Super Narrow Handlebars VS Wind Tunnel | How Fast Really Are They? 

Best video for a long while from this channel

In my experience, many people who have the opinion that narrow handlebars are dangerous have never tried them. Like he says, they feel different but they’re certainly not dangerous. I have 32s on my aero bike and 36s in my everyday bike and I’m never going back.

The Zipp reference bar appears to have round tube section on the tops, so I think the gains to be had by switching to the narrower bars are likely inflated a bit over what you'd find comparing varying widths of aero bars.

In the 1990s we were chopping mtb bars really short 😂 Seriously tho, I've just put so 36cm on my road bike, could have gone narrower by some, elbows still tucking in , did some big climbs in the race last weekend, no problem apart from being an old fart.

I figured out that I was the fastest in the long run, when I used the handle bars, which suited me the best /my shoulder width (42cm) the best. Because I did not feel pain with those and wanted to continue my journey. Atleast that is what I felt, due to that I sold my tinier handle bars.

Very well presented. Enjoyed that

I am a bit lost: only one table from the video compares narrow bar with super narrow bar. But the final table mentioned just narrow bars and it is not clear - is it narrow or super narrow and of it is just one of the - were is a comparison with another one?

I think so many riders who never use the drops descending with such a narrow handlebar is asking for disaster. Maybe faster but I really think they could be super dangerous. Also climbing somebody who gets out the saddle to power out of a climb, how much would you lose power wise ? Be like standing up on the tops.

Since Paero=0.5*rho*CdA*V^3 you can plot the expected ∆Paero analytical curves together with what you measured. Unfortunately many measurements are way off -- probably your position which wasn't the same at different speeds. This would be easier to see (and diagnose) if you reported CdA instead of watts. So lots of noise, but the signal shows that narrow still clearly better.

Come on then Cycling Weekly & WX-R, when/where can we get hold of these handlebars (can't find any mention of them on social media or their website), please?

Cambié este año de 42~44 a 38 y ya no vuelvo atrás. He ganado en comodidad y aerodinámica y no noto perjuicio en subidas de pié. También hay que decir que he bajado de peso 20 kilogramos y éso también beneficia en bicicleta 😂

Now, please hit the road and share with us how these bars feel - especially on climbs, descents and going around corners. Simply compare them to “regular” width handlebars.

where could i find this handlebars? not on the wx-rwebsite

Yes, manufacturing tooling for carbon fiber parts is very expensive, but that’s only if you’re planning to do serial production. One off and low volume carbon part production is actually quite inexpensive, and can be done in your garage if you’re willing to put in the time and effort.

Test flawed with -10 stem on the narrow? Looks like a pro vibe vs fsa 6 degree on the ordinary handlebar.

That WXR track bike looks incredible.

I would not want to use them in a Criterium. What about bars with a deeper drop??

Hey, thanks a lot for doing this. I’m wondering if you could post the differences between the aggressive, aggressive drops and super aggressive drops position? Which was fastest?

how about not using a round base rather ein aero base 40cm bar.

Great video guys, impressive and interesting results. Thanks for sharing them

What about climbing with them , I find narrow handlebars knock my timing to hell on a climb ?

And I'm using a 36cm zipp sl 80, and those gains are out there. I'm not going to do it though. I'm not that radical because my shoulder size is 38.

Before claiming them comfy and usable go try them at alpine descents. Sitiing still with a static bike might be a bit misleading

I used 36cm for two yrs now. Yeah I can definitely feel watts saving but don’t go for a narrower one as it might not be easy to control on road.

10:05 right knee collapse in on pedal stroke. May be as simple as a cleat adjustment?

My 2023 Giant Propel comes with 42 cm wide handlebars… Who needs that? Why waste aero gains like that?

This year switched to a new way of riding the bike keeping the normal handle bars. I took the approach of cupping one hand over the other while the bottom palm hand cups over the top of the steerer cap, this gives me a more aero position without compromising the back position. Both arms come in at middle point over the top of the steerer cap top. This also puts less stress on the middle and ends of the carbon handle bars. During an emergency this is also faster to reach the handle bars and the brakes as your body is not forward on top go the aero tt bars your head literally stays over the top steerer cap.

There's a huge difference in tarmac, track, wind tunnel riding,wind tunnel no tyre micro bouncing track medium bouncing tarmac more tyre bouncing, consider testing all of the three?

at that point might as well go with tt bar.

I don't mind narrow bars until it's time to climb. It actually takes more energy climbing with narrow bars

Guys, it's not "WX-R" , it is pronounced Worx. Props for promoting this vastly underated brand though !

Thank you for the video but the numbers vary so much with speed that is not making any sense.

I’m wondering how stable these handlebars feel in a sprint 🤔

Posição das garrafinhas de água, interferem na ciclística da bike.

PÊLOS E CABELOS INTERFEREM NA VELOCIDADE.

The bars look exactly like the ones from Lambda Racing

So ride on the tops upright instead of hoods

Intermarché-wanty is belgian!!!!

i can sit in super aggresive position for 10-15 minutes : )

SAPATILHAS "AERODINÂMICAS" AJUDAM GANHAR VELOCIDADE.

36 is the narrowest they should go. 38 is the new 40 in my opinion.

I know narrow bars save watts, but these numbers just don't make any sense if you think about them for a second.

Its an ad

☠️

The only time I am really going over 40k/h is when going downhill. Not sure I want to go 75 on anything narrower than 42…

Save time and energy by riding a time trial bike

These likely are adding to the prevalence of the bad crashes we are seeing now.

I am strongly opposed to such "tech" which shapes more and more what the rider should be like to win. It is the same nonsense with engineers narrowing Q-factors and eliminating 60% of the riders from racing who can't possibly ride with such Q-factors without ligament damage. Narrow bars can work fine for narrow chests, wider chests will stress their rib cage on a long ride, limit their breathing volume, and be in chest pain for 2 days following a race. So would those figures hold up for a wider chested rider? I don't think so, it might not make any difference if not make negative difference as their arms can't possibly go parallel to the stream. So we are going to see really narrow riders with knee/angle shapes that can ride 90mm Q with 34mm bars. I wish the sport took advice 80% from orthopedics and ergonomics experts than from engineers whose idea of the perfect machine is a designed machine to ride it other than human. Watts watts watts, show me a study that shows watt output drop due to discomfort over 2 - 4 - 8 hrs of riding in the perfect bike, and the same for the same rider with a comfortable machine. Races are won at the end, outside the velodrome. In the velodrome for 4 rounds you can be strapped like a salami and take no breath and still have high output.

Looks weird

Great for Track racing, but shouldn't be used on the road; too narrow doesn't help with control.

Try climbing out of the saddle up a very steep gradient using these silly bars plus not suitable for anyone over 5'10" as they restrict your breathing-but hey its the trend so these will be up there with knee length socks , oversized sunglasses , darth vader aero helmets as the latest must have accessory for the middle class hipsters & posers that the cycle industry now caters for

I’ve been watching F1 for too long - I heard $20k to manufacture handlebars and laughed at how cheap that sounded 😅

Super narrow,no control.

Just get aerobars 🙄

@55kph that really is ‘staggering’ 🤣. I mean Staggeringly irrelevant!. It would make more sense to use CDA rather than an inflated metric proportional to the square of speed. You can bump up the speed to get a staggeringly high difference in watts. How many watts do you need to ride at 55 kph?: More than the world record for a 10 mile TT on a road bike (51.6kph) 🤣.