Handlebar length (hoping to hear preferences, perspectives etc)

I cut my vultus bars with a hacksaw.

I cut all my bars with a hacksaw. Use a new blade and only cut in one direction. Using a guide can help as well. I have used an old stem as a guide. Works great.

Bar width is personal preference, as you know.

I like 28" wide bars.

Shoulder width apart is where you want it i think.27 sounds good to me. I see some really wide bars around lately. Its so funny how trends change. Bars went from 7 high 25 wide, grips going down the bends, now they look like ape hangers, 10 high 30 wide. So whatevers cool now. I would say it really doesnt matter at all

I ride a 29" wide bar and I put my hands at the widest point of it, I just love the solid and stable feeling.
When I put my hands more inside the bar like if I was riding a 27" or something like that, I feel so weak, I would never gap some stairs or carving a bowl like this.
I am tall and got wide shoulders tho, so wide bars fits me well.
Once I had a broken bar so a friend lend me a fiend renyolds bar which is already cut to 27.5" brand new, so when I was riding I was holding the bar ends... I even had a little finger hanging out sometimes.

If you are unsure about how wide you like it, do it progressive, better cut it twice than cut too much once and be fucked.

Yeah see im the opposite. I always find myself grabbing around the bends of my bars, like when im sitting just cruising around. I feel a lot more in control with me hands closer in. I think its snappier and more responsive that way.

ggallin422 wrote:

Yeah see im the opposite. I always find myself grabbing around the bends of my bars, like when im sitting just cruising ...more

ggallin422 wrote:

Yeah see im the opposite. I always find myself grabbing around the bends of my bars, like when im sitting just cruising around. I feel a lot more in control with me hands closer in. I think its snappier and more responsive that way.

...more

Thats because it is. Whenever I ride my friends' bikes with huge bars i feel like I'm driving a truck. I hate it. I ride a pair of 8.15" Banned bars cut as narrow as will allow a brake lever.

I wonder if it has something to do with the chroming process that's making it hard to cut. Because I work at a shop, and I've cut down countless bars & steerer tubes using a hacksaw with a traditional blade. The only pair of bars that ever gave me trouble was a set of chrome Cult bars, I think we had to use a cut off wheel for that one.

You could try a carbide hacksaw blade though, those cut through pretty much anything. Idk how much I'd trust using your table saw cause if it's not made to cut steel you're just gonna ruin the blade.



Personally my bars are 26" x 8.66". I didn't like how wide my bars felt at 28" so I cut an inch off both ends. I think their height with a front load stem is perfect for me too. I tried a top load which gave me about an inch more of rise, hated it. Too hard to keep the bike under me when doing tailwhips so I went back to a front load after about 2 weeks tops. Everyone gives me shit for how little my bars are but fuck em haha.

It matters! lol of course it does ;D

I think of it the same way, ie as something that's tied to a rider primarily by their shoulder width, but the small amounts of bar-length variance we're talking about make it useless to try measuring shoulders and extrapolating from there - but I get what you mean and I think of it the same way. I'm just a hair under 5'7" and my shoulder width (the bones - I have fat shoulder flesh lol, well 'wide' it's not fat lol it's muscle) is pretty standard, so bars for me should be *slightly* shorter than a 'regular sized guy', but the difference between me and someone 5'9", in terms of collar bone, would make this very difficult to use as a gauge in any practical (ie, *measurable*) sense.

You're right about the evolution of bars, I have a pair of 9" lumberjacks that have tons of backsweep (12deg i think) and they're un-cut, I feel like I could ride downhill 5mph+ extra with the same confidence as I could with my 26.5" vultus bars (10deg back-sweep), but they feel like a frickin' shield, I dunno how wide they are and don't care to get my measuring tape but the wideness + backsweep makes them ideal for bombing down-hill safely!

