Bar Width
 

I am trying to get back into cycling after a 20 year hiatus. I have a road bike I like a lot with Al frame, CF fork and rear triangle and 105. I am also buying an inexpensive hybrid for foul weather riding and trips to the store. The stock flat bar on the hybrid looks terribly wide for what I remember on my last hybrid and mountain bike. How do you decide on a right bar width? The mountain bike racers look like they are using wider bars than 20 years ago.

I used to like bar ends on my mountain bike. It doesn't look like they are common anymore. What do people think around putting them on a hybrid?

BTW, I'm a definite Clydesdale. 6'2" 280. (Down from >330).

Congratulations. You have a lot of great times ahead of you.

Yep. Back in the old days.... bars were much narrower than today. You'll quickly get used to it.

I am not a Mountain bike rider myself. But the bar ends do seem to have fallen from popularity.

Many road cyclist also Mtn Bike. You may want to consider jumping into the Mtn bike thing now... and forego the hybrid. .

Right bar width is easy to find. Just slide your grip inside just little bit and do a test drive. Keep sliding inside until you feel comfortable with it. Do a mark with a pen and then cut off the rest of the bar.

If its a stock bar i do recommend to buy a new one and grips to it. And buy little wider than you think about so you can start to cut down to preferred widht. Ofc if you know what width you'd like you can buy one if you find right width.

Not sure if all bars can be cut. But there is at least a few with cutting marks.

Some bars are definitely wider than they were years ago. There are, of course, pros and cons to wider (and narrower) bars. It really comes down to what you feel is comfortable. My '90s MTB had a 58cm flat bar and my current hybrids have 58-65cm bars. MTBs in particular, though, have up to 80cm bars.

You can definitely put bar ends on a hybrid. I have a '90s Trek hybrid with some classy silver aluminum bar ends -- they look very period correct and are super comfortable. I have them angled pretty far forward (compared with how many use bar ends), so they feel like riding on the hoods, except they're much higher and much farther apart (about 58cm instead of something like 42cm).

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1760/...6d82f3ee_b.jpg
IMG_20180606_200702082 by jnjadcock, on Flickr

Bar width trend in the mountain bike world is toward wider bars and shorter stems. Some of that trend may have spilled into the design of hybrids. Here's a video that shows a couple of ideas for honing in on the right width:


Different disciplines of riding will also prefer narrower or wider as the case may be, and individual riders have their own preferences.

I think the handlebar width on the Trek FX bikes is ideal for hybrids, or is at least a good start for finding the ideal bar width. The Bontrager isozone handlebars that come on most Trek FX bikes are 60 cm wide. Giant makes a handlebar that is 61 cm wide, I think those are the ones they put on their FastRoad models. Origin8 sells a lot of flat/riser handlebars with varying widths. If you want to try narrow bars, they even sell one that is 46 cm and a riser that is 54 cm. They make those bars mainly for fixed gear bikes, but I don't see why you can't install them on a hybrid bike.

Bar ends have disappeared on mountain bikes, but manufacturers are putting them on their flat bar road bikes. For instance, the Giant FastRoad and the Specialized Sirrus bikes. The higher end Felt Verza Speed flat bar road bikes also come with integrated bar ends. I for one am looking to get bar ends installed on both my flat bar Madone and Giant Roam.

Mtb. these days have bars between 70-80 cm. wide and these work for there intended purpose which is usually single track narrow trails etc. where fast cornering is needed. If you want to just ride on the road or easier wider trails then I think bars around 60 cm. would work better and although not trendy any more I still like short bar ends. They feel just like riding on the hoods on drop bars and your forearms are much more relaxed, and great for climbing I just cut down my Kona explosif handle bars to just over 60 cm. and am replacing the tires with 1.5's and a tighter cassette if I can find one that works. I measured some hybrid bars at my LBS on the weekend and they were all around 60 cm. Good luck, Cheers Roscoe