Handlebar question
 

I have a new awesome flat bar bike by Fuji.

As I have been riding it, I find myself wishing I had a larger range of control with the steering tube and handle. Today at some point I rode standing position and the steering is sensitive; it didnt stay as steady sideways as I would like to. This is in part the design of the bike, how I was riding etc but my gut feeling wonders.....would a wider handler bar stabilize the steering to not be as sensitive if that makes sense? Would the weight of a different handle bar help?

Thank you

Heres my bike:
Fuji Absolute 1.0 LE Flat Bar Disc Road Bike -- 2016 Performance Exclusive

I don't think so. Practice standing more. On a slightly uphill bit of road, put the bike in a big gear so that you're pedaling slowly, then stand for a while. Work on getting your upper body motion correct so that the front wheel doesn't wobble back and forth. Rock the bike only slightly and notice how the timing of your rocking has to coincide properly with your pedal downstroke to get the motion correct and easy. Try to ride on the fog line. I find it helps to keep my knee close to the top tube when the pedal on that side is near the top of the stroke.

Another thing you can play with while the bike is in that big gear: pedal seated while trying to put force on the pedals all the way around the circle, so that your upper body is completely still and again the front wheel doesn't wobble. Then try to transfer that feeling to the standing position.

Wider handlebars? Aren't they already close to 27" wide? You aren't going to find it easy to obtain wider bars than that. Anyway the earlier poster is correct. It wouldn't change anything. You bought a higher performance bicycle than the typical cruiser with lots of trail. Trail is the amount of stability built into the bicycle front end. Even if you don't take Carbonfiberboy's advice and work on drills involving out of the saddle efforts, just by riding the bike you will eventually become accustomed to the way the Fuji handles and it won't seem so twitchy to you.

Thank you. I agree with what you are suggesting.

But I think i do want my arms to a tad stretch wider (horizontally).....

Did a little pro bono research on your behalf. The bars on your Absolute come in 3 widths: 68cm, 71cm and 76cm. I'm just saying... I got mine with the 68cm bars and had the shop cut 3/4" off each end. This may, or may not mean anything at all, just saying. Just saying. But if you get from what I have said that if the shop lets you swap for a wider bar (assuming you don't already have the widest one) for free, well, alright, but if it means buying a new bar, and going through the hassle of levers and shifter swap... well I for one would not. Very much FWIW. Also FWIW, I'm 5'10", have 42cm shoulders and take a 35" shirt sleeve.

thanks yall!

So the best way to see is measure, preferably get someone else to measure your shoulder width. The bars that you get will be a little wider than shoulder with about 20-25cm. So if you have a 42cm width the widest you want the bars to be is 67cm. If you go much wider than that you will lose a lot of the control and power. Think of it as if you were doing push-ups. You are more powerful with your hands shoulder width maybe a little wider, instead of quite a bit further out.

Mistake #2 may put it in perspective.

Wow, those are WIDE.

Compare that to the average road bike bars that are 38 to 44cm wide.

Some wobbling back and forth is normal for standing & riding. Probably a few adaptations that make that helpful. Typically one pulls the side of the bike up that one is pushing the pedal down on, thus shortening the stroke, and perhaps giving some extra power using the upper body.

My last overnight tour the loaded rear end of my bike was a little heavy and felt a little loose... so it gave me excellent practice at keeping the bike in a perfect plane as I was doing standing hill climbs (which there were a lot of). But without the bags... back to the wobble.