New Handle bars/And stem?

[MonsterEnergy]

The idea of wider bars on MTB’s is better control off road, keeping the chest cavity open for easier breathing, and better balance on the bike, what‘s suitable on a hybrid is irrelevant on an out and out off road machine, it’s definitely an improvement, not a fashion trend.

thanks for the back up

 

[MonsterEnergy]

I have found a problem in my hands. I bought 800mm wide Nukeproof handlebars, and my brake lever cable and gear lever are too short to stretch to get them onto my new handlebars. Does this mean i will need to take it to halfords(my local bike service shop), and get them to fit longer cables and fit my handlebars?

 

[DRM]

Depends how confident you are at removing the original cables/outers and if you have sharp enough cutters to trim the inner & outer cables without crushing or fraying them, does your bike have hydraulic or cable brakes, if it’s hydraulic just take it in as you will need to bleed the brakes once you’ve lengthened the hoses, so you will need the correct fluid, hoses, olives and a bleed kit, if it’s cable just brake & gear cables, inner and outer, some ferrules to cover the cut cable ends as I think your shifters will be in the wrong place too., if your not confident just take it to the lbs.

 

[MonsterEnergy]

Depends how confident you are at removing the original cables/outers and if you have sharp enough cutters to trim the inner & outer cables without crushing or fraying them, does your bike have hydraulic or cable brakes, if it’s hydraulic just take it in as you will need to bleed the brakes once you’ve lengthened the hoses, so you will need the correct fluid, hoses, olives and a bleed kit, if it’s cable just brake & gear cables, inner and outer, some ferrules to cover the cut cable ends as I think your shifters will be in the wrong place too., if your not confident just take it to the lbs.

Yes they are Hydraulic brakes. And no i am defintly not confident as much as i would love to be. In the past i have broken a deraillier when trying to re - align it and don't want to do anything else to make it worse.

 

[Spiderweb]

I have found a problem in my hands. I bought 800mm wide Nukeproof handlebars, and my brake lever cable and gear lever are too short to stretch to get them onto my new handlebars. Does this mean i will need to take it to halfords(my local bike service shop), and get them to fit longer cables and fit my handlebars?

Could you not slide the brake levers/shifters on to the new handlebars whilst the handlebars are loose, before you actually bolt them to the stem?
Cables may still be too short but worth a try to see.

 

[DRM]

Could you not slide the brake levers/shifters on to the new handlebars whilst the handlebars are loose, before you actually bolt them to the stem?
Cables may still be too short but worth a try to see.

That sounds like a plan, at least when it goes into the LBS, the new bars will be fitted, and they will know how much hose will be needed to place the brake levers in the correct position, if as suggested above, remove the stem front plate, loosen the brake levers & shifters right off so they slide easily along the bars, move one side right in towards the stem, then you should have enough slack to slide the opposite side off the bars, then you can slide the remaining brake lever & shifter off the bar, then reverse the procedure to refit everything.

 

[MonsterEnergy]

Could you not slide the brake levers/shifters on to the new handlebars whilst the handlebars are loose, before you actually bolt them to the stem?
Cables may still be too short but worth a try to see.

was just going to ask.
If i take the old handlebars of the stem, and then un-loosen the cables and grips and then put them onto the new handlebars, and then put the new handlebars on the stem. Shorly that would work wouldent it?
I could probably still keep the cables all the same place on the handlebars, as they are not too much longer

 

[MonsterEnergy]

Yep ok. I am going to try that today hopefully it will bring me luck, as i couldent wait for these bars, and when i found it wouldent stretch i just went into panic mode...But hopefully this will work now.

 

[DRM]

Yep ok. I am going to try that today hopefully it will bring me luck, as i couldent wait for these bars, and when i found it wouldent stretch i just went into panic mode...But hopefully this will work now.

Go for it, just don't pull too hard on the brake lever hoses, good luck

 

[MonsterEnergy]

Go for it, just don't pull too hard on the brake lever hoses, good luck

u mean when i'm taking them off, don't pull them too hard, just pull them off gently?
Sorry i'm not so good at understanding as you can probably tell

 

[DRM]

u mean when i'm taking them off, don't pull them too hard, just pull them off gently?
Sorry i'm not so good at understanding as you can probably tell

Yes, as you slide the brake levers off the bars, don't stretch the hoses, push the side that's coming off second towards the middle of the bars, that should give you some slack to remove the opposite side, once you have one side off hold the brake lever and slide the bars out

 

[fossyant]

Don't forget to undo the bar from the stem. You'll find most MTB bars will need to be removed before taking off brakes and gear levers.

 

[Pikey]

Is there any actual rationale behind this wider bars idea or is it just a question of following the latest fashion?
There are several reasons why fitting wider bars to a bike can actually be a bad idea. One is it makes getting bikes through anti-motorcycle barriers on paths more of a problem. You might end up having to keep picking the bike up and walking through pedestrian gates with it held above your head, which can be a pain. Another reason is wider bars make passing other riders coming the opposite way more awkward in tight spaces, and even when there's no-one to pass, wide bars get caught up more often in vegetation that may not ever be a problem with narrower bars. Another factor is fit & riding position. If you have your hand grips further apart, either the bars have to move closer to the rider, or the rider has to lean forward closer to the bars. Your arms aren't going to grow any longer so something else has to give instead.
I've actually cut down more than one set of flat bars shorter, to make the bike easier to get through tight overgrown places and improve rider comfort by narrowing the hand grip spacing.

There is a lot of talk of better control etc... etc... some people swear by them. My new mtb came with 780s I think, difficult to get through the house to get it out, difficult to pass people on tow paths, also found that they were far too wide for my biomechanics, caused me to take some sort of weird hunched shoulder position on the bike causing all manner of shoulder and upper back probs. My old mtb with virtually the same geometry had 690s, no probs.
I’ve just put a 710 with a slightly bigger rise on the new mtb. I don’t think I’ll be going back any wider!!!

 

[MonsterEnergy]

Hello all.
I have managed to change them and they are very nice Nukeproof handlebars. Slight problem is they are quite a bit too wide, so may have to get a pipe cutter and chop them down abit. Unless, anyone can lmk of another way of cutting them that won't cost too much. They are as i say 800mm but not too sure what width would be best as dont want to cut too much off. Anyone know how i can find out what width would be best. Thanks

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Anyone know how i can find out what width would be best.

Fit the brakes at the same spacing they were on the original bars then move them in very small increments. Whatever spacing gives the best ergonomics is the width you need.
I wouldn't be surprised if you end up refitting the original bars as you've found out the hard way that over-wide ones don't work very well and aren't comfortable.