Mountain Bike Setup Handlebar Height

Adjusting the height of your road bike handlebars or mountain bike handlebars is something you can easily do yourself.

Mountain bike setup handlebar height.

Cyclists we usually give great importance to the height and correct position of the saddle of our bicycle to the position of the cleats of the shoes to the suspension of the frame and even to the inflation pressure of the tires. While those two methods may seem very similar they do sometimes seem to result in seat heights that aren t equally as comfortable. Most mountain bikes will be set up with the stem in a positive position creating an upward angle but you can use it. The first place to start when dialing in your cockpit setup is finding the right handlebar height.

We ve listed the steps you need to go through in order to set your handlebar height. Of course when it comes to adjusting road bike handlebar height the methods are pretty much the same. Distance from the seat to the handlebars depends on rider s torso and arms length. If there s one bike setup anomaly that i see most often it s riders on modern 29ers with their stem flipped and slammed to get the absolute lowest handlebar position.

Adding or removing spacers under your stem will effectively raise or lower your handlebar height. In some cases this is a holdover from years past when the big wheelers had head tubes as long as their 26 inch cousins. Change to the bar height. Shimano s mountain bike handlebar setup guide will help you pick the right bar shape and width set up the handlebar correctly on your bike and it ll help you adjust your brake levers shifter and dropper lever so you can ride faster and feel more confident out on the trails.

However a lot of mountain bikers like to set their handlebars lower for the aerodynamic advantage. We ll happily talk you through the process on how to set your handlebar height. The correct mtb handlebar height is an influential settings when we want bicycle is precisely adapted to cyclist s physical characteristics. The distance should be such that hands are comfortably holding the bars with a slight bend at the elbows.

The difference is though that it measures your ideal mountain bike seat height based on 88 3 of your inseam length. How to adjust the handlebar height on your bike. When the saddle is fine tuned all that s left is to set up the last contact point. The seat height is measured from the top of the seat to the bottom bracket.

Coach andy s informative and detailed article on mountain bike handlebar height.