I have been curious to experiment with smaller bars. Haven't seen many people who are on the taller side running them, so I thought I would give a ride report.
I met a guy who's wife bought an extra small version of my bike that came with 38c Specialized hover bars. He was willing to part with them for a reasonable price so I picked them up.
what a huge difference it made going from one extreme to the other. I was worried that I would lose power out of the saddle, but I breezed up my first climbs, with zero noticable difference. Coming down hill I felt extremely dialed in on the descents.
I am built like a Rugby player with super wide shoulders, but so far I actually find the closer hand position to be much more comfortable. Most noticable on flat, and fast sections where it is much easier to stay tucked albeit with more likelihood of knee strikes to the elbows.
I do notice the difference in stiffness going back to alloy bars, so will have to track down the s works carbon version, or the aero fly bars.
by mellofello808
16 Comments
My take is that with any bar wider than ~44cm, we’re still seeing the remnants of ‘gravel bars wide because MTB bars wide’ thinking of a few years back, where gravel bikes had to justify their differences to road bikes.
Thinking about doing this myself, everyone seems to think 38cm should be the standard fit.
I’m going from 47 to 44 and I think that’s gonna be traumatic for me, I can’t imagine going to 38.
Now try making your hoods even and it will feel even better!
I’m also an ex rugby player and run 42s on gravel, 40 on road. You’d be hard pressed to find a cyclist bigger than me most days. I don’t think drop bars should go bigger than 42, maybe 44 for the super extreme end.
I’m 6’2″ and have 40cm bars on all my bikes. It’s way more comfortable. The worst part of any new bike day is having to install new handlebars because companies are stupid and think “size L means super wide handlebars”.
Im not a huge guy and 40cm is the smallest i am comfortable with, smaller is very unstable in rough terrain.
But, was really uncomfortable on the 44cm bars my medium sized bike came with. I don’t understand the love for, or necessity of, ultra-wide drop bars.
being on 42, I’ve always wanted to try 38 to dial in my fit, but I’m to concerned of the sacrifice to the space for my bikepacking barbag
As a similarly built person I have had the opposite experience. I particularly appreciate handlebar width on rowdy terrain but on general find handlebars roughly the same width as my shoulders to feel the most neutral in a good way. The old sub-40cm road bars feel super cramped to me these days. Glad you’ve found what you like, but fascinated to see most of the comments on this one because they don’t align with my experience
This is my experience as well.
Long time mtber so wide bars are normal.
Tried 44s, 46s, big flared gravel bars and settled back on standard 40s with a hood tilt. Could probably go to 38s flared.
Narrow feels way better.
6’2, broad shoulders for reference.
that is nutz……… I recently went from a 44 (with a 12% flair) to a 42 of the same bars on one of my bikes. I could never imagine squeezing in on that. Seems like it would make your bike really twitchy also.
46 cm Ritchey Beacons all day long and I love it.
I did the same thing a while back. First bike was 50? And that was fun but tiring, not even remotely comfortable. Then went to 46 and kept that for about 2 years but still felt far out wide.
Recently built up a road bike project with 38’s and man, it was night and day. I switched my gravel rig to 40’s and so far I’m super happy with it. And I can still just barely fit my bikepacking bar bag
Went down to 36cm integrated on my road bike, 38cm Salsa No.9 12f on my gravel bike. It find it’s much more comfortable over distance. I don’t do any sort of MTB like routes or single track.
I went to 40 Hover and am shopping for 38. Agree.
Same. Went from 44 down to 39 very shortly after getting my bike.
I’m a small guy and I’m on 42s for road and gravel up from 38s. The 38s were too twitchy.