Road Handlebars: How Narrow Is Too Narrow?

What the best handlebar width for road cycling? Our senior tech writer, Simon Bromley, answers the question, how narrow is too narrow?

Away from steep hills, aerodynamic drag is usually the biggest force slowing cyclists down. But while the best aero road bikes have seen almost all of their parts painstakingly optimised to slice through the wind as cleanly as possible, stock handlebar widths have been largely unchanged for years.

If you’ve seen some of Simon’s recent videos you’ve no doubt noticed him riding a narrow road handlebar. And plenty of you in the comments have asked why? Well, you’ve asked for it so let Simon dive into the crazy world of handlebar width and answer some key questions surrounding what we think could be a new trend in road cycling.

Can you get over the look of a narrow bar? Or is speed not the #1 concern? Please let us know your preferred bar width in the comments!

00:00 Intro
00:59 What are narrow handlebars?
01:46 How is handlebar width measured?
02:19 Why might you want to use narrow handlebars?
04:18 How do narrow handlebars effect handling?
07:26 How narrow should you go?
09:03 Advantages
10:43 Drawbacks
11:50 How narrow is too narrow?
13:11 Simon’s current favourite bars
13:43 Outro

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