I know that companies make them a bit larger for this reason, so that you can cut them to where you want, but 30" (vultus' stock size) is wayyy too big for me and my last pair of these (26-26.5") were too short - I think I'm just going to do 28 or 28.5" for now and then go from there, if it's still too wide I'll deal with it til these new grips need replacing, then cut it again before the next pair go on :D

Francky wrote:

I ride a 29" wide bar and I put my hands at the widest point of it, I just love the solid and stable feeling.
When I put my ...more

Francky wrote:

I ride a 29" wide bar and I put my hands at the widest point of it, I just love the solid and stable feeling.
When I put my hands more inside the bar like if I was riding a 27" or something like that, I feel so weak, I would never gap some stairs or carving a bowl like this.
I am tall and got wide shoulders tho, so wide bars fits me well.
Once I had a broken bar so a friend lend me a fiend renyolds bar which is already cut to 27.5" brand new, so when I was riding I was holding the bar ends... I even had a little finger hanging out sometimes.

If you are unsure about how wide you like it, do it progressive, better cut it twice than cut too much once and be fucked.

...more

Yeah I'm gonna do it that (progressively cut them - going to start with 28-28.5", will go shorter the next time I swap grips *if I want them shorter*)

I hear you re your first paragraph, that's the rub of it, wide bars are great for some things, shorter bars for other things - gotta find that ideal middle-ground! I know 30's too big, 26-26.5" was too short, so will see how the middle-ground (slightly wider than middle-ground, actually) feels!

(I should note that I'm not tall, am on the short side and shoulder bone width is normal for my height. Oh and 27.5" bars STOCK? By Fiend?? That's interesting, it makes me think they're telling/recommending you ride them that way, not just making them longer and leaving you to cut them (for instance, if I got the 9.5" vultus instead of my 9's, I think it's like 0.5-1" wider! Way too large for anyone IMO!))

ggallin422 wrote:

Yeah see im the opposite. I always find myself grabbing around the bends of my bars, like when im sitting just cruising ...more

ggallin422 wrote:

Yeah see im the opposite. I always find myself grabbing around the bends of my bars, like when im sitting just cruising around. I feel a lot more in control with me hands closer in. I think its snappier and more responsive that way.

...more

I do this when cruising, in fact I almost got the XL odi's so I could have grip around the arc (and protect my chrome finish lol, when I bail over my bars they always end up banging, I know I'm going to ruin this finish real quick lol), but that's when cruising - if I'm charging to a ledge to try and feeble as far as I can, my hands are as wide as the bars allow! Same for when riding in traffic a lot of the time, the extra torque to turn quick is useful for sure in some situations, in other situations you bang them on stuff you go by (because you forgot you're now riding 2.5' wide bars), or you try a barspin and, having forgotten the bar swap, you just hit yourself with the bars instead of watching them go around

Super-Pawl wrote:

Thats because it is. Whenever I ride my friends' bikes with huge bars i feel like I'm driving a truck. I hate it. I ride a ...more

Super-Pawl wrote:

Thats because it is. Whenever I ride my friends' bikes with huge bars i feel like I'm driving a truck. I hate it. I ride a pair of 8.15" Banned bars cut as narrow as will allow a brake lever.

...more

Could you do me a solid (fugasrmemes ;P ), and measure that to lmk how wide they are?

I remember that, before cutting my last vultus' to 26-26.5", I'd seen a bike-check where the bars were crazy short width, I liked the idea and went with it, but in the end there were times where I'd be going real fast downhill (I ride brakeless on all my bikes), or approaching tricks (usually grinds where I'm going for distance) fast, and the narrower bars just felt inadequate, I'd wanted another .5-1" per side, so think I'll go ~28" on this set and see how that feels!!

Dude I'm so close to having my 'new' bike setup, I have the new BB and, at this point, it's just a question of when I get a 2-3hr period to actually swap all my parts over (I don't do half-assed wrenching lol, if I take a bolt or part out, it gets cleaned (isopropyl alcohol), dried and re-lubed (lithium grease), so it takes a lot longer but totally worth it :D

sundaybmxRR wrote:

I wonder if it has something to do with the chroming process that's making it hard to cut. Because I work at a shop, and I've ...more

sundaybmxRR wrote:

I wonder if it has something to do with the chroming process that's making it hard to cut. Because I work at a shop, and I've cut down countless bars & steerer tubes using a hacksaw with a traditional blade. The only pair of bars that ever gave me trouble was a set of chrome Cult bars, I think we had to use a cut off wheel for that one.

