geometries and wider bars. Like many of us, I rode 38's forever, never knowing there was an option (because, in all practicality, there wasn't!) My early Cinelli bars were wider and I didn't realize at the time that was what I enjoyed about them... I just knew that I liked them better than any others I'd had up to that time. Later, when the Cinelli bars became available in still wider configurations, and then other bars started to pop up similarly so, I found I could experiment and find my ideal width. I now enjoy riding 44s on classic road bar geometry, and 48s on the VO rando bar geometry (effectively measures about 44 on the tops, 48 on the drops due to the slant.) I still have my original Cinelli bars, by the way, and they still feel good to me. Narrow French bars, however, look great on the bikes but I seldom ride them for lengthy miles.

If you had good bike shops, you had a choice of variations on both Maes and Randonneur bars with different length drops and different widths to accommodate different shoulder width so you didn't have bars too small for your hands and bars to narrow for shoulder width . That would constrict your ability to breathe.

Very true. What I meant to say, and should have been clearer, is that I - like many others - had limited local options available.

The shift to wider bars had certainly taken place by the mid-80s. When I built a "serious racing" bike from scratch then, I followed all the current lore regarding sizing, and for bars that was to get ones measuring about as wide as the distance between one's acromia, the bony protuberances of the scapulae extending out over the shoulders. I ended up with 44 cm Cinelli Campione del Mondos Mod. 66. I still ride 44 cm bars, but I'm happy with 42 too. The bike I had before that was a Schwinn Sierra (bought used) from 1963, and I didn't pay much attention to the bar width. It was a very tall frame, but probably had 38 or 40 cm bars.

Fast forward to the present, and current bars I see people riding seem to be set higher than TdF "style models" back in the day. The drop of bars has decreased a lot (compare Mod. 66 to current "anatomic" ones), with all that kinkiness going on from the ramps on down -- call me old fashioned.

There's a lot of talk about how many hand positions a bar offers. I agree that this is important, but differ from others, perhaps, in how that's achieved. As someone unabashed to acknowledge that I hardly ever use the drops (what the hell are they there for? maybe to hold bar-end shifters), I find that I greatly prefer "criterium" bend bars that slope from tops down to hoods more gradually than most bars. For me, this offers the greatest choice of hand positions -- fingers both wrapped over bar and behind the bar in a couple locations before I get to the hoods. Most of my riding is done with hands close to the hoods, or grasping them. So, I prefer the Cinelli 65, Nitto 155 (rare), and I tried and disliked the Nitto Noodle, which has a kink transition where I like a smooth one.

I am tall with broad shoulders and I don't like narrow bars, but I like vintage bikes
The only Cinelli bend that was made wide was Campione del Mondo (model 66), it's biggest size was 42, hence 66-42.
66-42 from 1970s is rare, narrow trends of the time and the fact that many shops stocked the more popular Giro de Italia (mod 62) are adding to the rarness of wider bars. But think big, look at photos of Eddy Merckx - he knew what he was doing.

https://www.43bikes.com/cinelli-bars-stems.html

If you would like the more common Giro de Italia bend, you will have to go all the way to the mid 80s? or 90s to get it in wider than 40 cm.

A note. Cinelli model numbers vary over time.

I have a 66-42 on my bike, which is officially "too wide" for my relatively narrow shoulders, but I like it. It's too deep, so I don't spend much time on the drops.

When I rode a bike where I was bent over and the bars were much wider, I finished the ride with achy shoulders. So there is a practical limit to handlebar width if you're not going to be upright.

they even came in junior sizes- now quite difficult to come by.

I have 2 pairs 3ttt 34cm! the horns are even a tighter radius for smaller hands

cool thank for the info.

so how is the width measured? is it from the outside edge of the ends, the middle or the inner edge? Because a 38 cm will become a 42 cm depending how you measure the length. I measured my shoulder and it's 40-42 cm bone to bone. Should I get the 42 cm handlebars?

also, this one has dimension 31.8x42 cm, what does 31.8 mean?

is 31.8 in mm? the diameter of the clamp section of the handlebar? That hasn't changed over the years has it?

