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How long to get used to wide bars?

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,418
1,656
Warsaw :/
Don't know if this has been mentioned but element technic nicklel wide. They are 760mm wide and flat with 9deg backsweep. Claimed weight is 280g but the real one is 299g (weighted).

They are also cheaper than burgtecs by 25 pounds if I remember right.

About the transition time - got it right away from 710/30mm monkey lites.

they also look quite cool ;)

 

nowlan

Monkey
Jul 30, 2008
496
2
In the off season I swapped my bars with the Chromag OSX. My local DH trails are tight in some spots and I found my self a little weary bombing through them at first, and I actually did clip a few trees but after a week or so I didnt notice them at all. I just find I feel more stable at high speed and I ride a bit more over the front of the bike then I used to last year.
 

dh gangster

Monkey
Jul 31, 2006
366
0
P en Doubleyou
I have the raceface atlas bars and absolutely love them! I wouldn't feel bad about not being able to cancel them.
They come stock at 30.9" wide, but i cut them down a .25 inch on each side to 30.4 and they are pure brilliance.
The real weight difference is going to be extremely miniscule between the raceface and any other wide bar. You dont get a bar that wide without being pretty much 300g. I figure i cut about 20 grams off the bars so they're at 310ish now.
I used to have the dietys but wanted something lower and a tidbit wider, not to mention the white was pretty much horrid looking. When i had my dietys it took a while to get used to the bend. I loved the width, but the bend seemed a bit awkward. But the racefaces i immediately loved! It felt like i had been riding them my whole life.
10/10 for the racefaces.
Plus i got them in the sick blue they make which matches the links on my jedi :)
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
I ordered mine in dull-ass black. I love all the bright colours, but I don't think any would look right on my predominantly-white/black-with-a-hint-of-green bike.

Both should arrive tomorrow, along with my new ti spring, my new track pump, some oil & tubes, a new saddle, and a new set of allen keys. It's going to be a good day, lol! :D
 

BigHitComp04

Monkey
Jun 20, 2005
586
3
Morgantown, WV
I also love my wide bars, went from 26s to 30s and was immediately more comfortable in all aspects of riding. Anything narrower feels weird now. You will definitely like them. I think the majority (most,not all) of people that switch to wider bars prefer them.
 

djjohnr

Turbo Monkey
Apr 21, 2002
3,039
1,754
Northern California
I ordered mine in dull-ass black. I love all the bright colours, but I don't think any would look right on my predominantly-white/black-with-a-hint-of-green bike.

Both should arrive tomorrow, along with my new ti spring, my new track pump, some oil & tubes, a new saddle, and a new set of allen keys. It's going to be a good day, lol! :D
Seb, could you post the actual width when you get them? I really want something in the 740-750 range.
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
Both arrived today. The NPs are 760mm, the RFs are 785mm. Not sure which bar you were talking about. Either obviously easily trimmed.

What did I find out today? That I trim my hoses & cables so short that I couldn't fit wider bars! Had to fit a new gear cable, and re-route my rear brake hose :D
 
I purchased the Deity DIrty 30's a few weeks ago and installed them. FIrst ride was this past sunday and they felt.......good. not great. I'm hoping that I will feel more comfortable on them after a few days( I managed about 14 runs at DIablo on the first day out).
THey felt good on the gnar and sketchy as hell in the berms. DO y'all think I'm doing something wrong or is it just and adjustment factor? In the berms at IX I washed a couple of times but tearing down a rocky run they felt stable. any input?

re: paint...........they scratched really easily when I put the levers on but I haven't seen any paint flaking or any other problem with them.

edited to add: I did notice that they did make pulling the front end up a tad more difficult.........I probably could hit the gym a little more to make up the difference in leverage.
 
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- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
edited to add: I did notice that they did make pulling the front end up a tad more difficult.........I probably could hit the gym a little more to make up the difference in leverage.
Not surprising. Ever tried pullups? Much easier with your hands together than spread wide apart.
 

Leppah

Turbo Monkey
Mar 12, 2008
2,294
3
Utar
Couple rides is all it took for me. It got to the point I am so used to wide bars I have them on my freeride bike, slalom bike, and xc bike now. FWIW I am on ~29"/~745mm Sunline V1's.
^^^^i'm with him. I had them on my DH bike first. Then i just got some for my trail bike. I love the wide bars. i'm also running the V1's. Took me about three runs on the DH bike to get used to them. Took me about two xc rides to get used to them on the xc bike.
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
The wide bars feel natural already just riding around my street. The brake levers feel odd though. Fairly sure they're exactly where they were before, I think it's that the angle of my fingers has changed subtly due to my hands being further out. I'm sure I'll get used to it once on a trail.
 

