The Secret To Picking The Perfect BMX Bars!

In today's video Phu and Max Vu from ( / _epicbmx ) we have The Secret To Picking The Perfect BMX Bars! Whether you need 7" handlebars or as big as 11" bars, Max and Phu break down bar size, width, height, and even weight.
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[@boothillcemetery1874]

I personally like to ride with 36" ape hangers on my BMX

[@brettclarke3817]

I’m 6’4 and I find anything shorter than 9.5 a bit small. I run 11 inch bars right now and they’re perfect but it’s all up to preference if you’re 7 foot and wanna ride 7 inch bars by all means go for it

[@oppztakelzzz6314]

Can you throw bars?

[@brettclarke3817]

Yeah and they don’t really get in the way. I cut them down to be narrower tho

[@rodolfoo3015]

What frame size do you run?

[@brettclarke3817]

@@rodolfoo3015 21.25 inch top tube, 12.75 chainstay and 9.75 standover

[@DBrown87]

I'm 5'11 and now really appreciate my Perfect 10 bars! When you have ridden tiny bars for years, now in my mid 30's, my back is happier. Had to update my 2005 Specialized Fuse Iv Pro with the S&M 10's and no regrets!

[@tonelee4515]

Nice bro I'm going to be rebuilding a specialized fuse 2 2010

[@dustyyshellz1320]

I have 9.5 and top load but honestly feel like it needs to be taller still and I’m only 5’10”. Feel so hunched over even at that. 8 and 8.5 was the smallest I ever rode to answer your question though

[@randycollins2607]

I ride 10s 😎🤙

[@Fortuna_716]

Im just starting, I bought a used eastern 07 traildigger and the bars were so small, everything felt small, ended up buying a used kink gap xl w 9.5 bars. Much better

[@AmazingChinaToday]

Haro Lineage Nyquist bars FTW

[@just10case]

10’s

[@brianfonseca4283]

What would be a good size for someone like me 5’6-5’7?

[@AlfredoMancuso]

20.0 through 20.25”

[@brianfonseca4283]

@@AlfredoMancuso thank you for the answer but i was referring to the handlebars tho, mines are 9.75 and i already got like another stem but not even like that, i feel like it's too big for me, and then i just found out, they have different sizes so i was like fuck maybe that's why

[@revvolutionz]

The boysssss

[@isaactorres5908]

I'm 5'9" ..9.8 ..feels so good. ..I don't know why any one over 5'9" would go anything under 9.5...trust me your back will love you for it

[@dannynewman8715]

I got my first bike ever and it's a custom build I think the bars are like 7.75 I'm gonna get 10 inch bars based off what others are saying. I'm 5'11 and I'm hunched over alot

[@ChuckNorris-yo3hu]

I ride my bike with no handle bars…but I’m him…

[@13gallonreefinging55]

I had perfect tens they were ridiculous

[@pauljames1978]

I’m 6 foot four when I started riding I had 7.75 rise volume Regal beagle bars then I had 9” rise Standard strip bar then fiend Reynolds bars in 9.25 then I got some 11” rise shadow vultus sg bars in Matt black I cut them to 27” wide 🔥👍🚲💨

[@jalenmoore88]

I'm 6'3 and ride a 21.8 tt and 10.5 bars and it feels great for me.

[@onecrazywheel]

My WeThePeoole BMX bike from 2003 had about 7 inch bars. I need to upgrade them. I have been riding in 15 years or so. I'm 39 soon. I need to just go to my local bike shop and get a feel on bars. Great video

[@onecrazywheel]

Also every BMX bike I have every owned I have cut the bars down on the widths. Always. You may get tall bars but they never have to be "wide" bars. Just cut them and then re grip them.

[@tnerbsg8134]

Wow! I ride 5.5. No lie. But I'm racing a cruiser so pretty standard lol. Gotcha!

[@pssdstrer5073]

I’m 194cm (6’3’?) and I’d love some 10,25” or 10,5” bars with 3 degrees upsweep. I’m riding eclat morrow 10” bars with highest stem I could reasonably get. I tried 10,5 BSD bars and 11” WTP MadMax bars but they are too mellow for me, I felt like my bars were bend downwards. So I stuck to 10” with good upsweep. Yes I’m extremely picky when it comes to upsweep😂

[@alangerhard7118]

I grew up on a S&M Dirtbike with Standard 1in 4pc bars 7.5in tall. IT IS A HEAVY TANK !! But I still ride it and shes solid. On my new bikes im a fan of the 9inch or so bars. new bikes handle and feel so different. Technology is amazing, I wish I could buy all titanium. Its lightweight and the raw finish looks sick. Thanks for the videos. Nice seeing some of the older bikes in some of your videos

[@lalshortshot2051]

Im 5 ft 8 and i ride 10s with a 10mm spacer and a topload stem

[@sambagogo777]

Bars that are high and wide is my preference. The BMX I had back in my teens had CW-style bars which felt perfect to me.

