I Love the analisys
I hear all sorts of rhetoric on bars. Many people repeating what they read and have no clue what it means and that is why I appreciate this video.
It is 100% personal and a person designs a bike based on their riding style, size and weight. Examples are Tire pressure, shock pressure which is personal. A person weighing 180 lbs at a advances level can not run same pressure as a 150lbs rider at a beginner level This also holds true if you start as a beginner and become more advanced with a change in riding style. With that being said
I run a longer stem… not for climbing… Not for “Leverage” but for positioning my body further forward.
You may ask why… simple Mathematics. You are changing the weight bias to ADD more weight to the front for added traction on the front wheel for… you guessed it… more bite.
This is something a rider feels when turning. a simple lean of the bike instead of “Turning the bars”. to steer the bike.
For me this is my strong point in riding is my ability to slice and dice corners. I do not “Steer bikes” thru corners as much as I use flow in leaning. The added weight on the front wheel permits me to do this with ease.
The longer stem puts me further forward, which makes it a little more difficult to jump and this is why I have a tendency to scrub jumps.
When leaning thru turns the trees become tighter and I need more room and this is why I use
685 mm wide bars. On my Dirt bikes I have always been at 32 inches (812mm) and I do not feel I need that type of leverage on a 25lbs bicycle.
On my new bikes I run a 75mm stem with 685 mm bars