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
Took me about 3 turns and one high speed section to be sold on the rediculously wide Gravity Light 800s
Now my 710's feel normal and my 685s feel like pixie bars.

I really think 710 is the standard and anything else should be considered narrrow.
 

Zark

Hey little girl, do you want some candy?
Oct 18, 2001
6,254
7
Reno 911
The wide bars feel natural already just riding around my street. The brake levers feel odd though. Fairly sure they're exactly where they were before, I think it's that the angle of my fingers has changed subtly due to my hands being further out. I'm sure I'll get used to it once on a trail.
I found the same thing. Some subtle repositioning of the levers and throw did the trick. Had to tilt up a bit and bring in the throw.
 

banrider

Monkey
Nov 24, 2004
304
12
same here with deity thirty´s, now I'm using a easton havoc bar (710mm)on my trail bike and it's just the right lenght for me and I'm only 5'7 tall....
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
Answer: 4 corners.

A race this weekend was the first outing for my new 760mm Nuke proofs. Sprinting into the first 180° berm they felt a bit twitchy, I was oversteering due to the increased leverage. Half a dozen corners further down the track and they felt perfect.

I don't know whether the effect is a placebo or not, but I felt so much more confident on the bike all weekend. It was a relatively easy track which obviously helped, but nonetheless I felt absolutely pinned, and a lot more aggressive on the bike.

In my first race run I was placing 3rd out of 13 Experts. I moved up to this category at the start of the year, and that's by far my best "result" so far. Unfortunately on a drying track I knew everyone was going to go quicker on their 2nd runs... I gave it my all (I was ****ing LIT in places) and then my brake pads fell out half way down the run! Gutted! Slipped to 8th. Had a podium in my grasp and chucked it away!

So, the moral of the story is... it don't matter how wide your bars are - check your frikkin bolts! :D
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
Damn things seem intent on making my stem click though, despite a thorough rebuild of that area. Time for an integrated...? :)
 

limitedslip

Monkey
Jul 11, 2007
173
1
Remove all the bolts in your stem and swab them with grease. That'll get rid of the creaking and make sure they don't back out.
 

3D.

Monkey
Feb 23, 2006
899
0
Chinafornia USA
run 800's for a month and you prolly won't go back, unless ur kidwoo:D... when I now switch bikes with a rider, there 710's feel shady at best.
 

Gridds

Monkey
Dec 18, 2008
266
0
Great Britain
Seb, have you removed everything else from the bars too - grips, levers etc. and cleaned? Could be them making the clicking....?

Glad you like riding wide..!
 

P.T.W

Monkey
May 6, 2007
599
0
christchurch nz
Clicks/creaks are efn anoying!!!!:mad:
I once had an impossable to track down creak that was eventually traced to metal cable endcaps creaking im the cable stops when the suspension was cycled..... Plastic ones fixed it:thumb:

Just an idea..it can be the randomist stuff sometimes
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
I have the same problem with my cranks at the moment too. Only happens when standing up sprinting, have already had it all apart and reassembled, made no difference. Bike is currently in a zillion pieces, stripped down to the last nut and bolt for a full re-build before this weekend's national champs.
 

djjohnr

Turbo Monkey
Apr 21, 2002
3,039
1,754
Northern California
Greasing tip - when you grease something, grease the inside threads of the female end for max distribution. If you grease the male bolt threads it tends to push out.
 

Demomonkey

Monkey
Apr 27, 2005
857
0
Auckland New Zealand
I went from EA70 711mm to Chromag 760mm to Sunline V1 737mm.

Sunlines feel the best. Nice and low at 19mm vs 25mm for the Chromags.

Combined with a DM sunline stem its the most comfortable, stable set up I've had.

If you're not a big broad guy or riding super high speed Alps stuff, I'd recommend a 'midwidth' bar in the 730-740mm range.
 

PatBranch

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2004
10,451
9
wine country
I have a 685mm ea70 on my DH bike. Lately it's felt narrow because my bmx bike has wider bars... and i've been riding that a lot lately. The sunline V1 bars have a 5x9 sweep like the EA70s, so i'm going to go with those. I might cut it down to 710mm, but I'll see.
 

Capricorn

Monkey
Jan 9, 2010
425
0
Cape Town, ZA
running the Spank 777 uncut. took me a few rides to get used to it, but quite a bit more stable in the rough stuff, no doubt due to the better leverage a longer bar offers. It also sorted out the small issue of front wheel wash outs where i unconsciously started moving a bit more rearward for some reason or other. The longer bars naturally brought me over the front more.
Tried my buddies DH sled with much narrrower bars (less than 700mm) and it felt downright weird.