# wide vs narrow handlebars



## azn (Jan 30, 2008)

So I got some black market bada bings today.
Love them so far, except I need to cut them. waaaay too wide.
I have two questions.

First, are there any advantages to having narrower handlebars? (The bike that its going on will not see any trail time, so I dont need to worry about clipping trees with wide handlebars)
Is the width mostly just preference?

Secondly, what do you guys do for cutting it? Just take a hacksaw to it?

Thanks..


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## Rb (Feb 28, 2007)

Barspins, X-up's tend to favor narrow bars...

I have mine at 680mm and they're perfect for my body geometry (what really matters). I suppose wider bars give you more control for manuals, hops, drops, but only to a certain degree (somebody who's 5'6" probably shouldn't be riding 29" bars...)

My guess is... most companies that're making gravity-oriented bars are leaving them on the longer side to give the rider more choice. You can always go narrow if need be... measure twice, cut once...


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## azn (Jan 30, 2008)

hmmm....maybe I should keep the bars as is until I get my manuals down. 
I was thinking of cutting two inches shorter on each side at any rate....so that'd put me around 680 mm too.


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## obiwan (Mar 12, 2008)

wider bars feel more relaxed in the air and motowhips and such feel better cause it forces you to move your body rather than just your bars.


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## the_godfather (Jan 19, 2007)

i like wide bars. takes a little bit of getting used to but love them so much better. feels more stable and gives more control
2inches is a hell of a lot to cut away, let alone from both sides


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## Strauss (Apr 27, 2007)

29 inches is about perfect and I'm 6 foot even but I have longer arms.


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## frisky_zissou (Jun 4, 2006)

You will find there seems to be a trend on here for running them wide. I myself however think its stupid. 

I can see how on a DH course or a rough freeride track the leverage of a wide bar helping but on street the maneuverability is greatly sacrificed. What is the point of super steep head angles if you just kill it with a 30 inch bar.

From my experiences manuals are harder, bunny hops are around the same and for everything else they suck pretty much. Note, this is my opinion so no need to accept it. I just think this is a trend that started in DH and unnecessarily made its way to DJs and Street.


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## Strauss (Apr 27, 2007)

Fisky-zissou makes some good points - but if your someone like me that holds onto the inner most portion of their grip then wider bars are helpful.

If my bars are 29 inches wide I'm holding them in such a way that the leverage would be like having a 26 inch bar. There is probably an inch and a half of handlebar on each side of my hands.

One would think it makes sense to cut it - but I switch up my hands depending on the terrain. Having the option to take a wider grasp is nice.


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## PeterLucas (Dec 6, 2005)

i run badabing bars on my blackmarket and they are uncut at 28". they are perfect for riding dirtjumps. Wider bars will give you more controll in corners and more leverege when sprinting. I came from racing, thats why i dont cut my bars down.


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## Tracerboy (Oct 13, 2002)

people ride wide bars for more leverage and control. it came from the DH world as well as the BMX world where people started putting bigger bars on their bikes and decided not to cut them down. 

personally i'm 6'1ish and still don't really like full length bars completely. i've tried it all and at this point like them to feel about as wide as my shoulders, so when i hold them my arms aren't spread out or held inward really. this is about 25.5".


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## sittingduck (Apr 26, 2005)

I'm pretty sure BMX bars were wide long before DH was even on the radar.
It's definitely a personal preference thing, and for me wider is better. I feel like I have more control. I'm 6' tall, and all 4 of my bikes have 28" bars. 20" BMX, 24" BMX, Giant STP, and Trek Session 77.


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## .WestCoastHucker. (Jan 14, 2004)

24" on my bmx, but i'm a small dude...


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## snaky69 (Mar 8, 2005)

I'm at 26 inches or so, at 5'6''.


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## sixgun_sound (Dec 1, 2007)

I agree that the wide bar thing is an unnecessary trend. I'm 6'4", and I think mine are around 26-27 inches. I just got a new pair of deity's , my old ones were about 24 inches. That was a little small, but 29" bars look silly. Why would I want my hands way out there when my bike is right here? Shoulder width or a little wider is perfect.

Before cutting your bars, slide your grips in on the bar to where you think you might want them, and test that out a bit. I really don't think you need to cut 2 inches off of each side. That's quite a lot.


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## azn (Jan 30, 2008)

Thanks for all the replies guys.
I think I'm gonna run wide bars a while and see how I like that.
If I were to cut off two inches on each side, it would put it at the same width as my old bars.
I guess the Previous owner like really narrow bars or something...


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## azn (Jan 30, 2008)

if I do end up wanting to cut my bars down some, is it fine to just use a hacksaw?


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## sixgun_sound (Dec 1, 2007)

Yeah, a hacksaw is ok. Park tools even sells one. Or use the miracle blade, as seen on TV.


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## spzero (Jan 15, 2008)

i cut my bars hate wide bars hacksaw did it just fine have always had slim bars on my bmxes and mtb's maybe thats why i suck at riding..


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## euroford (Sep 10, 2006)

i got used to wide bars riding dh and freeride. perhaps my wide bars aren't necessary on my dj bike, but thats what i'm used to now and i feel sketch on anything narrower.

but whatever, i can still barspin and xup, and they do definitly provide more control. so i go ride em.


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## .WestCoastHucker. (Jan 14, 2004)

i must have cut at least 30 sets of bars with a plain old hacksaw...


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## crakbot (Nov 5, 2005)

I think it's all preference. A lot of of the BMX freestyle bars come stock at 25 inches or less now. 

I keep mine between 26 and 27 and that seems to feel right. The thing is, going to wider bars takes a while to get used to, so don't take one ride and if they don't feel right, cut them down. Give theme time to grow on you. If they never feel right after a few rides, cut a half inch off of each side and try them again.

Don't cut two inches off each side to start though.

I did notice that when I had a pair of 25 inch bars and I yanked really hard off a jump, I would have times where the bike would get all squirrely. Since I've gone a bit wider that never happens anymore.


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## azn (Jan 30, 2008)

yea. It definitely felt really weird when I took them out for a spin the other day.
I'm sure doubling the amount of rise didn't help much either


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## SamL3227 (May 30, 2004)

only cut a half-inch at a time off and see how it is. you can always cut another half-inch, but you gotta buy new bars if you want to gain a half-inch.

when in doubt keep em wide.


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## NoBrakes! (Jun 15, 2007)

I found that when i moved my hands to the outer portion of the grip i got more leverage and was able to 180 easier. More leverage to whep the bike arround i gues.
Anyone else experewnced this?


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## A Grove (Nov 12, 2006)

I ran 29"s on my weezys for a weekish and decided it was just wayy too much. I took the hacksaw to them slowly every two days and now their sitting around 26'ish. And they couldn't feel any better.


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## norm (Feb 20, 2005)

6'1"....i prefer a 25.5"-26" bar. 27"+bar is just too wide IMO.


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## JellyLegs (May 15, 2011)

so i just bought a 29in hardrock, and the handlebar is 26" wide. which for me this feels really really wide. My other bike is a 26in mongoose and the handle bar is only 20 in and the bar on my roadbike is only 16" !!

i was about to take the hacksaw to the new bike, but i think im going to ride it that way for a while and see how i like it. 

i cant imagine having 29in handlebar. how do you guys make it out of your garage?
hahaha


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