I'm trimming out an old mixte frame as a commuter. I like the flat bar look on new urban/commuter bikes. When I went to source a bar there's quite a range of lengths. Is there a standard width/length for the straight-flat bikes? If you have flat bars on your commuter, how long are they?

there's no real correct answer as it comes down to personal preference. i prefer a bar on the narrower end as opposed to the wider end because i ride in a lot of congested city traffic and narrower bars help me filter to the front of the pack easier.

i've got two flat bar bikes. my scott SUB 10 has a 21" flat bar, and my dahon folder now has a 19" flat bar (just chopped it down, see thread about it)

I have weak shoulders. A wide bar can be fatiguing for me. I rode a metric century on a wide bar, and I was aching. It was fine for commuting, though. And I would probably grow used to it.

There's no standard width, but 58cm (22.8 inches) is very common. I find that too wide, however, and my two flat bar bikes have had their bars trimmed down to 50cm (19.7 inches) which I find far more comfortable and aerodynamic.

They should be as long as necessary to keep you in control of the bike.

I usually like my bars in the 24-25" range.

Now that I'm attending night classes I'm rollin' 17" bars. So much easier getting in/out of crowded bike racks. Now I curse anyone with wide bars


skinny bars by Lester Of Puppets, on Flickr

The handlebars I got for my bikes came in 24" and I cut them down to 21". More comfortable for me since I have narrow shoulders.

Well, slide the grips inward, ride it a while, see what is comfortable for you.
then you will know.

riser bars have built in limits , because the control levers will only go so far inward.

they come a given length, but you don't have to leave them as they are manufactured.

Many people use flats that are too wide. If your arms triangulate out, you tend to lock your elbows and ride more stiffly.
Try finding your natural grip width: find a section of broomhandle or pipe. Take hold of one end with one hand, swing it up and catch the other end in an easy, natural grip. Do this several times and measure the width. I use the web of the hand (thumb/finger gap) as my index point. It is roughly the same as your shoulder width (centre to centre)
Flat bars are not a natural hold, they introduce some torsion to the wrist. More relaxed bars have some sweep back. I switched to On-One Mary bars.

28"

Thanks to everyone who responded. That's a lot of good advice.

This conversion is for the wife. She's smallish across the shoulders and has complained OEM the re-curved bars always have made steering feel "twitchy". They're 500mm/19-3/4", so maybe a little more length is in order; 22"/560mm?

Also, I've tried to slow the ("twitchy") steering by changing to a wider tire with a flatter profile; Conti 28 X 1-3/8 X 1-5/8. You can see it in the photo. I'll use the same on the rear when the derailleur & freewheel are replaced with a coaster hub (her preference).

^ the narrower the bar, the twitchier the handling, that's just physics. however, if your wife does have very narrow shoulders, you might want to be careful about going too wide with a new bar because, as MichaelW pointed out, when arms are spread too wide from the shoulders people tend to ride with their elbows locked. this is a bad idea because a locked elbow can get stiff and sore. best practice is to always have some degree of bend in your elbow regardless of what handle bar style you're using.

That stubby stem helps add to twitchiness.

I'm gonna guess by the setup that she's riding that fairly upright. This adds to twitchiness also, cuz there will hardly be any weight on the front end thus the unweighted front wheel is free to flop around all willy-nilly.

Good call on the stem length... I don't have another is the parts bin but should be able to source one with a 90-100mm reach easily.

I, too, noted that her seat height was low and asked if the LBS had set it up that way (30 some years ago). She was uncertain, but did say she remebered riding upright and slowly and never changing gears. I'll try raising the seat and see if she enjoys a more ergonomic riding position.

We're going to do the broomstick exercise that MichaelW suggested to determine a bar width.