Here is a set at 600mm from the factory I found in my spare parts bin, thst came on a used bike, too narrow for me.If you need narrow, they are not yet cut down, PM me and we can figure it out.
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What bike is this on?
A fat bikeā¦.
Making big changes to the manufacturer-designed stem length is sketchy. MTB, much more so than road, depends on geometry for proper handling and suspension behavior. Moving the stem a long way in or a long way out can change that drastically. The pros are obviously exceptions to every rule, but even they donāt seem to be running super-long stems anymore. They do seem to run a highly negative slope stem, but it isnāt universally long like it is in the road world. If you need a 90+mm stem, Iād suggest a larger frame and shorter stem. Otherwise the handling will be off.
This is not to say that it canāt be done safely or at all obviously.
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Thatās not necessarily true. If you have the time and money, items like stems, handlebars, spacers, saddles etc. are just starting points. Items you would expect to change out if you took your brand new bike to a bike fitter.
It is important to look at it as a system. If your position on the bike is correct with your 80mm stem, changing that to a 50mm stem would require changes elsewhere to compensate. Like taking out spacers & using wider bars.
I could have a 30mm stem on there and I still wouldnāt ride 770 barsā¦wide bars just arenāt comfortable for me.
Iāve been in this game long enough to understand a product trendā¦Iāve seen bars go from wide to narrow to wide again w/ rise to very wideā¦itāll come back around at some point.
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For small changes, this true. But when making these changes, you must acknowledge that it will change the handling and suspension characteristics, sometimes drastically. A longer stem will move your hands further out over the axle, affecting where your weight is balanced and slowing the handling. A shorter stem will have similar effects, but obviously opposite. It will change things like the sag settings and tire pressure. I have seen bikes with 110mm or 20mm stems when the bike was designed around a 70mm stem. Best believe those bikes are squirrely. Again, not to say it canāt or shouldnāt be done, just know these potentially unintended consequences will accompany the changes you make.
Exactly! Completely agree.
My point is that you can achieve very similar seated reach for putting down power, while getting different handling while standing(for better or worse). But you have to think of it as a system, and not just chopping bars or adding wider bars(unless your bike fit was wrong to begin with).
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This forum is a little behind the ātrendsā if I may - even Pink Bike has articles suggesting that the super wide bar trend went too far. I think most riders land on 760-780 as the tendency to favor the DH is appealing to a broader audience, myself included.
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Good articleā¦but Iām still kinda shaking my head at the widths listed for those riders.
Now, I hardly ride MTBās anymore and when I do, I am renting one when I travel (I donāt even own a modern MTB, other than my fat bike which is used for winter commuting or snow rides), so Iāll admit my preferences could be out of date vs. modern geometryā¦but even when renting one, I am left thinking āthese bars are ridiculousā.
I just ride the MTB course next to my house. I absolutely wonāt go any wider because it hurts my hands (the grips must align with them, and narrower bars makes this easier) and because I quite frequently end up wishing I had another inch or two of clearanceā¦
Itās an XC course, not a downhill course, though.
Im an XC guy myself. My bike same stock with 720mm, so yeah I guess chop 20mm off each side. Didnt know my dimensions until I just checked
Iām on a width sweep finding journey for my Mtbās. Currently at 740 at 9 degree sweep w/50 or 60mm stem, depending on the bike. Iām pretty small at 5ā5ā. Im on 42c bars & a 70mm stem on my gravel bike & holy cow do those feel small!
Iāve run width as narrow as 600 something with sweep from as much as 24 degrees to 8, I think. Most of the past few years has been spent with SQlab 12 degree sweep bars at 720mm. I found myself getting horrible pain in the heel of my right hand with those bars. It didnāt start out that way but something in my physiology has changed, I guess. Iām currently very happy with the 740/9 Iām on now. I always ride with my hands at the far ends of the grips. There is some term I canāt think of right now (maybe cognitive extension?) that says if my hands are at the ends of the bars, Iām much less likely to clip a tree with them & itās true enough. I ride in some very tight trees and rarely have a problem.
Like youāre saying itās not the bars in isolation, itās the whole āpackageā with the modern geometry. Canāt just look at one part.
For mountain biking, aerodynamics is far less important than for road biking. So there is no āneedā to go narrow for that reason. Other than holding on to the bars while seated, the primary āinputsā the bars are either pushing or pulling.
Just like a pull-up & push-up can be done with either narrow or wide grip, a bar can be narrow or wide relative to the user. But for most(?) people, their best strength doing pushing and pulling is somewhere around shoulder width. So at least to me, it makes sense that the ideal handle bar width, when discounting aero, is somewhere around that too.
Reviving this old thread!
Iāve finally cut my MTB bars to 720mm (from 740), has anyone else gone narrow since the wide handlebar craze a few years back?
Since Iāve become primarily a gravel racer (on 400mm bars) my XC MTB handlebars have felt absurdly wide, particularly when pack racing. My annual MTB races now consist of a 100 mile race and 2 races thatās are 65% gravel (though too rough to run a gravel bike). So in an effort to feel more natural in large groups, avoid nipping trees (which I have a history of) and possibly gain a bit of aero benefit, Iām giving 720mm a go.
Iām also running 720 and feel like that size is a sweet spot for me.
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Iām going from 178 to 175. Old
I recently watched some vintage coverage from a XC race in the early 90āsā¦while I think the current trend of ultra-wide bars is over the top, watching these legends roll around on comically narrow HB was pretty funny.
And trees.
Yes, wider bars can give you more leverage when riding, and thatās not a bad thing, but hitting trees with your knuckles is a potential career ending incident.
My MTB bars are 665, and fat bike are ~705. I also use bar ends on both bikes as ābark bitersā and they also can help climbing. 
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Iāve been on 720s for the past two years and have never felt like Iāve ever needed more width.
As a matter of fact, I could see trying 700s or 680s for most of my ridingā¦ I think I might even have an alloy bar somewhere I could cut down to tryā¦ 
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