Oh hell yeah...this entire video is a testament to Blake's skills.. He's sooooo good at what he does he makes it all look easy and he always has fun doing it..:)
Gents!!!!! This is the best video you have posted to date!!! Blake, you’re a genuine shredder and a great presenter for these types of videos. May I request shredding on bikes from 29”-16” in this format?!
I’m a trained idiot 😂 More like a professional maniac. Kudos to you Blake for trying all these so we won’t have to. Seriously this video is amongst the more entertaining in the GMBN library.
Back in the pre suspension days, a little twitchy was a good thing because speeds were slower and lines were jaggier. Bars were in the 600mm range and head angles of 71 degrees or more.
I've been riding with 690mm bars, the bike was an import from Australia where they are limited by law, apparently. As this was my first mtb I didn't have anything to compare them to and I thought they were OK. But just this week I went up to 780mm, I'm 6', and the difference is night and day, a much more stable and easy ride.
After coming back to MTB riding after a serious neck injury with partial paralysis, I can tell you nothing improves your control and confidence more than wider bars with a shorter stem and a dropper post. Blake has illustrated this in a humorous and very skilful way. Well done Blake, some of the best entertainment I have had in a while!
Blake just showed me that what matters most is your bike handling skills, not the latest tech/ bike or in this case, the width of the handlebar. Humbled and will keep reminding myself not to keep upgrading my bike, but upgrade my skills instead. Going to do a marathon of GMBN how to videos on the weekend!
Back in the 1990s we used to cut our bars down to avoid clipping trees on narrow trails. I still have some bars from around 1995 that measure about 525mm. Of course we were riding hardtail or fully rigid 26ers. To this day I can't get used to ultra-wide bars. The bars on my XC hardtail bike right now measure just over 600mm. I do most of my riding on a road bike with 44cm bars, which is considered pretty wide for a road bike, so I'm used to narrower bars. BTW narrower bars aren't really twitchy if you use them with a longer stem.
I remember when XC bikes came with 600mm flat bars, 660mm was considered wide! Back in the day (late 90s) I ran Azonic PDW riser bars (660mm) and a 'short' stem (80mm) on my 'XC' hardtail (there wasn't really a trail bike category at the time). It was considered radical at the time! I wouldn't fancy any shorter though!
Man, you guys have some really nice trails over in England. I'm so thankful for this channel as its impossible to ride here in the winter due to the ever changing conditions. Makes me feel like im out riding when I watch you guys.
@@sergeykopylov652 It's not the same, once you get used to narrow bars, going back to wide bars gives you a much different feeling. I would have been curious to see him go back up slowly in sizes as well, to see if he felt comfortable with bars narrower than 760mm, but the video would have been 45 minutes long, i would have watched it though 😁
This is the most hilarious educational bike video I've ever seen. Thank you. And you're right, I'm a courier, and I love filtering through traffic, and I want a full suspension bike for bad roads, shortcuts, and stairs. I have to decide what's the best narrow for me. This video was extremely helpful. Thank you.
My bike came with 680mm bars. I've recently swapped them for 600 with a longer stem, which I'm enjoying but I'll probably settle on 640mm - all for XC fun Absolutely fun video to watch. Thank you
Hilarious. I remember around 1990 you could buy bars that were completely straight - no rise, no sweep, and no bulge in the middle, just an adapter for the stem diameter. I don't remember what they were called, but they came in a few different fluorescent colors, and they were popular. People were always experimenting with things back then, because the factory stuff was all crap and no one knew what worked yet. Guys would cut these bars down, I guess because its easier than making them longer. Since there was no bulge in the middle, the brakes and shifters could be mounted super close to the stem. Guys would have to offset the left and right brakes a bit so the cables could fit past each other. Throw a set of those on a bike with a 150mm stem, head angle in the 70's, a ridged fork, and some 1.9" tires, and things got really exciting.
Blake Samson is absolutely the best! If only he had a personality and sense of humor...wink! Not only do I learn something from these videos, but Blake gets me to laugh and smile every time. The best!
It's not ethical to put Blake in danger with such a silly test... Or this 300 mm bar is out of this world, it belongs to a Liliputian ethnic group ? Go figure.
I couldn't do that stuff period, so mad respect dude, at 50 I usually blame my weight bias/tyres/mud/brakes/too much cake/rain....etc But now I got no excuses ; )
I ride 650mm bars, if I go wider there are alot of trails I can't even ride here in Belgium (to much trees to close together)! Also I don't get such wide bars, even at 650mm my wrists hurt after a couple of hours!
