Anyone notice that no matter how much fun is poked at those ridiculously chopped off handlebars, they keep getting shorter and shorter? I see guys riding handlebars that aren't even wide enough to accommodate an entire Oury grip on either side! and I don't mean one or two of these guys, i see a LOT of them. And for some reason, those who haven't gotten around to cutting their handlebars down, hold on to them right at the stem with their thumbs touching.

just an observation. ok. release the hounds....

Ya i've noticed this. And to combat that trend i went out and picked up a set of ritchey severe condition mtb riser bars. Long enough to fit an entire 175mm origin8 track grip with space to spare. Gotta try and avoid the tarck somehow.

I know another stupid trend:

People riding bikes that are complaining about other people riding bikes...

I wouldn´t ride handlebars as narrow as the ones you´re describing, but to each his own. There are a lot of more important stuff to spend energy getting annoyed about.

Not on this forum there isnt. Do we want to talk about the healthcare crisis on this forum? i think not.
lets not "complain" about anything.
and lets not let new kids asking questions off the hook for doing so, cause "thats what the search function is for"
and lets not waste users time with stupid posts because dammit, if i read something funny for 26 seconds that I didnt mean to, thats precious time wasted.

I say we all lighten up. Poking fun sometimes is fun. I mean, we're talking about "bicycles" after all. sometimes we act like were a bunch of hardened Hells Angels or something.
or not.

i can definitely agree that those extremely short risers are ridiculous in that they dont really offer any benefits,sure you may be able squeeze through traffic a bit better,but other than i see no advantage.

ilaidlaw-wouldn't any riser bar on a track bike make it tarck?

the dude was making an observation and I think his point was it's a safety hazard in lieu of being trendy.

I think he brings up a good point worth discuss (or poking fun at...)

NM: Andreas beat me to it

We already have plenty of threads in which people can complain about ****. We have a "what's wrong with my bike" thread. We have a "make fun of hipsters" thread. We also have every other thread turning into bull**** "lol" threads full of people ripping on other people.

Yeah, sure, it's fine and fun. To a point. But this is not another thread we need. We've already got it rather more than covered.

HA HA hA Ive got to remember that word/?unfkwithable/yes I already know im an old fool//Kenneth

I look at bar width as a way to gauge whether or not I will fit, bars that are narrower than my cranks would just get me into trouble

when I had drop bars on my bike, I held pretty close to the stem, to the point where my thumbs would touch, so when I put risers on, I chopped them a bit short....Not short enough to where my OUry grips overlap the curve of the bar, but left just enough to fit the grip. And still, sometimes I think about cutting them down more...I like having a narrow grip.... to each his own

i really dont know how people ride with such narrow bars! i've tried holding my bars closer to the center clamp to see how it feels and.... it feels unstable since im concentrating a lot of my weight in a smaller area instead of distributing it across the bars. i felt a huge disadvantage because i couldnt properly hold myself up when i wanted to stand up and climb. plus theres only ONE hand position. sure you can shimmy your hands closer or further from the center but its basically the same position.

seriously, how do you guys have the leverage to climb when you're gripping so close to the center?

a wider grip definitely helps when climbing, and makes it a lot easier to trackstand .... actually it makes it easier to do anything....just more control...

I used to ride my mountain bike like that. It was a vague experiment, but it actually felt comfortable. Didn't do it on my road because of my lights. But on my fixed, it did feel comfortable. I don't climb like that, but when I'm just riding around. Not to mention it kept my hand really close to the brake I had mounted there.

suicide bars are so 2005

I do see some people riding with really short bars in Austin. Some of those bars seem to be too short to be practical. There are quite a few trendy people around here, so I'm not suprised that some have followed the trend.

I don't know how people breathe with such narrow bars. For a little while I had 32cm bars when I need 44cm and I could hardly ride to school, 7 miles, without having difficulty breathing when I tried to go fast.

i challenged a kid who had some tiny bars to a race (just for fun), soon as we got up to 15 mph, he just started shaking back and forth, kinda like speed shimmy but without the speed. He just didn't have enough control to stop the oscillation. At that point I figured to hell with him and just sped away.

ok guys, lets not "make too much fun" of people.
this stuff is very serious.

HAHAHAHHA

It seems to me that this whole mega short parts is over. At least with the guys doing tricks.

Its not unusual for the older generation to b**ch and moan about every new trend. BMX, rollerskates, skateboards, fixed gear, the switch from tubulars to tubes+tires, tube gear lever shifters to brake shifters...etc, etc. Your comments are just another example of how humans are naturally resistant to anything different from what they're doing. Shorter bars means an easier bar spin (smaller diameter, smaller circumference of the spin). The fact that it affects your speed is besides the point. If you're sawing off your bars you aren't doing it to improve speed, you're doing it to improve your tricks. Also, it does not affect your track stands, whatever anyone says.

Fashion trends always go to the extreme before they swing back or die.

If it wasn't about being trendy people would not ride bikes made for the velodrome on the street brakeless. I had a guy walk into the store the other day and was astounded you could actually buy a "fixie" in a bike shop. He thought it was something him and his hipster friends thought up.

Yeah, and these folks ride with their knees so close together that I find it hard to believe that they have balls.

good point. very good point.
I once heard, and I thought it was genius:
anything invented before you turned 18 was always there.
anything invented up until you're 40 is new and exciting.
anything invented after you're 40 is a threat to the world and must be destroyed.

I guess its kinda true.

HAHAH I wonder the same thing. and the arched back shoulders pinched back... hilarious.