[@madhumax1976]

Hi, I'm 5'10" and ride Waltx Dune 1, how to upgrade to BMX handlebar, Kindly suggest the correct size

[@mikehagen3785]

Banana seat ape hanger bars were like 14" and that's where it started.. then v bars were like 7" to 8", CWs seemed huge and I hated them, Mongoose Californian bars were my favorites for a long time and they're like 8, them og Haro bars were my favorites, now I hate them too, back sweep like a rams horn, midschoo came and I rode 7s on a 40 pound bike... so backwards... back to 8s, now I ride 9s on a. Top load because I'm 50 and can't be crouched all day and 10s and 11s look dumb as hell, almost as bad as a 4 piece bar, (all 4 pieces are ugly. . .) All opinions obviously... Thanks for the videos Alf.

[@balancetvi]

9 is fine

[@DougieFresh-g3j]

Just wait till we come out with the 12" Bar

[@matthewroot1606]

Used to ride the animal Tyrone Williams bars back in the day, tiny tiny bars. Put them on one day and it was like “what did you do to your bike?” Lol. Rode 8s for a while and now into 9 or 9.5s. I’m taller so it all worked out

[@AlfredoMancuso]

Those were so small for sure haha

[@FirelordRob76]

max does stuff in sandals that i can't even do in dreams.

[@AlfredoMancuso]

Haha he’s wild for sure

[@LOVES-A1911]

Back in the eighties I ran pro sized bars at the full width, never cut my bars

[@fauphoff]

Nate Hanson! OG Flatland Fugative!

[@oh_knee7173]

bet just ordered 9,25 im happy after watching this

[@allstate125]

Shorter bars are good for rolling around doing tricks. Higher bars give better stability on dirt tracks and jumps. You don’t feel like you could go over the bars. But that’s me 🚲

[@frankcastle3827]

I would never put anything bigger than a 6 or 6 1/2 bigger bars just look ugly and don't help me at all...

[@chrisapolinar1102]

I'm 6'2 on a fit 22" frame and I run 1st gen brad sims 9.5" bars.

[@AlfredoMancuso]

🎯

[@omarpalacios4476]

I like the 9” bars.

[@ArtistDaynz90]

The big ones look cooler to me. And if you are a bit taller or have longer arms, it's gonna be more comfortable.

[@nate2966]

The most ridiculous bars I rode were the s&m elevenz those things look so goofy. Like they make your BMX look like a scooter

[@garygary6032]

i'm 6.1" and i ride 9.25s with a front load stem. (with a few headset spacers to compensate). i used to ride 10" bars with a super tall stem but i realised that i ride mostly transition and i could probably benefit from a lower bar setup. I inverted my stem bc im broke and couldn't afford a front load and it felt way better. now whenever i ride tall bars it feels like im pushing a shopping trolley and i wonder how i even rode 10". People might think my bar setup is too low for my height but this is what feels good for me. it really is all about preference.

[@perrysaker-ee1gq]

Old school BMX bikes like the kuwahara and redline small kids were racing with 9 inch bars, how a grown adult can say 10inch bars are too high beats me..

[@draleigh8881]

i had s&m slam bars on a specialized vegas frame. one of my favorite bikes ever.

[@YoBoyZed]

I jump from 9 rise to 10 rise and the difference is big but still rocking it (5'6 btw 😅)

[@SpecialOps4JesusChrist]

I ride a 10in Iam also like 6'2 or 3 anything shorter either feels weird or hurts after riding for like 10mins

[@riddelin]

I'm gonna put an 11" bar on my Specialized Hard Rock resto 😁😂

[@alexandersoto2080]

69s

[@InSilence2023]

Great video, thanks for the info, very useful, now i know how to do easier manuals

[@chrislaura8828]

I'm 5'6", always liked smaller bars, favorite ever were the original s&m castillo bars and odyssey milk bars, I don't remember the size but they are short and narrow.

[@dropzilla8398]

When I first riding I had bars without the crossbar I was Hella broke as a kid and I broke the bars and the frame and I'm skinny

[@skylarsoper241]

My love handles took me 4 years of grind down my local bike shop owner , they cost me 650 $ I will spare no expense for my bikes

[@CheechElMexicano]

I use to ride a clown bike I rode 1.5 bars 😂 just kidding

[@Face4radio718]

How tall is Max? Can you guys do this again with some taller riders?

