I need to get new bars on my road bike because mine arent wide enough. How do I know what’s going to fit correctly so i dont end up with these little girly bars again?
Tom will probably give you the precise description of the point to measure…but you basically measure from the outside edge of your bone at each shoulder joint (keeping tape straight, not curved around any curve in your back). This measurement should correspond to the measurement on standard road bars measured from the center of one drop to the center of the other. Some bar mfgs list their bars measured outside to outside so their bars are actually smaller than others listed the same size. What is the current measurement of your bars, center to center?
Keep in mind that the above technique is always going to be just a guideline…many folks find that slightly wider than shoulder width is best, at least from a comfort standpoint… The reason you find relatively narrow bars on bikes here in the US has to do with the preference for narrow bars for crit style racing where wide bars can be a liability…over the years this has become the accepted norm. I found that bikes sold overseas often had OEM bars that were a size larger than would be found on the same bike in the U.S.
If you are over, say 5’10, you will need to go with 44cm bars. However, many bikes even in the larger sizes come with 42’s for some reason. Going to a wider bar is a great move. The other odd thing is that many of the pro roadies ride the shallow drop version of a particular road bar, yet many/most road bikes come with standard or deep drops. Not sure why that is. Then if you go looking for the shallow drop versions, they are impossible to find.
I raplaced my road bars last year with the Ritchy Bio Max II shallow drop bars and they really are very nice. Great fit and very comfortable in all hand positions.
Fleck