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an education on selecting handlebar height
hi all,
just wondering if any clued-up geometry-savy rider out there might be able to give me a brief education on selecting correct handle bar height for my riding style or posture? what determines? You see, I have always had my stem atop 2 spacers on my 2008 giant reign. wondering what would happen if i moved the stem down? don't know what the governing theory is though. anybody care to have a stab? cheers, mark
p.s. my riding style is aggresive xc/ downhill focussed (i.e. i don't worry about my time going up hill because my focus is getting my flow on going back down). for example, my xc bike (the reign in question) is 9 speed with single ring up front (doesn't stop me going anywhere, just not suited for racing) thanks again,
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Its a 60 sec job. Just give it a go and see what differences you feel.
FWIW, I ride a 6" bike in probably a similar style to you but run a riser bar, with riser stem and at the highest point of the steerer tube.
Hi there,
The governing theory is the following. - Lower bar height makes you lean forward more = more weight on front wheel, more aggressive position for xc climbing (also more aero if we really wanna talk specifics).
So you focus on riding fast downhill. Well tbh your bar height is probably fine on top of both spacers.
That being said bar height is very personal. Its not a rule thing like saddle height rather down to personal preference. So play around with it, try it a bit lower. If that doesn't feel good, put it back up again. It really is just a 3 minute job with a set of allen keys if you know what youre doing. Heck you can even do it trackside on a ride if you want, do the same descent three times with the bars at different height each time and see what you think.
Im sorry this may not be the cast in concrete answer you were looking for, but thats how I see it.
Good luck and keep the rubber side down!
Essentially:
Lower bar height gives you better cornering & climbing ability, as there's more weight on the front end. You'll generally need better back flexibility though, and can put extra pressure on your hands.
Higher bar height - Better for control in technical stuff & when the trail points down, at the expense of front wheel traction in corners. Generally a little easier on the back, and less weight on the hands.
Mind you, that's a large generalisation, and YMMV! Personally, if I'm riding lots, my bars tend to be lower, as my core strength and flexibility is better. If I've been off the bike for a while, or not riding much, I generally raise my bar height a bit to compensate for my lack of flexibility.
As mentioned above though, it's an easy change, and your best bet will be to figure out your own best position!
Let me explain this the way I see it.
There are three areas too look at in bike fit:
1. Aerodynamics
this is largely negligible in mountain biking unless you are doing heaps of fire-roads or fast open downhill.
2. Rider center of weight fore and aft
this is very important, it controls the handling of a bike, whereas road bikes are close to 50:50 and a downhill bike is closed to 80:20. It is mostly controlled by a bikes frame geometry (head angle, chainstays, seat tube angle...) but can be modified to a limited extent within the cockpit (stem, bar height, seatpost, bar width).
3. Rider comfort
this is probably the most important with considerations of other factors, and extremely personal, some riders may find riding along for hours with 6" of bar drop and a stretch out cockpit very comfortable, and it could be hell for other. there are systems that put you in the norms (KOPS) but it is something that you have to find what feels better for you and still give power.
With regards to your question, dropping you bar height will stretch you out a little and may give you some more power depending on you comfort. It will also weigh you front wheel a little more which will induce a little extra wheel flop (not noticeable but make turning easier, due to the slack 67 deg head angle) and may make washouts easier. This is just my assumptions tho and you will have to experience it yourself as there are plenty of factors that I don't know (trail, body proportions, ect, ect)
Conclusion: Just give it a go and let us know how you went.
BTW, that was a good use of my smoko break lol.
The stack height on Reigns always felt high to me when I grabbed my mates. Got into riding on an 06' spec enduro which came stock set lower.
Personal preference, try it for a few rides, but I find lower is better for corners, gets weight on front wheel and also lowers your centre of gravity so easier to maintain good lean. I ride a similar style of riding mostly and have it down low with 40mm stem and 750mm bars. Bars get me lower but also get rid of the cramp from the shorter stem (I'm 6'3" with long torso) that I like for handling.
The weight distributions for bikes above are only while static. DH often has much more weight on front in corners. Not sure but the static weight distribution on a DH bike may be more a result of having short chain stays for good handling and having a slack head angle for stability. It feels that for most of the time when riding DH you have weight on the bars in corners to counter this resulting distribution.
I prefer my bars higher for comfort and I feel safer on technical descents. When cornering at a higher speed I try to shift my weight forward like a motogp rider for better traction.
Forgot to mention: lower bars will mean the requirement for greater bending at the lower back. The more you bend, the more you expose yourself to lower back issues.
*This is for seated riding.
Depends on the current trend which seems largely based on what guys Sam Hill and Arron Gwinn are doing.
I remember when every one was cutting their bars down, 620mm was deemed really wide. Bull horn bar end were cool, especially if they were purple ano.
Then Riser bars come in. Running riser bars with bull horns was sneered at. But old skool guys still did it.
2" Risers were not uncommon.
Then people thought, well my lower riser bars have more comfortable back sweep so whacking in a heap of spacers will get it to the same height.
Then someone stuffed up when cutting their steerer and had to run without spacers. Slamming the bars low became the trend. So much so they some people decided running their stem upside down would be the go. After low if low rise was good, "negative rise" must be better.
Now bars have to be really wide...
The marketeers and trend whores managed to come up with all sort of reasoning to convince themselves why they needed to by new gear and modify their bikes. Every single one of the above trends was said to have advantages..
At the end of the day go with what you're comfortable with. Swapping spacers around will let you trail a few different height so do that and make sure you're happy bfore cutter the steerer down
Pretty much what everyone said. Especially trial and error.
Generally for your DH style riding, higher is better but no big deal to test it out.
Regarding geometry, spacer height only changes the riders position. Not head tube angles etc, so its more about shifting weight and rider position and comfort, than anything else.
Generally... for DH/AM you are looking at: slacker head tube angles (with a shorter stem), higher bars, lower seat. This will calm things down at speed. Its more about maintaining control at speed than getting the power down.
XC: 'steeper' head tube angle, lower bars (~100mm stem), and a higher seat. This gives more of a road riding position. Better aerodynamics, but more importantly, better power delivery. Head angle will make things twitchy at speed and low height put more weight on the front.
I'd suggest trying a range of heights. I ended up with my bars quite low even though I "thought" I'd prefer them high. I used the Ghost Rider function on my Garmin GPS to compare speed through a twisty section of track and found that I went quicker in the low position. If you're a down-hiller you might want to try the same thing on your down-hill runs.
Additionally, by the same testing method I found that I was quicker on 2.35" tyres than 2.1" tyres, which is counter intuitive.
i love this site...a stack of great advice within 24 hrs...priceless. thanks guys, great stuff. an education indeed! most amusing post award goes to flynny and his justified attack on trendies
best thing i did was lower my bars on my 07 reign,more control and better balanced bike,the other thing i did was lower my seat the same amount to keep the relationship between my seat height and bar height the same,she rails,jumps ,climbs and turns much better
Make sure that if you lower your stem, loosen your controls on your bars.
This is common practise to avoid them smashing your top tube and braking the lever or worse.
Obviously not too loose that they twist when ever used.
Just an age old tip.
m