[@mikeoliver3254]

I ride 11” bars and my back thanks me for it.

[@justhere432]

man i run with 8.5 24wide shadow bars i started with 7.0 28wide im 5'8

[@ron6505]

At 11:48 what are the those blue/teal bars called?

[@daniel.aymond]

I ride 10s.. got a bad back. Less I'm leaning fwd the better

[@HAMMER_2.2]

I guess Haro Slimbars and gold finger levers are out of style....

[@treeratkomolwejakul]

Im 5.7ft hight, using 9.5" bar rise but I choose a bit low top load stem rise which is 25mm. Feeling comfortable.

[@OnlyTheReal_RPM]

Hey, are you guys located in Cali? I wanna swing by

[@AnaximanderHannan]

I’d have to look it up but I remember riding Sunday color bars. Things had to be like 6.5. And top that puppy off with a front load stem. Lol those were the days though!

[@jda79]

My kids 14" colony came with 6.5" bars

[@kimoarmstrong3519]

I bought ten inch bars and top load stern because that's what everybody was going to. Later I changed to front load because the set up was too high. Trends won't make me a better rider.

[@yammietits5040]

I ride s&m’s 12 step bars because I’m an alcoholic

[@Osrszombie]

i ride 10inch bares and feel so nice for street and park and dirt

[@MorbidThrasher666]

I only ride 80's bikes and they all have bars at 9inches height or close and the stem up high,my back needs all the help it can get

[@429supercj]

I'm not sure of the height but the little v bars in the early 80s were short and narrow with a strange upsweep, i tried to ride them recently and was like WTF

[@vl995]

9" topload 9.5" frontload Thats it

[@c10bmx]

not relevant but my bike is the same colder as alfs ts-hurt

[@rhondakaradunis4894]

Thinking about getting 4 piece bars cuz there a bigger box for flatland tricks n stuff and the look and strength

[@darthbiden8675]

Im 6ft tall and i run 10 inch bars

[@lalshortshot2051]

But doesn't this also depend on the length of your head tube

[@SheepeyRace]

💥💥💥

[@jda79]

I ride 9.25 cause that's what came on my trust

[@johnnypoo3166]

Max Prefers the 9 inch... hmm 🤭

[@jokeregg2045]

I'm a little over 6ft and still growing and like high handle bars, so finding handle bars that I think feel good is always hard, i appreciate the help

[@x88868]

S&M now makes 12" bars.

[@younggotti8195]

My favorite bars were terrible one but I don’t know the height, I was more impressed that I didn’t have to cut them…my buddy rode the S&m gay bars…those were super low

[@AlfredoMancuso]

I want to stay the t1 bars were 8.8”

[@wt8386]

On the terrible one frame

[@wt8386]

I had those bars I'm 6'2

[@BigTree412]

9,25 but stem height matters as well

[@AlfredoMancuso]

Big facts

[@BigTree412]

@@AlfredoMancuso I bought new Ray bars and went a size higher and was like damn now my bars are too high why didn't I just get the nines again..but I took out two spacers feels kinda the same now

[@echterjay]

nice thanks 😂

[@murtazanaqvi2329]

Chase hawk bars!

[@lastchancelee3312]

Nate's bike in 2000 was the Phantom Lord.

[@AlfredoMancuso]

Haha facts

[@anester1866]

good video. i know its a year old at this point. ive got a 2001 haro backtrail, the bars on it were 7.5". which was fine when i was a kid, but now that im 6'1" in my mid 30s, its not ideal. i got a set of 9.5" haro baseline bars, its a lot more comfortable.

[@yammietits5040]

Bmx’ing in flip flops 🩴 🤯🤯🫡

[@snailze6761]

Primo Moe's Bar... and they were the 🤘💩. Moved to the T1 Rubens' also super dope.

[@E-MountainBikerBae]

❤️🧡💛💚💙

[@danielkirk276]

I just got a sunny day model c 24" spent about 2k to finish it and because I'm 6 foot 3" I now need an upgrade bar from 7.5" to 11" or maybe 12".

