For me, these aren’t major issues, but if you like climbing with your hands on the tops, or simply find it a more relaxing, upright position to ride in, you might feel differently. One of the biggest conundrums facing cyclists upgrading their handlebars is the question of what material to choose. The ends of a wider handlebar, for example, have to travel further when turning, which slows down the speed of steering for a given force input. This should make it easier to steer the bike accurately and not over or understeer. As we say above, price is the most common top consideration for people buying cycling gear…the same goes for buying Cycling.

Again, the key thing for any rider is to weigh up the potential benefits against any disadvantages. Handlebar width can have an impact on your aerodynamic drag, too. In general terms, narrower equals faster. We are continuously looking to improve our products. Besides a thirty-year experience in producing bicycle components, we work together with top cycling teams, athletes and mechanics to innovate and develop the best products out on the market. Every year our products are used by the top riders and cycling teams in the most difficult and demanding one-day classics like Milano-Sanremo or Paris-Roubaix as well as Gran Tours. New materials and aerodynamic designs play a very important role in this, that’s way we consistently invest in R&D and testing. Find the right Deda Elementi handlebar

Narrow elbow pads are an increasingly common sight on dedicated time trial bikes. Simon Bromley / Immediate Media

If you need to mount a light, you might have to attach it to the underside of an out-front computer mount, for example. Road racers might have something to gain, but narrow handlebars won’t be for everyone. Russell Burton / Immediate MediaAdopt the aero position and climb harder and faster with a set of drop handlebars from Wiggle. Choose from alloy or carbon drop bars from leading manufacturers, opting for drop down handlebars focused on comfort, or precision-engineered aero drop bars for an air-slicing race profile. Riser Handlebars Nevertheless, if you regularly ride lots of very steep climbs or if you have a strong preference for climbing out of the saddle (efficiency be damned), then I can see this being less enjoyable and more tiring. The ugly Because of this, Koop recommends narrow handlebars are “best suited to a more steady riding style” and more experienced riders.

All else being equal, riding at 40kph requires you to output around eight times the power needed to ride at 20kph, and so on.Some manufacturers are starting to introduce a small amount of flare to their handlebars. This sees the drops measure slightly wider than the measurement between the hoods. It’s a popular trend with gravel bike handlebars, but the flare on road handlebars is more subtle. Assuming you get on with them in terms of comfort and control (that, of course, is vital), a change of handlebars can be a better-value upgrade than a new bike or a set of fancy road bike wheels. If you’re racing, it can also make moving through the bunch a little easier. How to choose the shape of your handlebars

Reach is the distance from the tops of the bars to the most forward portion of the bend and is a measurement of particular interest to women who feel too stretched out when grabbing their brakes. Drop is the distance from the top of the handlebars to the bottom (usually measured center to center) and when too deep, maneuvering to reposition from hoods to drops can feel unsafe. If, at this point, you’re intrigued by the prospect of some easy aero gains, the obvious follow up questions are: “How narrow should I go?” and “How narrow is too narrow?”. Another advantage of drop bars is that they are narrower than flat handlebars - meaning they are better for filtering through traffic on the daily commute; drop handlebars can be around 40cm narrower than flat bars, so it’s quite a margin. Wide bars such as these 46cm G Series gravel bars by ENVE, offer greater stability, which can be important for inexperienced riders or for those who take on mixed or rough surfaces. Alex Evans Essentially, after about ten minutes or so of riding, the bike felt surprisingly normal most of the time.

Typically, you’re more likely to find wide handlebars on gravel bikes, where the extra width can contribute to greater slow speed and off-road control. The combination of a narrow hoods position for straight-line cruising, and a more normal (in relative terms) drops position for descending and high-speed cornering, was welcome, then. As most cyclists will protest, none of us are truly average, so tailoring the bars to suit you is a good idea. This is particularly relevant for women who have bought a unisex bike over a female specific bike: most women have narrower shoulders compared to men of the same height so will want a narrower handlebar. Before testing, I was concerned such a narrow handlebar would make the bike difficult to handle, but my fears were misplaced. And the result? Well, here’s how my experience played out on the road (with the caveat that I am, as you might have gathered by now, someone who is interested in experimenting with this kind of thing). The good