Been doing some research on Roadbike handlebar width (long Michigan winters ïŠ) and would like to know that everyone is using and why. My bike (Trek – Emonda) came with an standard 44 C-C alloy bars and I purchased a 40 C-C Zipp Carbon (even though the fitter told me to keep the 44 C-C width due to my body type).
I just installed it on my roadbike and it feels significantly smaller, but per my research that is what most people are using and provides aero advantages as well. I am not worried about being narrow due to also riding a TT bike for triathalon so my body is adapting to a narrower position on the bike.
So with that in mind, what are you using, pro’s / con’s etc?
So with that in mind, what are you using, pro’s / con’s etc?
Road - 40cm - switched to these from a 44 for the aero benefit - but about to bump back up to 42. The 40s just feel a little too narrow and my upper back/ shoulders feel tight after riding with them.
Gravel - 44cm, lots more leverage and I find them more comfortable on longer/rougher rides (I also ride some singletrack/doubletrack as well as road/gravel on this bike, so the extra leverage is nice)
TT - 40cm, I don’t have the same issues with these as the 40s on my road bike, probably because I’m not on the bullhorns much.
44cm cause that’s what came on my road bike While I worry about my tri setup, I’m much more cavalier towards my roadie since I really only train on it, no racing.
40cm on road bike. 42s came on the bike but I am a smaller guy (5 9, 140 lbs ish) and don’t have wide shoulders, and switched to 40s. No complaints, and I’ve debated going to 38s.
44 everywhere. I like how the wider stance feels. Like I have more control over my bike. The aero-ness of narrower bars is not consideration at all.
I am 6 feet tall
I had heard from someone in a shop once that you are supposed to be able to put the handlebars over your shoulder width to determine that right sides. Sounded to me like one of those cycling rules of thumb that doesn’t actually mean anything. Anyway, though I don’t know how true that is nor did that make my decision for me, I will admit the one time I tried it, 44 proved to be the right width. Of course I already owned several bikes with that width handlebar so the decision had already been made.
38 mm, and I have considered going to a narrower width. My wrists roll inwards at the hoods on wider bars, so I went narrower and have less fatigue. I am 171 cm.
road - 420mm c-c Been using that width for 20 years or more, and feel no need to change. They’re comfortable, which trumps any marginal aero benefit.
tri - current bars are a 40, last ones were 38. Don’t really care about this, since I’m not on the base bar much in a tri
mountain - just put new bars on, but haven’t cut them down yet. They’re still at 780mm I’ll probably take these down to 740 or 720, 780 is definitely too wide for me.
I use 44- mainly just because I always have. I’ve tried 46 and it feels big, and 42 feels small- so in non scientific way it seems about right. I’m 183cm tall and have the same wingspan as well.
I’ve experimented with several different bars and bar shapes and I set up all my own bikes. I’m 6"5, but built like Chris Froome. Because I ride 61-62cm road bikes, they all come with 44cm bars, which I’ve determined is too wide. I went to 40cm for a season, but didn’t like how my chest felt restricted, shoulders and neck got tight on long rides, and control when sprinting in crits felt worse. I’m now back to 42cm and feel like I can pull on the bars more when climbing hard in the saddle, but it doesn’t feel like I’m driving a bus, which is what 44cm feels like.
All my bars are true 42’s, with 41-41.5cm at the hoods and 42cm at the drops. Some 42’s are more like 40’s and some are 44’s; be sure to actually measure as almost every manufacturer is different. I have some 40cm bontrager VR bars that are wider than my easton ea 70sl 42cm bars. WTH.
I have quite broad shoulders and am on the taller side (185 cm)
Road: 42 c-c; was running 44 on my previous bike but I didn’t notice a major difference, except when really cranking on the bars in a “sprint” or really steep climb. I don’t think I’ll go back as I noticed a pretty big difference going down to the narrow base bars on my Tri bike
Tri: 40 c-c; for race scenarios i’ve never really noticed, but as I have to use the base bars quite a bit for the first ~20 mins of any outdoor ride I do, the bike always felt a bit skittish when going from the 44’s on my road bike. Sizing the road bike bars down to 42 did help with this.
Gravel/ Commuter: 42 c-c, with 15* flare to the drops. Not honestly a huge fan of the flare, but not annoying enough to change
MTB: 780, but feels a touch wide and I keep whacking the ends on trees. May cut ~20 mm off as I find a lot of the trails I ride here in NE have really narrow bits with trees branches right at the edge.
36 and 38 on road bikes, 33 and 35 on track bikes. Narrow felt normal for me, finding anything below 38 for road and you lose a lot of drop usually (women’s/kids bars mainly are those sizes)
Road: Ritchey WCS Evomax 42cm (12degree flare, 42cm at the hoods, ~47cm at the drop ends)
Gravel: Easton EA70AX 42cm (16 degree flare, 42cm at the hoods, ~49cm at the drop ends)
I’ve always ridden 42 (pretty medium shoulder width and been sized to these) but I really like a little flare in the drops for comfort on the road, and bit more for offroad stability. But I tried a really flared bar (Thomson 25 degree) and did not like it.
Also, I’m riding round-tubed steel bikes with 32 spoke box rims, and the bars are high by road standards, so I guess I don’t really care about aero.
Im only 5’-9" tall, and not a huge frame. My first real road bike had 44cm bars on it and it always felt to big and wide for me even though the bike frame size fit me. I sold that bike and bought a new bike with 40cm bars. I LOVE them!! My wife and I ordered a brand new tandem bike last spring and I specifically ordered the 40’s again. The guy I ordered the bike from insisted we talk about it and I was adamant about it…I’m a 40cm bar guy.
44 because I found some full carbon Colnago bars in a bargain bin for $15.
215g, about 180g lighter than the originals.
Was apparently the same width as my originals, but put them on and they felt wide. Originals measured 42, which was nicer.
While I worry about my tri setup, I’m much more cavalier towards my roadie since I really only train on it, no racing.