I notice that different handlebars have a Reach dimension of either 70, 75, or 80 mm. I assume it has to do with fitting. But as a general rule of thumb, would 70mm be the benchmark reach dimension to buy?
Does it also depends on how people would like to rest their hands on the hood?
Pls kindly advise and thanx in advance…
You can have between 70 and 105 mm reach (even more) on different drop handlebars models.
It all depends on how you ride, where you prefer to rest your hands, your shifter models, and your body parts lenghts.
I find the perfect handlebar shape… just about every 6 to 12 months 
LOuis 
Most are in the 80mm range, 70 is considered short reach, anything above 85 is long reach.
My aeronova bars from 3T have a reach of 116mm. This bar was designed to get your body in a low position with your hands on the hoods, elbows bent, and forearms parallel to the ground. Not saying you can’t do that on short reach bars, but I think that was what the purpose of this design was. You can have a really long reach out to the hoods, but it’s a nice and short reach to the tops so you can comfortably ride with your body up high too.
I would encourage you to try a few different bars to see what sort of bend you like. For example, you don’t want to buy something and find out your forearms get bruised every time you sprint from the drops. Having the drops flare out a bit typically helps this. Typically, I like most of the shapes from Zipp and 3T. I’m sure there are others, but now that I fou d two brands with bends that I like, I tend to stick to them.
It seems like the flat top bars designed to be aero are usually a little longer in the reach department. Not necessarily a bad thing.
Thank you. I have actually decided to get the Zipp Service Course SL Ergo. I just need to know if i should get the 70 or the 80. It looks like 80 is what i would be getting but i just want some advice from some experienced cyclists…
Thank you. I have actually decided to get the Zipp Service Course SL Ergo. I just need to know if i should get the 70 or the 80. It looks like 80 is what i would be getting but i just want some advice from some experienced cyclists…It depends on how big you are and how much variation you want between different positions on the bar.
Your contact points with the bike are pedals, saddle and bars. For the purpose of control we usually take the bar contact point to be the hoods.
So bar reach is actually part of the length of your bike, along with the frame reach and the stem length.
You need to choose a bar with that in mind.
I’ll often fit a shorter reach bar for a customer who is too stretched out and also needs a different width - two birds with one stone. Rather than changing the bar for width and stem for length.
The 3T Aeronova mentioned above requires a very short stem to maintain reach to the hoods.
Bar reach also needs to consider the drop measurement. Long reach with short drop gives a high risk of wrist interference unless the corners on the tops are cut away.
Average is now ~ 75/130. Short reach 70/122-125.
My current bar is 75-130 now and my fit is decent. but i want to switch to the Zipp Service Course SL ergo but they come with only 70 or 80. That is why i am caught in between. Any advice pls?