High Rise MTB Bars? 35/40mm Pros & Cons Explained

A recent trend we've been seeing in the mountain bike world is

high

er

rise

handle

bars

, so if you've ever wondered what happens to your bike and your riding experience when you go from something like a flat bar or 20 millimeters of

rise

to something like a 30 or 40 millimeter rise bar this video is going to go into all that detail and everything related to the handle

bars

and the handlebars rise well in terms of mountain bikes if you look at dirt racers -fastest country in the world, almost all or not all. They all have very, very low front ends and if you look at the angle of that bike as you can see here, that bike is very leaned forward and there are a couple of reasons why you want your bike to be the most comfortable and the most efficient for the type of things that matter most to you what you do most with them cross-country bikes one thing that is very important is pedaling uphill and also being aerodynamic while you pedal, so cross-country bikes since they are designed to That aerodynamic pedaling and uphill pedaling stuff is going to be a lot more forward leaning because when you're more forward leaning you're more aerodynamic and you're more comfortable pedaling while going up steep climbs and especially on steep grades.

Slow technical terrain where you want to lean forward and have that perfect point of traction where you're not doing a wheelie because you have too much traction on the rear but your rear isn't slipping because it doesn't have enough traction, that's why the Cross country bikes lean forward like that and again, if you want to talk more about aerodynamics, look at road bikes and even time trial bikes and you'll really see those lean things. forward, that's why those bikes are leaning forward is that for everyone not necessarily mountain bikes mostly evolved being much more cross-country geo and then slowly became more upright, more modern and more comfortable What average mountain bikers like you and I hit the trails on the weekends for, which is not trying to win cross-country world cups, which is why today's modern trail bikes They definitely have a slightly more upright feel than before and certainly a lot more.

More than a cross-country bike, they're not as upright as, say, a downhill bike designed specifically for going down steep hills at really

high

speed, but take a look at these pictures right here, so this is a position sitting and a standing position first with the flat handlebars and then with the handlebars with a 40 millimeter rise, a difference so big that you are looking here at a completely flat bar and then a bar with a 40 millimeter rise. I am

cons

idering a quote on a high rise handlebar for a modern model. The everyday mountain bike should be larger than 25 millimeters in size and that's because most bikes come with most mountain bikes and mountain bikes, like just trail enduro bikes in general, they come with you, you know, 20 25 mil riser bars, sometimes even 15 mil riser bars, xc bikes still come with you.

I know of flat or 10 mil tall bars so I think anything with a rise over 25 millimeters is what I would

cons

ider a high rise bar and that has definitely become a trend in the industry so in the In recent years we have seen many more people. gravitating towards these 30 millimeter, 35, and 40 millimeter riser bars and they're putting them on their mountain bikes, why would you want to get it right, so why do the bikes get more upright as they get longer travel? So the longer travel obviously means that the bike is intended more to spend its time predominantly going downhill on rough terrain and the longer the travel, the steeper and faster it will get, so again, just like on an xc bike, you want your body position to be in line with what you are doing.

With the most common bike, which is a downhill bike, you'll want your body position to be in line with the downhill position and as you go downhill, your body needs to come back to maintain that centering, position and distribution of perfect weight so you can be comfortable and secure on the bike for what it's supposed to do, which is why a trail enduro bike works well both when you're riding it up and when you're going downhill, so some people who ride a trail enduro bike may want to lower the front and some You may want to raise the front depending on what they are doing and how they sit on the bike and what their preference is.

If you feel like you're a really strong climber and that's what you do most of your climbing, then you probably are. are you going to go with an xc are lower downhill. bikes are taller and then trail bikes and enduro bikes and country bikes and all kinds of things in the middle of that space which is what most of us and most of you ride, that's why there are more movement there, like most modifications you can do to your mountain bike will either make it work better for going uphill or work better for going downhill and those just separate from each other, so anything you do that makes it The thing that's more capable on the downhill will probably make it worse on the uphill and vice versa, okay, a lot of people are using stock bars on their mountain bike that say they have a 20 millimeter rise and they're actually not big fans of climbing, maybe you know the big reason why people raise their front end. up it's like you're riding predominantly downhill or that's what you care about most, you care about how your bike feels and performs on the downhill then you might want to gravitate towards something that has 30 35k 40k riser bars Another reason why you might want to use high bars is some kind of low back pain or low back fatigue.

