Where You Put Your Grips

Need a new set of bars and pretty much everything is blurring together? Start with the rise of the handlebars, which is the imaginary line drawn straight down from the center of your bar end, to the center of your stem. Now what does a taller bar really do for you? A taller bar will increase your leverage and power over your bike however if the bar is too big it will not have the same effect. Also think about the stem that you have on your bike. A front load stem will generally drop your bars while a top load will raise them slightly. A taller bar will also give you the option of taking a few spacers out from under your stem if you prefer the no spacers look. The next measuremnet you want to look at is up sweep. Up sweep is bascially the radius that the handlebars are bent at. Meaning how much of the grip area goes up from where the handlebar is bent. If you want your bars to feel a little taller then they are go for more up sweep. I myself prefer one degree of up sweep because anymore then that hurts my wrist. Back sweep is how much the grip area bends back toward the rider. I have found that this measurement is all preference depending on rider and style so basically you have to try a few bars for yourself. The measurement that means the least to me is width cause if you buy a super wide bar and you don't like it just break out the hacksaw and cut them down. Before you go crazy with that saw in your hands remember most bars can only be cut an inch or two on both sides due to the butting process which means if you cut to much some bar ends might not fit. Heat treated and butted bars soak the market so construction of bars is fairly the same but if you have a problem bending bars go for a bar that weighs a little more and is backed by a warranty to ensure it holds up to your burliness.

Submit questions to qtbmx23@gmail.com or stop by Richardson Bike Mart


Quentin