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How to determine what rise of bars to get?

Spunger

Git yer dumb questions here
Feb 19, 2003
2,257
0
805
Hey guys,

I have some Easton Carbon bars on my Cortina which I use for trail riding/Free ride, just everything except downhill. I was thinking for the life of me why the bike feels odd and determined it to be that it is a narrow bar compared to my Titec Ringleader on the Intense M1 I have.

I have decided to go with another Easton bar, the EA70 if possible. They can be found and had on Ebay for dirt cheap but this is my question.

How in the hell do you know what "rise" to get? My currect bars are a low rise. I don't think much of it besides it is that, low. I have a raceface 70mm x 10 degree rise stem and 1 2.5mm spacer under the stem. I always feel like the front end is low in the bar area.

Just wondering what are some tips to determine the rise of a bar and is 2 or 2.5" too much rise? I feel like it would level the bike out more for just general riding etc....but wanted to ask before I go buying a handlebar.

Let me know guys!
 

DßR

They saw my bloomers
Feb 17, 2004
980
0
the DC
get whatever's comfortable. If you like your hand position higher, get higher risers. If you're racing, might want lower ones to help keep more weight on the front for turning.

The EA70 2" rise is pretty low rise - very noticeably lower rise than my old FSA 40mm rise. The 2.5" rise is more of a higher rise, if you like that upright position.....
 

roee

Chimp
Mar 13, 2004
98
0
High bars can be great for stunts (drops, manuals, such), less great for racing. I find my 2.5" Azonic DW to be really comfortable for me. It's also great for pedaling out of the saddle, assuming you have long legs and average hands, like I do.

For all around riding, it's nice. Get 2", I think it's a good compromise (though the rise parmater is partial information, you have to also include the upsweep of the bar).
 

William42

fork ways
Jul 31, 2007
3,908
634
This is a hell of a bump right here.

Sethimus took the bait. I suspect OP found the bars he was looking for at some point in the past 15 years
 

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,194
4,419
stack + handlebar/stem rise of your actual bike you feel comfortable on?
This was a half-joking question, but seriously still wonder. What’s the current thinking on this. I’m someone who can pretty much adapt and feel comfortable on whatever setup, so perhaps it doesn’t matter ultimately. I’ve been around from the xc 150mm stem days to the current <50mm days... high and low front ends, etc. What is the current thinking on picking a bar height?
 

djjohnr

Turbo Monkey
Apr 21, 2002
3,001
1,693
Northern California
I have multiple 780mm bars in 12.5mm, 25mm and 30mm rise. When I get a new frame I test different combos of stem length, number of spacers and bar rise to find the optimum setup.
 

Rhubarb

Monkey
Jan 11, 2009
462
238
This was a half-joking question, but seriously still wonder. What’s the current thinking on this. I’m someone who can pretty much adapt and feel comfortable on whatever setup, so perhaps it doesn’t matter ultimately. I’ve been around from the xc 150mm stem days to the current <50mm days... high and low front ends, etc. What is the current thinking on picking a bar height?
I think Sethimus nailed it, but I feel Reach is also a factor. My Process 153 was a big jump in Reach, and came with a 20mm Rise bar. I noticed that my hands were aching after 30min of riding which never occurred on any of my other bikes. First thing I did was cut the bar down to 780mm which is my preferred width, but this did not correct the issue. After trying to isolate the root cause, I noticed my hands were starting to aching after the initial portion of the ride, which is mainly seated pedaling, and then I noticed there was actually a significant amount of weight on my hands. I put this down to the longer reach causing me to lean forward when seated. I installed my 40mm rise bar and noticed a huge improvement. Adding spacers below the stem will raise the bar height, but shorten the Reach. So it depends on where you want to end up. Having spare stems and bars really helps, but I feel stem length is more about front end control e.g. steering. In the raised (attack) position I can run 25mm Rise without issue and as mentioned this can help load the front wheel. I still like 40mm Rise because I like to jump and manual lot and feel the extra rise helps.