[@potaylor9992]

Back then the 8's they feel totally lost now. Now I run 9.5&10's way better with the trusty gold finger, than those oh so tiny things form back in the day. Oh Yeah Not Ever Ever Cut my bars. Ahhhhhh the pain

[@svgglockii2592]

Lol my old diamondback joker had like 5 1/2” bars I was like wtf can’t ride anything under an 8.5

[@likamuuk]

What I think is most important, is up and backsweep. If they really fit your hands, basically every bar height is good. I find big bars comfortable in terms of levrage and body position, but it's wayy too unstable in my opinion. So if you were to get big bars, you need to have a longer chainstay as well. I had 9.5" for some time but switched down to 8.75" because its more stable.

[@pssdstrer5073]

I rode 10” bars with 12,44” chainstay, and it felt good so personal preference is everything

[@bmxriderforlife1234]

It's more so a case of modern frames have chain stays that are just far too short because almost nobody does huge street anymore just tech stuff, and the art of riding everything all at once has sorta been lost. Along with shorter steer tubes on forks. 09 I had forks with 183mm long steerer tubes. Now the longest you can find is legit making your Bars 10mm lower. But most people now are running like 165s or 170s sometimes in the 150mm range. So like half an inch or more lower. Like realistically for street. You really don't need a rear end shorter than like 13. Even 13 is a touch short for 4 pegs but gets you to 13.2 easier than dealing with slammed set ups. Rear ends used to be 13.75 slammed with drop outs over an inch long. And dudes rode fine. There's dudes who ride modern street on those old frame geometries still at high levels. Kinda like low bb heights don't make that much sense for bnx. Small wheels center of gravity is already low enough. Wheel base headtube angle and stay length. You are right upsweep and back sweep is mad important. But height makes a huge difference once you get it dialed in. Problem is it tweaks bike to bike and also stem to stem in alot of cases. And requires messing with alot of bars.

[@likamuuk]

@@bmxriderforlife1234 Not a single thing I disagree with.. mad props to you man for writing such a true comment bro! The only advantage I see with those shoter things nowadays is the chance for smaller people like me to get a bike that they can handle.. look at Matt Ray: 13,4 chainstay, frontload, 30mm offset fork. I couldn't imagine handling that bike. But look at how clean and stylish he rides and does everything soo effortless even with the long cs. He can do that because he is really tall and has the levrage to handle it all. So if I had a cs that long, Id probably need higher bars or a topload for more levrage but it would probably still feel kinda long.. I am 5,4'. 165cm. I need to have everything shorter so I have control over everything. Not everything long so the longer bars give me more levrage. My body needs to be the levrage. I measured my effective cs at about 13", still longer than maybe even most people these days, I noticed my R15 is wayy too steep because nozzas are too unstable. Ima get a R25 once I sold my R15. I lowered my cockpit to a 7mm rise Frontload and 8,75 Bars. Best decision ever. People need to realize that its not about short chainstays and big bars because it gives levrage, its about you being the levrage and that its way better to pull back for bunny hops instead of up. For more detail I'd need to show some videos lol hit me up on discord if you like LikaMuuk#7314

[@bmxriderforlife1234]

@Lika Muuk I'm not that tall. And in 9th grade I was on 13.75 stays 74.5 headtube 35mm offset forks with my wheel having to be pulled back like an inch or so to clear my frigging brake mounts(macneil Gary Young 2 frame it had chainstay brake mounts) At best I got it to a 32mm offset fork that didn't account for the tapered legs so its like a 28 to 30mm offset. Had the same frame. Or when I basically cloned that build but shortened the rear end a half inch. If you're like a youth yeah short stays are awesome. But once you hit teenage years unless you're like 5 foot 6 ish range you kinda want some stability if you intended to ride at speed. Albeit 13.75 is long. 13.2 or 13 means you can get it at 13 and a quarter. And use top tube length and bar height plus fork offset and stem length to for most people at least get a build that'll help them with nose wheelies and manuals, still let them hop mad high without pain, bur have long enough wheel base for higher speed stuff. Also tall headtube and short steerers make it almost impossible to run gyros and even with normal set ups headtube wise it can be annoying. You have few fork options or gotta run your brakes tight. I typically run an odyssey medium sized lever and custom bend it works out to you can still leave your brakes loose enough that if you murk your back wheel you can ride to a shop or something. But it works without touching your grip or knuckles. You need like 20mm roughly at least of headset spacers plus like 5mm for a gyro plate. Tall bars is nice. But they went about it wrong. Taller headtube leave fork steersrs like 175mm to 185mm range with the cut indicator marks. Run the gyro tabs low enough on the frame you can get the headset top bearing to site above the gyro if you wanted and rest just above the top tube. Stiffer stronger front end, helps with fork and headset life. Takes some leverage off the bars in the stem for slippage prevention. And also let's shorter rides still ride frames with normal headtubes a slammed stem or less spacers and shorter bars. Like 8.25 to 9.25. 10s become the new equivalent of an 11. Include the usage of switching bmx to 25.4mm stem clamp and tapering bars in the proper areas and we can drop alot of unnecessary weight and gain strength. All the weak bend points and the clamp point gain strength and surface area. Because of further apart headsets get less deflection and will spinning better cause being more perfectly aligned and more of your height in the front end is reinforced. But not being able to get your bars tall enough. For some people a half inch can kill their hops. But if you did everything else proper you'd have to be like taller than hoder to really need 11s I think or run a regular 100 to 115mm headtube no headset spacers a stem that drops your bars and you're tall, but then like why. Other than maybe low top tube frame for whips. But people need to stop thinking of bar height as bar height and more so total height of the system.

