MBTR Dorkdom: Bar Height

[Anospa]

Its winter, so a tiny bit of bike dorking is ok right?

I built up my SB-66c last March and love the shit out of it. I went very enduro on it and got RaceFace SixC 785mm bars on it. I carried over the 160mm Lyrik from my Spec enduro, which didn't leave me with much steerer tube to work with. This puts the bars pretty low (few riding buddies constantly heckle about it). Its a large frame. I'm a hair under 6', and I love long bikes. Its all compromises, and I know going narrower on the bars would get back a bit of what I'm after, but it feels way too good for how I want the bike to ride when it counts.

Picture for reference of bar height:


It feels amazing descending/etc, but casual trail rides or climbing there are times where I wish I could be a tad bit more upright. I don't particularly want to spend money and get a new fork, and the cost of new uppers/steerer seem to be prohibitive as well. I'm building up a cheap singlespeed right now, and am thinking about switching the bar and stem from the yeti to it, and getting a new set for the yeti.

They are 3/4" riser bars right now, and would be likely replacing them with a 35mm riser bar, which would give me bars that are .62" higher.

I haven't swapped a ton of bars/etc around in my time biking, but would .62" be a noticeable difference in bike feel? I'm thinking it might, but also feel like the money could be better spent on new fork come late spring when money isn't so much an issue.

[backcountry1pr]

Hard to tell... but it looks like your bars are rotated "back" quite a bit, so that the rise of the bar is not giving you much height, rather just reducing reach? Or you just have bars with a lot of sweep?

If so, first thing to try would be rotating your bars forward to up up/rise what you have.

If not, yes, you would notice .62. Or I think most people would. That would be a big shift in bar height.

You can pick up used higher rise alloy 1 3/8 bars pretty cheap on places like Pinkbike, rather than dropping a bunch of coin for 35mm stuff, too.

[Anospa]

I think they may be rolled differently than what's shown in that picture. That's when I first built it up before riding, pretty sure I adjusted it but I'll definitely take a look.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Yeah, those bars are rolled way back. Made that mistake before. With bars that wide, you kinda want to be low. If you can't sit upright enough, move your seat forward or get a shorter stem.

[joetron]

Yeah, that is a fair bit of seat to bar drop, you got some long legs.

Getting a little more bar height is going to make the bike feel a lot better in steep techy stuff. Find a mid level riser bar for $40 or $50 and see what you think. .52in = 15mm, thats a pretty good difference that you will def. feel. Pick up a couple 5mm hs spacers while you are at it, so you can drop your stem and shuffle some spacers around if you want a fit somewhere in the middle.

Despite what Stuckie says, don't mess with your seat position to solve this. It's position on the rails is more a function of your femur length, which would appear to be on the longer side unless you have the worlds longest tib/fib.

[El Chupacabra]

They are 3/4" riser bars right now, and would be likely replacing them with a 35mm riser bar, which would give me bars that are .62" higher.

Not sure why going from 31.8 to 35mm would result in your handlebars being higher, but I guess you're talking about getting a higher-rise bar as part of that swap. Also (captain obvious), you could take that opportunity to buy a stem with a steeper angle, and bring up the bars that way.

This would all be cheaper to play around with on 31.8 bars/stems.

[Anospa]

Yeah, that is a fair bit of seat to bar drop, you got some long legs.

Getting a little more bar height is going to make the bike feel a lot better in steep techy stuff. Find a mid level riser bar for $40 or $50 and see what you think. .52in = 15mm, thats a pretty good difference that you will def. feel. Pick up a couple 5mm hs spacers while you are at it, so you can drop your stem and shuffle some spacers around if you want a fit somewhere in the middle.

Despite what Stuckie says, don't mess with your seat position to solve this. It's position on the rails is more a function of your femur length, which would appear to be on the longer side unless you have the worlds longest tib/fib.

As a general rule, I ignore whatever he says. Seat's not moving, its comfy and not the problem.

I have two spacers under the stem right now. I believe they are 5mm's and that's the extent of spacers I can run with the length of the steerer tube I have to play with.

35mm is amount of rise the bars I am looking at have, which also happens to be the clamp diameter haha!

I'm gonna see if anyone local has a 50mm stem with some degree of rise to it and some taller bars I can borrow. I was looking for confirmation that .62" was a sizeable jump in bar height. Thanks for feedback!

[stuckathuntermtn]

Yeah, that is a fair bit of seat to bar drop, you got some long legs.

Getting a little more bar height is going to make the bike feel a lot better in steep techy stuff. Find a mid level riser bar for $40 or $50 and see what you think. .52in = 15mm, thats a pretty good difference that you will def. feel. Pick up a couple 5mm hs spacers while you are at it, so you can drop your stem and shuffle some spacers around if you want a fit somewhere in the middle.

Despite what Stuckie says, don't mess with your seat position to solve this. It's position on the rails is more a function of your femur length, which would appear to be on the longer side unless you have the worlds longest tib/fib.

Dude, look at the picture on a big screen? Bars are rolled flat.