I ride with 680s witch is a little too small but because my bike is light it makes it really playful and I love it's feel, plus ridding tight and raw singletrack it's useful to fit through gaps
I also ride 770 normally and I've recently had a chance to ride narrow bars on a city bike. I'm not sure everyone watching understands just how absolutely horrible narrow bars feel and how terrifying they are. This is one of the scariest videos on the internet - hands down. Blake - you're hard as nails.
I still ride some of the trails that I rode in the 90s and the trees are still very close together. I kinda feel bad for guys who try to ride narrow trails on wide bars.
Can't see how that would be a benefit. You'd be more upright, so less weight on the bars, therefore less front wheel grip. Hmm, admittedly that would mean less response from the steering. Hehe, well I'm not trying it, I have my bars quite high anyway as I have an old neck injury from decades ago. 😑
Finally someone to stop this bar width madness.... :) Me as a roadie just hate passing MTB riders coming from the opposite direction, for example on narrow bridges. They take up to 1 meter of space with those abominations :P
It's crazy how far it's come. My 2011 reign 0 came with 680mm bars! Pretty crazy for an all mountain bike with 150mm front and rear. I think it's finally time to replace them, after rolling on a few buddies bikes, and seeing this!
I think it's super interesting Blake uses a 760mm bar and he's tall. I cut mine down to 760 just because almost every trail here has trees that are 770mm gap to ride through, so it's just easier to have 760. I'm 6'3" and I'm totally comfortable on a 760mm bar. When you read people talking about new bikes, you'd think anything less than 800mm is a handlebar for a child.
I rode 590mm bars for 15+ years. Finally built a new bike and as a concession to modern width bars, I went all the way to a 620mm bar. Everyone was right, wide bars are an improvement. I love mine!
You might want to look to sites like aliexpress. I bought 820mm carbon bars for something like 30 bucks and have been riding them for at least a year now without any issues!
“Opps! Sorry about that Mercedes Benz. Forgot I had wide bars.” ... and I think I’ll be riding my old rat bike with the narrower bars to work for a while. Wide bars are crap in traffic.
I just got a new Canondale Scalpel & my bars are like driving a big 50s Chrysler. I can’t stand it. I think those 600s would be perfect for me. Thanks for the video! 👍☮️🌞🚲
You are indeed insane Mr Blake! I started mountian bike XC back in 1991 so started out on 560mm + bar ends were great and item of the times as that was were 90's mountian XC racing was (560mm to 600mm by end of the decade always with bar ends so you had chance of climbing the bikes at XC race speed), but would not go back (well have two Kona Kileaua's a 94 & 96 560/580mm is best ones for them but not modern stuff)! My regular current mountian bike is 720mm as mainly race XC 5ft 7" height not that wide shoulders so 720mm + width feels uncomfortable for me but that's just me and I know 720mm sort old skool width even now.
So what we have learnt from this is Blake with 400mm handle bars and his brakes on backwards is still better than me.
I was thinking exactly the same LMFAO...
Oh hell yeah...this entire video is a testament to Blake's skills.. He's sooooo good at what he does he makes it all look easy and he always has fun doing it..:)
I like the 500 bars. They were cute. Like a commuter setup.
@@KandiKlover they look like my MTB setup oof
Me too ! I suck at techy mtb haha
I love Blake. He's like an excited Jack Russell that's just found his best squeaky ball.... all the time. 👍
D L Exactly what I think too. Exact words. He was awesome during this vid.
That's an amazing analogy.
When Blake said “don’t try this at home I’m a trained idiot” 😂
That was the best line ever! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I nearly sprayed my keyboard with soda at that one...:)
Utter BS!
He's just an experienced idiot!
I thought he said indian
The brakes sound like an ambualnce approaching
That’s what mine sound like
Because it’s wet sum breaks are better for wet conditions
Sometimes my brakes sound like that, but that's when they're really muddy in the wet.
Mine sound like it because they’re semi-metallic
@@destinhook3826 I think they have a problem and that's about it. Even if they were semi-metallic, they shouldn't sound like that.
20:10 I'm loving the bagpipe music. Beautiful instrument.
Do a "The Widest Bars" video.
yes
its a lot easier to make small bars than wide bars
That would be awesome. I love ultra wide bars.
The shoulder poppers.
@@harrisonclark3799 Grab a meter bar and try;)
Holy shit, the fact that you kept it together while going on the front wheel off that drop Blake. Mad respect. Trained idiot indeed, you rock!
