I have been trying to fine tune my bike geometry and using some of the on line self measuring pages. Flat bar road bikes do not get a mention, only road and MTBs.
The length, TT+stem, I am happy with, but the bar width and lever position is not clear.
Any one with experience in the area please comment as there are 3 of us with different sholder measurements all supplied with 580mm bars. I am sure some should be cut down by 25mm or more to make the fit more comfortable.
One idea I have is the middle fingers, when placed on the brake lever, should be the same distance apart as the recomended width for drop bars... So I have moved levers and grips in about 13mm a side and one rider commented, "less back strain".
Shoulder width to the rider is what I hear to be the correct width. Of course if the rider is more comfortable with a wider or narrower 'bar, there's nothing wrong with that either. And nothing says the grips absolutely, positively, have to be out on the ends of the 'bars. One thing I've been thinking about playing with is a wider 'bar with my grips at the width they are now. This would give me the bare ends to mount certain accessories. Of course this will be less aerodynamic, but for my purposes on a hybrid that doesn't really matter.🙂
We now have some open ended foam grips and bar end plugs so we can make adjustments on the road (no cutting), I will post the outcome in a couple of weeks. 🙂