[XXX-er]

That bar does look low in relation to the seat, the big benefit of riser bars is your buddies would quit bugging you but I notice your seat is slammed all the way back I wouldn't discount loosening one screw to try moving the seat forward and ... its free

I went thru a bit of the same thing, I felt too bent over but I didn't wana get too much forward so order riser bars which turned out to be same rise as what the bike came with so they went back, being a Prophet with lefty finding a shorter stem was gona be a hassle so the easiest thing was to try slamming the seat all the way forward AND I liked it left it that way, the bike kinda feels more dirt bike-ish to me of course YMMV

[creaky fossil]

Yeah, those bars are rolled way back. Made that mistake before. With bars that wide, you kinda want to be low. If you can't sit upright enough, move your seat forward or get a shorter stem.

definitely pay attention to this guy, as he has no skill or experience to back up his "advice" and therefore a perfect emblem of Maggot Poseurdom. you can always wait around for him to parrot kidwoo, he's at his most confident when being a Me Too. in any case, if you take The Stuck Ignorance and apply it, you may end up hating your closeted self so much you end up playing the expert badass athlete on the internet.

whenever I have a bike fit issue, the first place I ask for advice is where know-nothings gather to preen with 2d hand "advice" they know nothing about. that means I go looking for The Stuck Ignorance.

for serious? how you gonna know if your bars are too low? you'll feel like you're toppling over frontwards all the time. you may get some sore neck & sore trapezius.

[grinch]

looks low to me but some like lower front ends. I like mine closer to my seat height mainly because at climbing speed you have way more time to bend your elbows to adjust weight forward and keep the front end down. When your descending I don't want it too high, but generally I have it a bit higher than most, as it keeps me from going over the bars and easier/quicker to get pressure on the front tire for cornering. I'm finicky and will shave spacers to get where I want

[jm2e]

Sell the Lyric for a few hundred and pick up a used/takeoff Pike. By the time you get a couple more stems and a few more handlebars the money will be a wash. The new fork will get you the height you want, drop a bunch of weight and feel better in a better kind of shocky way.

Or try narrower bars.

[Anospa]

Its the internet and TGR, so I'll excuse the lack of reading comprehension: the picture is old. I believe I've moved the seat around and the bars are not rolled back so much (the picture was taken the day I finished the build), but I suppose its worth triple checking.

Based on how it felt all year plus hitting bike park trails a half dozen days in place of my DH bike, it feels close to perfect. Its winter, so I'm kicking around ideas until it dries out or snows.

Looking on pb buy/sell, Lyriks are going for ~$300. I suppose using that to finance a new pike is something to consider. I definitely do not want to acquire a box full of stems and bars, building up the hardtail is what's driving the idea of recycling my current bar and stem. Definitely appreciate all the opinions, thanks guys!

[XXX-er]

Its the internet and TGR, so I'll excuse the lack of reading comprehension: the picture is old. I believe I've moved the seat around and the bars are not rolled back so much (the picture was taken the day I finished the build), but I suppose its worth triple checking.
.!

then why bother showing us "a picture for reference of bar height" which you now tell us isn't even accurate cuz you rotated the bars & moved the seat, the same seat which you say you weren't gona move ?

[stuckathuntermtn]

Hahaha. He's got a point.

[creaky fossil]

no he doesn't, Oh Pee was asking about the vert measurement between bar and saddle top

that vert measurement doesn't change significantly with bar roll in stem unless bar is a 3" rise, which I can see you not-riding but owning, Stuck-in-Ignorance, but which isn't in the picture Oh Pee provided

shit it must suck badly to be so ignorant and so friendless in your New Mountain Valhalla that your online image has to carry the day since meatspace you is worthless POS

[Anospa]

then why bother showing us "a picture for reference of bar height" which you now tell us isn't even accurate cuz you rotated the bars & moved the seat, the same seat which you say you weren't gona move ?

I don't constantly take pictures of my bike, so that was the only one I could find for reference to show the height of the bars... They don't have much rise to them, so rolling won't affect it drastically.

[stuckathuntermtn]

You could have taken a new picture. It costs you literally $0.

[XXX-er]

I don't constantly take pictures of my bike, so that was the only one I could find for reference to show the height of the bars... They don't have much rise to them, so rolling won't affect it drastically.

weak sauce, if you want to get help on a very specific question the least you could do take a current picture and be very specific

its obvious you wanted to show us your cool bike

[grinch]

It'd b cooler if the bars were higher

[stuckathuntermtn]

Sweet bike, though.

[jm2e]

Hey, do you have a problem with water inside your frame? I've got a buddy with an SB66 and it seems to collect water. He goes through BBs and Headsets like crazy. He swears it's a problem with the Switch thing.
Seriously.

[Anospa]

It is the cooliest! This isn't mbtr, I don't have CAD drawings of my bike setup.

I haven't had any premature bb or headset bearing wear from water. I tried some aftermarket bb replacement bearings that didn't last long due to some tolerance issues, but the XT bb I replaced it with has been spinning fine. Its the carbon one, maybe there's a difference with the alloy one? Shop friend was on an alloy one for a season and a half and never mentioned that issue.

[joetron]

Hey, do you have a problem with water inside your frame? I've got a buddy with an SB66 and it seems to collect water. He goes through BBs and Headsets like crazy. He swears it's a problem with the Switch thing.
Seriously.

I worked on a lot of those two summers ago. Many overhauls, etc at a big Yeti dealer. I never noticed anything out of the ordinary. Is there a chance your friend gets a little spicy with the hose?

[jm2e]

Yea, he probably "over cleans" his bike. It's carbon. I thought maybe he could pull a water bottle screw to drain/breath, but those are under the downtime and hold the skid/protector thing.
Weird, every time he flips it over water leaks out of the headset. Can actually hear water moving around in there.