Review - New MT Zoom MTB handlebars. How wide?

When upgrading to Shimano M9100 XTR the brake clamps are much further inboard compared to my old M9000’s. This revealed the slightly marked surface underneath so I also decided to upgrade the handlebar.

I knew my existing 680mm bar was narrow by today's standards but the 760mm MT Zooms looked ridiculous when I unpacked them and held them up against the old bars for comparison! I'm old enough to remember cutting my bars down to 580mm on my old GT back in the ‘90s.

Old skool vs New!

I’m slim build and not particularly broad shouldered. I also don’t possess monkey like arms, so there was no obvious bike fit benefit to be gained by the extra width up front. Wide bars are definitely the current trend, but despite searching online I couldn’t find any substantiated performance advantages of going wider. The only problem I’ve ever had with my existing bar width has been bashing my hands on trees during races or when twisting through wooded singletrack. Occasions when extra width definitely would actually be a disadvantage!

In the end I spoke to some other local riders and cut them back to 720mm to start with and we’ll see where we go from there. There are very clear markings every 10mm on the outside of the bar to ensure that you cut evenly and straight!  

Despite being wider the impressive 131g weight (once cut to 720mm) was still lighter than the bars I took off. I opted for the 9 degree backsweep option as I like the added comfort this provides by slightly angling the wrists.   

The extra width was noticeable and felt slightly odd when I first set-off. Having my arms wider definitely pulled my body weight forward, which is probably not a bad thing, when it comes to weighting the front wheel in corners. If it does prove to be a comfort issue longer term I might consider a shorter stem. The new position did feel uncomfortable on my hands while I got used to it, but once off road I completely forgot about the bars as I moved my body position around to manoeuvre the bike. By the end of the ride I felt completely at home with my new set-up and despite the extra width I hadn’t ridden into every tree I passed. To me the handling of the bike wasn’t noticeably different.

Actually one advantage of wider bars I did notice only became apparent on the 5 mile road bash back to my house from the trails. There is more room for your hands to hold the center section of the bars next to the stem to adopt an aero tuck!

In summary the MT Zoom bars are extremely good value for the money (£99 – xcracer.com) They are very lightweight compared to the majority of the similarly priced competition. The matt black finish and stealth logos suit my frame and they are fashionably wide if you want to follow the trend.