You could try a carbide hacksaw blade though, those cut through pretty much anything. Idk how much I'd trust using your table saw cause if it's not made to cut steel you're just gonna ruin the blade.



Personally my bars are 26" x 8.66". I didn't like how wide my bars felt at 28" so I cut an inch off both ends. I think their height with a front load stem is perfect for me too. I tried a top load which gave me about an inch more of rise, hated it. Too hard to keep the bike under me when doing tailwhips so I went back to a front load after about 2 weeks tops. Everyone gives me shit for how little my bars are but fuck em haha.

...more

Thanks for so much detail, really appreciate you posting this

Some q's and thoughts:

re cutting them, I dunno because I seldom use non-powered saws, but when I tried cutting my old (black) vultus bars I just put them in a large table-vise, and I tried using a hacksaw after replacing it with a fresh blade and making sure it was as tight as possible - I gave up within minutes, as I could hardly get a dent in it. I never used a guide though, was trying to free-hand cut it, maybe that was the problem.

anyways, re the wet-saw I don't mind if it hurts the blade because they're cheap, hell I don't even care abuot that saw anyways it's a cheap POS that's on its last legs, so it's fine - we'll see how it goes, looks like tomorrow afternoon I'll get the chance to try :D


[btw, how tall are you? that sounds sooo low! I'm just under 5'7", I ride top-load (no spacers) with 9" bars, that's my ideal and I've tried TONS of combos trying to determine my best bar height and angles (up- & back-sweep) ]

adfkje wrote:

Thanks for so much detail, really appreciate you posting this

Some q's and thoughts:

re cutting them, I dunno because I ...more

adfkje wrote:

Thanks for so much detail, really appreciate you posting this

Some q's and thoughts:

re cutting them, I dunno because I seldom use non-powered saws, but when I tried cutting my old (black) vultus bars I just put them in a large table-vise, and I tried using a hacksaw after replacing it with a fresh blade and making sure it was as tight as possible - I gave up within minutes, as I could hardly get a dent in it. I never used a guide though, was trying to free-hand cut it, maybe that was the problem.

anyways, re the wet-saw I don't mind if it hurts the blade because they're cheap, hell I don't even care abuot that saw anyways it's a cheap POS that's on its last legs, so it's fine - we'll see how it goes, looks like tomorrow afternoon I'll get the chance to try :D


[btw, how tall are you? that sounds sooo low! I'm just under 5'7", I ride top-load (no spacers) with 9" bars, that's my ideal and I've tried TONS of combos trying to determine my best bar height and angles (up- & back-sweep) ]

...more

A guide of some sort may help just because sometimes it's hard to get the cut started with the blade moving around. Not impossible though, just takes a tad more effort than using a guide would take.

I'm about 5'8" or 5'9" with a completely slammed front load stem (seriously, I cut my steerer tube down and there's no spacers underneath except for the dust cap.)

I like it though, everyone always says my bike is too small and I'm just like "Well, it's not built for you now is it?"

My bars are uncut, 29" wide. I hold about 2" away from the end of the bar on each side, I'm considering cutting off an inch in both sides. As for height, 9.25" tall, with 16mm of spacers and a top load stem, so my bars sit really high. I'm getting 9.10" bars as my next ones, with a front load stem.

I ride 27.5 wide it's my preference because with any wider I destroy my knees with barspins haha. Anything really wider like 28.5 and above they just feel really awkward to ride.

adfkje wrote:

Could you do me a solid (fugasrmemes ;P ), and measure that to lmk how wide they are?

I remember that, before cutting my ...more

adfkje wrote:

Could you do me a solid (fugasrmemes ;P ), and measure that to lmk how wide they are?

I remember that, before cutting my last vultus' to 26-26.5", I'd seen a bike-check where the bars were crazy short width, I liked the idea and went with it, but in the end there were times where I'd be going real fast downhill (I ride brakeless on all my bikes), or approaching tricks (usually grinds where I'm going for distance) fast, and the narrower bars just felt inadequate, I'd wanted another .5-1" per side, so think I'll go ~28" on this set and see how that feels!!