The doctor said I need a backyard of mine, as you can imagine, the more you squish on that bike and the lower the front end, the more type of tension and pressure will affect the sit bones in your lower back, especially If you spend a lot of time sitting in the saddle and doing many kilometers and many hours on that bicycle and you have a lot of lower back. pain or fatigue getting up can really make a big difference. In my experience over the years, I have encountered several people who have had previous back surgeries or have simply had low back pain when in the saddle for several hours. at a time and go to a high bar or add spacers under the stem and it's like a world of difference, they feel much more comfortable going up and they just feel much more comfortable on their bike and can ride longer without that lower back . pain, oh, I'm hurt, oh, my neck, my back, my neck and my back, oh, so again, you lift the front of that bike, it will help it perform better on the downhill.

You will be in a better attacking position the steeper it is. The terrain becomes more comfortable and a more comfortable vertical control position that will help you lift the front wheel when you need to jump when you need to get over obstacles, something like that, so lifting that front will help you on the downhills. to hurt it a little bit uphill, so if you already have a fork with 140k travel or more and you increase it, you keep lifting that front end, it's as if all this becomes more and more comfortable, more stable and with control on the downhill .

You'll probably run into situations where, when you're on steep climbs or technical climbing sections, the front of your bike just wants to take you out and that's another question I've heard over the years: How is this possible? bicycle? which I just caught just keeps the front end still popping up all over the place and that is largely a result of how high the front end is, if you lower that front end it will lean you further forward and put more weight on that front end . wheel so that when you're going up a steep hill you don't want to feel like it's twisting and turning on you the whole time, so again, the

pros

and cons of each if you care more about the descent and more comfort on the back lower back downhill comfort type of control being able to pull up on the front wheel easier to do hand wheels bunny hops whatever, lifting that front end will help you if you're the opposite and you want to be a little more aerodynamic, you want more control, you feel like you're jumping and turning too much on the climbs, you want more control on the climbs, lowering the front could really help you, so the handlebars definitely make a big difference with that, um, this is a bars grip here's a brand i wanted to highlight that makes a really cool bar and is definitely a big seller for us is p w i love this pacific northwest brand it's run by a couple of friends of ours aaron and emily they're like the mountain by excellence couple of cyclists, but they do cool things, they make a 30 millimeter lift bar and I always like to promote this because five percent of the profits from this bar go back to nika, the national intergalactic cycling association, which is a amazing non-profit that supports high school mountain biking teams throughout North America, which I really think is great and I think more brands should jump on the bandwagon and want to make their products tied to a philanthropic effort like that, so anyway now let's talk about the difference between adding more spaces. under the stem versus higher rise bars so the last part of this video which is kind of important there are two ways to raise or lower the front end number one is the spacers under or over the stem and the number Two, obviously, is the handlebars with the razor rise having different effects, so if you take the stem to start, to be able to move the spacers around you, you'll need an extra head tube if you've already cut it. too much or wherever you have your bike, cut that too.

As much as you're out of luck and your only option might be the handlebars, but if you see spacers above or below the stem, you have some wiggle room to play there if the more spacers you stack below the stem because the head tube is on an angle that will actually reduce your reach, putting the bars closer to you and higher, closer and closer, so reducing your bike's reach, so keep that in mind if you feel like you're stretched too far. outwards and it's like you feel like the bars are too far apart to lift adding spacers under the stem could alleviate that, it will bring them closer to you and higher up so it will be much easier to pull up. on these bars when you're trying to do a wheelie or something, adding back power spacers at the bottom will actually reduce your reach, bring the whole front end closer to you if you just do the handlebars like you keep the power spacers. exactly where they are and you just make a handlebar rise difference that won't bring it closer to you, it will just raise it up, so it won't reduce your reach by a significant amount like spacers would, so they are a different pair. things you can play with there and something to consider, obviously a handlebar upgrade costs more money than moving the spacers on your stem.

You can do it for free if you have spacers and have the space to do it, so it's something you can play with first. but it's something to keep in mind if you don't want that to be closer to you just get taller bars, if you want it closer to you play with those power spacers so that's the gist of power bars mountain bike, let us know in the comments what climb you're running on your bars and also if you notice in the first clip my hair was a lot longer than the rest of the video and the fact that I said intergalactic instead of interscholastic uh, congratulations to you, subscribe to the channel I will see you next time