Thinking about cutting the width of the handlebars on my hybrid. I have to agree with some of the comments on the Aero thing in the thread about hybrid vs road bike.
They measure 25.5" wide. 1" off each side does not seem like it would be too much. LBS advised against it. I don't think it would adversely affect anything.
I'm sure some one has done this. How did it work out?

I did it on a mountain bike. Worked out fine. You may want to start with 1/2" cuts at the most, just in case.

Ditto. Couple of mtn bike bars, riser and flat here. Turned out fine both times. Same advice.

What reason did your LBS people give for not advising this? I've seen some Easton(?) flatbars in my LBS that have cutting marks inscribed right on the bars. When we bought our Raleigh Coupe tandem it came stock with 25" wide Truvativ flatbars. I substituted 27" wide Truvativ riser bars and had the LBS cut an inch off each end before I even saw the bike. This was no fancy bike shop with a guru chanelling Sheldon Brown in the back but they could cut an inch off the end of some aluminum handlebars without too much trouble. Personally I say go for it and cut off an inch. You won't even feel 1/2" enough to know whether you are going in the right direction or not. Just to be clear though... cutting your bars will not do terribly much for your aero. Road bikes get their aero from the way they position your torso when you are on the hoods and in the drops. You can have crazy narrow flat-bars like the hipsters rock, and if they are sitting up at seat height or higher... you'll still be slow.

H

I know I'll still be slow! It will take much more than a change in handlebars to do anything about that!The bars are at seat height. The torso position affects the aero much more than the position of the arms. However, if you ride along with hands on the outside of the bars and then move them inboard a couple of inches, you can notice a small jump in the speed. Nothing drastic, but an improvement never the less. Its
also easier to keep your elbows tucked in a bit, which also helps.

LBS acted like losing the "leverage" was a bad thing. Maybe on a mtb, I could see it. Just does not seem like a big deal my city bike.

Will a regular tubing cutter do the job?

If your bars are alloy, a plumber's tubing cutter will work. The last handlebars I needed to trim were steel. And since my golden retriever loves to walk to the hardware store and hang out there, we took the handlebar to where Clint Eastwood shopped. $1 per cut, $2 total, done. Jeremy even filed the burrs. If your local hardware store does screens or sells iron pipe by the foot, they likely have an abrasive chop saw out back.

I cut the bars to move between cars more easily. No problem. Used an angle grinder, then sand paper to make the cuts smoother.

When i want aero I tuck in and grab the bars near the head tube.

i chopped down the flat bar on both my folder and my hybrid after i came to the conclusion that wide bars are uncomfortable for me. in both cases i took ~2" off each side. on my dahon folder i went from 23.5" down to 20", and on my hybrid i went from 25" down to 21". both times i just went to my local bike co-op and used a hack-saw with a special jig to make straight, even cuts, and then filed down the burrs. pretty straight-forward and easy. those changes might sound small, just a couple inches here or there, but it makes a very noticeable difference.

i am very pleased with the results, i don't know why your LBS would recommend against it.

To me it's all about comfort. I always felt pain in the neck/shoulders and thought my fit was not perfect. Then someone on this forum suggested I try a wider handle bar and it improved my situation a lot.
So if you're comfortable with a shorter handle bar go ahead.

I've done it before as well. I would suggest loosening the brake levers and shifters then sliding them toward the center of the bar to see how much you can actually cut (depending on the bars, the bends may limit how far they can slide). Once you figure that out, cut whatever you want up to that amount.

Your LBS is full of BS. Cut them down. You can make a decent guide with hose clamps. A perfect cut is not important since the ends presumably will be covered. Cutting your steerer requires more presicion. I prefer wider bars, but if I was riding between cars more often, I'd lop off a couple inches.

Thanks for the replies. The bars are alloy and I have a tubing cutter so, it should not be a big deal.

I will have to change my mirror. The mirycle I have mounted below the bar, will be moved inboard to the point that my leg will block my view. The pivot that the round mirror is attached to only moves up and down. It needs to be on a ball and socket. Just saw what I needed in a post here a couple days ago. One of the bar ends from peter white looks like it will work perfectly. This is actually what rekindled my interest in cutting down the bars. I may try 1 inch on the first cut and 1/2" increments after that. Will post the results.

Did the deed after I got home from work today. Was no biggie at all. Alloy bars, the pipe cutter, couple of licks with a file, and then some cloth-backed sandpaper, very easy. Took off 1.25" on each side. I really felt like I needed something more than an inch as I had been moving my hand position for a couple of days, just to try and get a "feel" for where it seemed right.

Took it for a 4mi test run and I really like the results. I played with the mirrycle mirror and even got it worked out so I don't need to buy another mirror.

Thanks for the encouragement and advise.

Likely for this reason (Present on most new bike warranties):
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-us/page/175/#question2

"ALL WARRANTIES ARE VOID IF THE BICYCLE IS MODIFIED FROM ITS ORIGINAL CONDITION"

Likely the only reason.

Before switching to touring bars, I was running a 580mm (22.8 in) flat bar from Performance, wasn't cut down. There's no problem with cutting your bars down, this is a case where you can safely ignore your LBS. The only thing to pay attention to is the diameter of the bars where the brake and shift levers will clamp down, but you're only talking about an inch on each side, which is nothing. I also recommend a good pipe cutter for an even cut, and if that's not available, a hacksaw with a good blade.

In my case I have riser bars on my KHS, and the bends in the bar will not allow my shifters to move any farther inboard then they already are. The bends interfere with the gear position indicators (old Shimano XT 3x8 trigger shifters).