Dude I'm so close to having my 'new' bike setup, I have the new BB and, at this point, it's just a question of when I get a 2-3hr period to actually swap all my parts over (I don't do half-assed wrenching lol, if I take a bolt or part out, it gets cleaned (isopropyl alcohol), dried and re-lubed (lithium grease), so it takes a lot longer but totally worth it :D

...more

Yeah I can look around for a tape measure but I'm at school so it'll be kind of hard.

so after reading this post...am I weird that I just get on my bike and ride? I have never sweated (or even knew I should) sweat all of this detail. I am sure it is b/c I don't ride professionally, but man, my OCD would get out of control if I thought about it as much...

am I missing something?

not trying to "hate", but just asking. The only thing I do, or did, sweat was TT length as I got taller when I was younger...

my bars are 28.5 inches and I cut them down a quarter inch on each side...

28 would be my preference as I can do bars without hitting my knee or getting close to it

DanTheBikerMan wrote:

My bars are uncut, 29" wide. I hold about 2" away from the end of the bar on each side, I'm considering cutting off an inch in ...more

DanTheBikerMan wrote:

My bars are uncut, 29" wide. I hold about 2" away from the end of the bar on each side, I'm considering cutting off an inch in both sides. As for height, 9.25" tall, with 16mm of spacers and a top load stem, so my bars sit really high. I'm getting 9.10" bars as my next ones, with a front load stem.

...more

Why such a drastic change? Did you just give a huge setup a chance and didn't like it? That's tall as hell! You'll probably lose close to an inch by doing that bar & stem swap though.

evan_markovich wrote:

my bars are 28.5 inches and I cut them down a quarter inch on each side...

28 would be my preference as I can do bars without ...more

evan_markovich wrote:

my bars are 28.5 inches and I cut them down a quarter inch on each side...

28 would be my preference as I can do bars without hitting my knee or getting close to it

...more

Yeah I thought about it a bit and ended up going with 27.75", luckily my tile-cutter was able to go through the bars with little problem, then just a quick sanding of the rough edges, put the new Hoder grips on, and put it back together :D Very happy with it!

Was a bit unsure which way to mount the Hoders, so just copied how justin spriet had his positioned lol (on this note, I noticed that his grips were twisted, like if you'd grabbed the grip and gave it an 'indian sunburn' motion, I wonder if that's something that happened naturally while riding or if it was pulled that way during install - I was thinking about it, it'd make sense that doing so would tighten the grips on the bars even further, much like stretching them length-wise along the bars does so... here's a picture of what I'd tried copying, although without the twisting am still on the fence about whether to do that intentionally, or just see if it happens from riding:

sXeBMXer wrote:

so after reading this post...am I weird that I just get on my bike and ride? I have never sweated (or even knew I should) ...more

sXeBMXer wrote:

so after reading this post...am I weird that I just get on my bike and ride? I have never sweated (or even knew I should) sweat all of this detail. I am sure it is b/c I don't ride professionally, but man, my OCD would get out of control if I thought about it as much...

am I missing something?

not trying to "hate", but just asking. The only thing I do, or did, sweat was TT length as I got taller when I was younger...

...more

Haha no, you're not weird (not for that reason, at least ) And it's got nothing to do with riding professionally, there's tons of people on shittier bikes than mine who can make look like I just took my training wheels off yesterday (of course), building my bmx is just something I enjoy, I commute on my bikes (bmx and fixed gear), and I enjoy wrenching & tinkering in general, so I'm very frequently messing with things on my bikes.

It's just personal preference, what is inconsequential minutiae to one rider might mean a lot to the next one, if you ride your bike without tweaking and customizing it then more power to you - to each their own! I've thoroughly modified my linux OS on my laptop, while others are just fine and dandy with whatever stock windows OS came on their machine - again, to each their own! I don't take that as you 'hating' btw, I totally get that some don't like customizing their stuff, whatever floats your boat

I ride Kink Lynx bars and have left them alone. Never cut them down. They feel perfect to me and I'm 6' 2" because I'm used to the smaller and narrower bars we all rode back in the days. They are 8.25 rise 28.8 width and I run them with a top load as well