Handlebar width: A cool experiment

This comes from Dwight Rudder, the expert offroad moto rider who moderates the Off-Road Riding Technique forum on www.thumpertalk.com.

Get down and do 10 pushups. Measure from the outsides of your hands. That’s your position of optimum strength. I get 28 inches. Maybe I should stop cutting my bars from 28 to 26 inches …

NOTE: Wider bars enhance leverage, and shorter bars increase maneuverability — to a point.

NOTE NOTE: Consistency is key. Pick a width and run it on all your bikes. Mark Weir runs ’em at 28 inches. Brian Lopes runs ’em at 27.