Ludicrously wide handlebars - chopped.

[Pale Rider]

My latest ebike has ludicrously wide handlebars - about 30" - which is daft for a bike designed for not much more than gravel paths.

So I set about the nervy task of chopping them.

My other bikes seem OK with bars about 25/26" wide, so I decided to take a little under two inches off each end.

Fair bit of junk on the bars to shift, and trust Herr Rohloff to leave a little tripwire for me in the shape of tiny Torx bolts on the shifter.

Following advice from my brother, my cutting weapon of choice was a C-type pipe cutter - worked OK and only cost £3 from Screwfix.

Just as well it was cheap, because I'm unlikely to use it very often.

Here's a before pic:

And here's after:

The eagle-eyed among you may notice I took the opportunity to have a minor rearrangement on the bars.

My cheapie Decathlon bar bag is now mounted lower down, taking advantage of the factory fit 'butcher's bike' front carrier.

Mr Garmin will now have to live on the right hand side, and I've angled the brakes and Ergon grips more to my liking.

Here's what I chopped, and the tool used to do it.

Looks a good job, well done.

Although I'm a great believer in the law of unintended consequences when it comes to bike fettling, so when I go for a ride tomorrow I may discover something doesn't work as well as previously.

 

[Saluki]

Your ruler takes me right back to my school days

Looks a neat job. Well done. I do hope that everything works as it should for you.

 

[Pale Rider]

Your ruler takes me right back to my school days

Looks a neat job. Well done. I do hope that everything works as it should for you.

Thanks.

I was pleased the Woolworths stamp came out well on the photo.

 

[Spiderweb]

Nice neat job.
Are you collecting rugs?!

 

[Pale Rider]

Wooden floor, can't be bothered to do anything with it.

The idea is the rugs are disposable if they get too grubby, although me being me, they've been there a few years.

Actually, I found one dumped in the back lane - waste not, want not.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I chopped mine off too, from the Pinnacle: went conservative, should really take off another half inch, one day when I can be bothered removing all the bar furniture.
My pipe cutter is bigger than yours

 

[Pale Rider]

I chopped mine off too, from the Pinnacle: went conservative, should really take off another half inch, one day when I can be bothered removing all the bar furniture.
My pipe cutter is bigger than yours

And there was me thinking my pipe cutter tip was exclusive.

As you know, it would be a lot easier trimming half an inch with a pipe cutter than it would be with a hacksaw.

 

[Dirk]

As you know, it would be a lot easier trimming half an inch with a pipe cutter than it would be with a hacksaw.

I took 2" off both of our hybrids bars using a hacksaw.
No probs.
End result was far more comfortable.

 

[Mo1959]

I hacksawed off nearly 2" on my Charge Grater too without any problem. Much comfier. Don't know why they make some of them so wide.

 

[Pale Rider]

I hacksawed off nearly 2" on my Charge Grater too without any problem. Much comfier. Don't know why they make some of them so wide.

I believe there's a theory about mountain bikers needing the extra leverage on gnarly trails.

Still makes little sense, because your Grater, Dirk's bikes, and my bike are not mountain bikes but still come with stupidly wide bars.

 

[Drago]

If modern yoof weren't so wimpy and lacking in muscle tone from years of PlayStation idleness they wouldn't need the mechanical advantage of such wide bars.

 

[screenman]

Choice, it is easier to make wide bars shorter than narrow bars longer.

 

[Sixmile]

Another month on, have you gotten used to your new bars now? This is something I've been planning on doing as I'm blaming some of the pains in my shoulders on the unnecessary wide bars on my hybrid. Did you fully remove the bars from your bike to cut them or leave them attached to the stem?

 

[Pale Rider]

Another month on, have you gotten used to your new bars now? This is something I've been planning on doing as I'm blaming some of the pains in my shoulders on the unnecessary wide bars on my hybrid. Did you fully remove the bars from your bike to cut them or leave them attached to the stem?

I chopped the bars on the bike.

No need to remove them assuming there's enough slack in the brake hoses and cables to move the levers and shifters out of the way.

The little cutter worked well, just clamp it on, wind it around a few times, tighten it a bit, and repeat.

More than good enough for a single job, although if you had lots to do you'd want something a bit faster.

The narrower bars are fine for me, although comfort is individual.

Unlikely narrowing yours would make the bike less comfortable, so I reckon it's worth a go for you.

 

[andrew_s]

Pipe cutters work well.
The only problems are that there's a minimum cut, and that the cut end is fractionally thicker than it was before, as I found when trimming a steerer, and finding that the stem wouldn't go back on without a little file work to tidy up.