Welcome to this edition of Mission Control
the mini series of videos we talked about the finer details of bike setup and skills
that actually make a big difference to your riding.
In this edition we're going to talk about bar height
and how you can adjust it using a various different ways
you might see plenty of pros of various races you've been to doing this.
and we're going to talk you through how to do and why you might want to do it.
So the height you set your bars are at actually determines where your weight sits on the bike
so the lower the bars are, the more that weight is going to tip towards that front wheel
the higher they are the more it comes back towards the rear wheel.
So bar height is often determined by the discipline you ride.
For cross country, a lower bar height is gonna put you in a more aerodynamic paddling position
but more importantly for that is to keep the weight on the front tire
that's going to stop you from wheelieing on those steepest of climbs.
With cross country, you're looking for a weight balance of 60/40 to the front wheel.
Polar opposite to cross country is downhill
They have aggressive geometry due to slacker head angle and also big suspension forks
and that's naturally going to put your weight further back
so it's going to be really good for steep terrain and also rough terrain
You're going to find more stability
With downhill, you wanted to have 40% of your weight over the front
and the remaining 60% over the rear.
Somewhere in the middle is Enduro riding or normal trail mountain bike.
When you're looking for much more balanced stance on the bike
something around 50/50 front to back with your weight.
So you want your bar height somewhere in the middle to keep some weight on the front tire for climbing
but not to low so that feels sketchy going downhill.
So, how do you change your bar height?
Well the first and easiest way to do so is probably by adjusting your stem spacers
As you can see here I've got a couple on top and a couple down below
so if we want to raise it or lower it I've got plenty of options.
The next one which isn't that cost effective is to change your handlebar
Nowadays there are a variety of rises for handlebars ranging from 10 all the way up to 40 mm
and this is a personal preference I'd suggest playing around.
Personally I've got 20 mm raised bars on at the moment.
You can also change the stem you will see that someone got a 0 degree rise
which is really neutral but these go all the way up to 15 degree rise
and remember if you do change your stems you actually change the length
this will change where your bars are relative your body position.
The last way to adjust your bar height is with your fork.
Now some manufactures and for these Fox 36 is i have here
it actually adjust them internally to increase the travel from 140 to 180
and other models do have on the fly adjustments.
You can actually lower the travel for the climb
and then raise it back up when you get to the top of the descent
so you can rally all the way to the bottom
Aside from the discipline of riding you do
so low bars for cross country and higher bars for downhill
there a couple of other factors might determine your bar height
Your own height actual make a difference.
So if you were 6 foot 5 you're probably going to have higher bars then someone who is 5 foot 2
because your bikes are scales up.
But also a lot of it does come down to personal preference.
Whilst I like quite high bars they're really confidence inspiring for going downhill,
I can take some weight off the front tire and that doesn't help in cornering.
so if you're sliding the front wheel and washing out all the time
maybe you need slightly lower bars to get a bit more weight onto that front tire
it does make a big difference to cornering
So to summarize. By adjusting your bar height you'll actually find that
by lowering it you're going to get more front wheel grip and will be better for climbing
by raising it you're going to get more back wheel grip
and you're gonna be able to descend about the easier with a lot more stability
Personally l'd like to keep a couple of stem spacers spare
so if I'm going somewhere like the Alps that's predominantly downhill
I'll stick an extra spacer underneath and raise that bar high top but I don't care about it too much.
For you want to see more videos like this you click up there for stem length explained
and why not click down there for top 10 beginning mistakes
give thumbs up enjoyed it click in the middle to subscribe
and leave us some other cool comments of videos you want to see like this down below
what was that one that you said if the bar is closer to you then
it's easier to get a drink
it's easier to drink if the bar is higher
low bar I have to right reach down there for the height
Good examples into weight distribution. Bar height, I always thinks about bar height.