Choosing the right size is essential.Īs I discovered, the first tool you need to use in your search is a size chart. You’ll also place your arms more widely apart and sit more upright. The smaller frame makes it more agile and able to negotiate the varied and tricky off-road terrain that riders inevitably face. Now they can help you get the best-fit mountain bike for yourself.Ī mountain bike frame is smaller than that of a road bike. I’ve put together a few resources that helped me solve this problem. If you’ve had a problem finding the right size mountain bike, then I think I can help. If you can meet these basic requirements, then the bike is the right size for you. It would help if you also didn’t have to stretch out your arms to reach the handlebars. Regardless, the right size for you is one on which you can sit atop the saddle with your feet flat on the ground. Moderate your decision a touch and you'll find the best fit: which is between 750- and 800mm, and certainly not below or beyond that.Your precise bike frame size needs will depend on your height. That has meant high corner entry and feature approach speeds, which in turn required an advance in handlebar size, to balance the rider and transfer steering inputs.Īs with any trend or reaction to advancement in one aspect of mountain bike design, handlebar width went too far on the spectrum. With improved tyre casings and stronger wheels, we can now run lower tyre pressures, which generate greater grip. When wheels easily punctured and rims were weak, tyres had to be run at very high pressures to keep you moving. Handlebar evolution has been another example of how the mountain bike evolves best as a system, instead of isolated components. Which is what most competitive international enduro World Championship riders are utilising. The best compromise between that extreme length that handlebars have grown to for World Championship downhill racing, and conventional trail riding, appears to be 760mm. The case for an average trail rider to be using a handlebar around 800mm is very unlikely. As with any experimental trend, they have become a tad too wide, exposing shoulder rotation issues and possibly placing smaller riders in a weaker position on their bikes. Ten years ago, handlebars were way too narrow, at between 620- and 700mm, depending on the application. Even the most committed gravity riders and downhill daredevils can’t find use for a handlebar that much greater than 800mm in width, unless they are exceptionally tall or broad shouldered. The widest production ‘bars reach over 800mm and there is a very limited market for them. With frame geometry stretching and mountain bikes become more stable, the need for wider handlebars have been justified.īut handlebars can also be too wide. As bikes have grown longer the influence of leverage has altered.Ī longer bike is inherently more stable and requires a bit more handlebar leverage to activate an initial steering response. A superior guide is physiology, and more specifically: shoulder width. ![]() It stands to reason that we cannot use densely forested terrain as an overriding parameter for selecting handlebar width. One cannot configure your handlebars for the eventuality of half a metre of narrowly stacked trail, on a ride where you are rolling thousands of meters. The reality is that those exceptionally narrow portions of trail are but a decimal percentage of our overall riding experience. Unless ever trail builder actively measures the narrowest point of their trail, at handlebar height, and posts it as a notice at the trail entry, you’ll never know if you are riding a handlebar that is perhaps too wide for terrain. Clipping a handlebar when threading through a particularly narrow portion of forest singletrack can scuff open a glove, fracture a finger or at worse: cause a substantial accident, with rider separating from bike. ![]() If the design logic is that a wider bar puts you in a more powerful position to absorb terrain impacts, and gives a rider the ability to correct front-wheel deflections with less risk of cashing, what happens when handlebar width grows too generous? Closing the gap The question is whether we have now possibly reached a tipping point?
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