From what I understand, both center-to-center and outside-to-outside are used by some, and the specification can vary between manufacturers.

Tricky, huh?

I'm far from an expert, but I've heard that most companies currently use c-t-c measurements. I've heard Deda mentioned as one that measures outside-to-outside.

For vintage stuff, I think 3TTT did that too (outside to outside), and Cinelli measured c-t-c...thus Cinelli bars are wider than what might appear to be the same size 3TTT bars (i.e. in numbers).

Could be wrong about that, though.

The one good thing about modern bike geometry/brifters, is the broader choice of drop bars. The anatomic bars, wider, shallow drops, and flatter tops for brifters, all provide welcomed combinations for fit and comfort especially for us less flexible types. 38cm bars of the past were simply too narrow for everyday riding, and IMHO, North Americans were a bit broader than our European/Asian counterparts. These days, there is parity, and wide bars are accepted.
42cm is my road bike size. The 'cross' bike got a 44cm bar, but I find the drop excessive. I now like a shallow drop compared to my old Cinelli bars.

can I assume that my vintage bikes have 25.4 mm stem clamps?

Heh, heh . . . Yes, the 31.8 is the size of the barrel that fits in the stem. Since decades ago, barrel size has been all over the map. Vintage French bikes/stems used 25.0 mm, the English did a lot of 25.4 (one inch), older Cinelli was 26.4, later changed to 26.0 to match what other manufacturers (Nitto, Modolo, 3TTT?) were and are producing, which was (or is?), I believe, an ISO standard. Now bars, like frame tubes, have gone the oversize route, so 31.8 and who knows what else are "current." It's always important to measure stems and bars (or have potential sellers verify these) before buying.

The OEM handlebars that came on '71-'78 Sports Tourers, Super Sports, Sprints and Continentals (Schwinn p/n 55 123) were made by Gerry Burgess and marked "GB British Made" near one end. Starting in '74 and later they also had stamped mmyy date codes. These were 42cm wide nominal, however I've measured them anywhere from 41cm to 44cm. The later SR randonneur bars used by Schwinn were 42cm wide. These all had a 25.4mm (1") stem clamp diameter.

my bike uses a NITTO-OLYMPIADE-B114. I've seen most nitto handlebars in 26 mm, but there are some in 25.4 mm. I'm going out on a limb and assume it's 26.

that's it, no more curve balls.
------

scratch that, it's 25.4...

^ More tricky stuff. And worth measuring, rather than assuming .

On the bright side, not hard to find something in 25.4. At least it's not 26.4...

+1. Measure, don't assume. 25.4, 26.0, 26.4 all look the same, but are not compatible.

Bars historically came in 38 or 40 only, at least in my lifetime. I personally don't recall having difficulty finding 40. Cinelli 66 were available in 42 but rare. These days getting dropped bars much wider is no problem. A lot of people like the Noodles. They come up to 48 cm. I haven't tried them myself.

https://www.rivbike.com/products/nitto-noodle-handlebar

No.

as noted, always measure!

but... this was such a common issue that Nitto makes a shim to fit 25.4mm bars into stems made for 26.0mm bars...
https://www.rivbike.com/products/nit...-to-26-0-16095

Steve in Peoria

Great topic and discussion and another area where n+1 gets costly as I have found that most every vintage bike I buy and want to ride eventually gets new bars, saddle, stem and sometimes seatpost. I just did a search on ebay to source a wider French bar, not happenin' outside the 40cm Philippe Franco Italia's that came on the bike. I also now have a box of vintage narrow bars. Nitto Classic bars #115 come in 45cm at the drops and measure 42 at the hoods and are on three of my vintage bikes, probably soon to be a fourth.

And there is a Sunlite one for $2.27.

Just one more reason to add a set of calipers to your toolbox if you're into vintage bikes. Handlebar diameters, stem sizes, seat posts, so many sizes!