[@likamuuk]

@@bmxriderforlife1234 Agreed. But since I dont run brakes I cannot really talk about all that gyro stuff, but yeah makes sense..

[@storyyxx]

are YOU BROKE @alfredo mancuso, MOVE ON

[@cykablyat8862]

im 5'9 and riding cult crew 9.35 bars, they feel good as hell, 9.5 feels too high, anything lower than 9.25 feels way too low

[@brattica1980]

Hey, I need a opinion for a BMX handlebars for my 26" mountain bike

[@dennisd4452]

I ride 9.5 though seriously thinking about 10”. I’m 6’3”

[@saltybastard9037]

Those old T1 Ruben bars are actually 7.75". I know it looks a lot smaller than Slams, but it was the box area that made the difference. I actually got a set of T1 bars on my modern bike because I never could get along with big bars, and I'm 6'2. And yes, my back is still fine. It's the weirdos who rode their grips on the bends that really payed the price.

[@saltybastard9037]

Also to note, during the midschool era, the smallest bars were the S&M Gay bars, and they were 6.75s, but you mostly saw small kids riding them. 7.5 was about the norm from '98-'05. Malouf and Miles were responsible for the trend to bigger bars in '06.

[@hawaiianpunch6534]

I had 5.5 cruiser bars for my 24 in cruiser and had to go up to 7.5 Answer pro bar. I was thinking 8 inch but I still need the race profile, i had to find the middle ground for me. The stock 5.5 was just too low for me. I needed to save my back. I'll take the 2 inch rise over 5.5 any day.

[@otavioraupp]

The worst part of the mid school and their 6,5 inch bars, is that we also rode these with front load or inverted top load stems making the overall height even lower! Plus, most people rode without detanglers, and so the stem would be slammed all the way down on the forks!! Talk about hunchbacks... Standard bikes even had a stem with built in top headset cap so the stem could go a little bit lower!

[@bmxriderforlife1234]

In 2009/2010 I was already running silly tall bars. Like 8 inch minimums but with like and inch and a half or more of spacers under my stem. Ended up with same amount of spacers and either 8.25 bars with a topload or madman og bars 8.7 with a flipped toploader that still adds 8mm rise flipped.

[@mikevida250]

taller bars feel like you dont have as much connection from your hands to the bike, also bar spins are way harder. i run 9.5" with all the spacers and top load stem, honestly 9" would be best and im 5'11"

[@xxtingyxx9497]

New to this but why is bar width not more of a consideration also? At 90 my bar ends are at the tip of my seat. 6'1" and that seems like it will make barspins unnecessarily difficult. For reference riding a bone stock kink gap fc with 9" bars

[@lifewithlenny2696]

I'm also newer to bmx but rode mountain for ever now, I have a kink launch also bone stock, and my bars are the same way and I believe we have the same bars, I find them very hard to attempt to learn bar spins on, I keep nailing my self with them wich is terrifying lol they are soooo wide haha like as wide as my mountain bike bars! Edit: I just flipped it over and put the two bikes bar to bar and the bmx bars are wider by a solid inch lmao! Why is this!

[@xxtingyxx9497]

@@lifewithlenny2696 I just can't imagine bunnyhop barspins on those 30" bars. My buddy who started with me is 5'6" and even his bars, with his feet level, hit him. If your crank is level with the frame during barspins (as it should be) why is your forward leg the main obstacle and not the spin itself? He has a We the People 20" with 3 piece shadow aftermarket bars, same width, same problem

[@lifewithlenny2696]

@@xxtingyxx9497 yeah so weird! I'm looking into what other people ride for widths online now, may try cutting them down a bit 🤔

[@roccovanelli241]

Fuckin Phu trying to sneak fart! 😂🤣😂