Hello.
I bought my significant other a cannondale rush feminine for Christmas. It’s her first mtb. She had been riding my spare singlespeed with a 26” flat bar, seat slammed down and forward since November. I’ve been tweaking the fit since giving her the bike: I put a short 70mm stem on the other day. A zero layback seatpost is on the way too. This bike came with a 27” wide FSA riser bar. I realize that handlebar width can come down to nothing more than personal preference. Logic would dictate that wider shoulders require wider bars, but if I look at my own riding history this theory disappears. I started on a cropped 19” flat bars in the 1980’s when we were all taking pipe cutters to our bars. Nowadays I find it’s impossible to be “too wide” I’m putting a 28” inch bar on my next bike, which will be proportionately wider than my shoulder width should dictate… (Does that make sense?)
So, given that she is 5’6” and small framed, should I leave the bars as they are until she gains enough experience to know whether she likes them or not? Do smaller women, generally, run a narrower bar? Thanks for any input.
I bought my significant other a cannondale rush feminine for Christmas. It’s her first mtb. She had been riding my spare singlespeed with a 26” flat bar, seat slammed down and forward since November. I’ve been tweaking the fit since giving her the bike: I put a short 70mm stem on the other day. A zero layback seatpost is on the way too. This bike came with a 27” wide FSA riser bar. I realize that handlebar width can come down to nothing more than personal preference. Logic would dictate that wider shoulders require wider bars, but if I look at my own riding history this theory disappears. I started on a cropped 19” flat bars in the 1980’s when we were all taking pipe cutters to our bars. Nowadays I find it’s impossible to be “too wide” I’m putting a 28” inch bar on my next bike, which will be proportionately wider than my shoulder width should dictate… (Does that make sense?)
So, given that she is 5’6” and small framed, should I leave the bars as they are until she gains enough experience to know whether she likes them or not? Do smaller women, generally, run a narrower bar? Thanks for any input.