Gents!!!!! This is the best video you have posted to date!!! Blake, you’re a genuine shredder and a great presenter for these types of videos. May I request shredding on bikes from 29”-16” in this format?!
Gmbn, you need to make a Blake’s dictionary for the shop 😂🤘
I’m a trained idiot 😂
More like a professional maniac.
Kudos to you Blake for trying all these so we won’t have to.
Seriously this video is amongst the more entertaining in the GMBN library.
ayu1978 absolutely haha, watching this at 3 am just hits different 😂😂
Back in the pre suspension days, a little twitchy was a good thing because speeds were slower and lines were jaggier. Bars were in the 600mm range and head angles of 71 degrees or more.
19:26 HOW DID BLAKE SAVE THAT!?
THAT WAS SKILLSSZZ
Yeah that was skills specially it was muddy and raining. Hahahaha
Btw 🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭
Remember he’s a trained idiot
Trained by Spencer Foreman
@@orion8829 "idiot" HAHA
Totally , I would've been buckerooed instantly .
I've been riding with 690mm bars, the bike was an import from Australia where they are limited by law, apparently. As this was my first mtb I didn't have anything to compare them to and I thought they were OK. But just this week I went up to 780mm, I'm 6', and the difference is night and day, a much more stable and easy ride.
07:55 It’s twitchy as heeeeeel 😂😂 He seriously does not care about what other people think about him
This really made me laugh! Especially when Blake almost went head first as he was pressing the front brake😂
After coming back to MTB riding after a serious neck injury with partial paralysis, I can tell you nothing improves your control and confidence more than wider bars with a shorter stem and a dropper post. Blake has illustrated this in a humorous and very skilful way. Well done Blake, some of the best entertainment I have had in a while!
Blake just showed me that what matters most is your bike handling skills, not the latest tech/ bike or in this case, the width of the handlebar. Humbled and will keep reminding myself not to keep upgrading my bike, but upgrade my skills instead. Going to do a marathon of GMBN how to videos on the weekend!
Back in the 1990s we used to cut our bars down to avoid clipping trees on narrow trails. I still have some bars from around 1995 that measure about 525mm. Of course we were riding hardtail or fully rigid 26ers. To this day I can't get used to ultra-wide bars. The bars on my XC hardtail bike right now measure just over 600mm. I do most of my riding on a road bike with 44cm bars, which is considered pretty wide for a road bike, so I'm used to narrower bars.
BTW narrower bars aren't really twitchy if you use them with a longer stem.
I remember when XC bikes came with 600mm flat bars, 660mm was considered wide! Back in the day (late 90s) I ran Azonic PDW riser bars (660mm) and a 'short' stem (80mm) on my 'XC' hardtail (there wasn't really a trail bike category at the time). It was considered radical at the time! I wouldn't fancy any shorter though!
is it just me or would Blake make the best television presenter 😂 he’s a pro entertainer
Will Honey Blake for Top Gear 😂
Man, you guys have some really nice trails over in England. I'm so thankful for this channel as its impossible to ride here in the winter due to the ever changing conditions. Makes me feel like im out riding when I watch you guys.
wow. my heart skipped a beat when I saw you endo off that drop. great video Blake. you're the only reason why I still watch gmbn
Blake, that was priceless "Im thinking why am I going over the bars!!!" Sooo funny man.
Blake is the only reason I watch gmbn anymore
He is the soul of gmbn
If Blake ever leaves, I wouldn’t watch them, he’s the backbone.
Would have been nice to see you go back to the 760mm bars at the end, just to see how much more stable you would feel after the supernarrow bars
Click on the beginning of the show.
@@sergeykopylov652
It's not the same, once you get used to narrow bars, going back to wide bars gives you a much different feeling.
I would have been curious to see him go back up slowly in sizes as well, to see if he felt comfortable with bars narrower than 760mm, but the video would have been 45 minutes long, i would have watched it though 😁
At least he could have held his original bars over the last one for comparison - that's just half as wide ... *insane!* 😅
This is the most hilarious educational bike video I've ever seen. Thank you.
And you're right, I'm a courier, and I love filtering through traffic, and I want a full suspension bike for bad roads, shortcuts, and stairs. I have to decide what's the best narrow for me. This video was extremely helpful. Thank you.
"It's just stupid. It's not even ethnical"
Now make a bike with electronic steering servo in the head tube and just a joystick rising out of where the stem would be. No bars at all.
16:15 Blake's reaction = priceless!! This video was absolutely hilarious loved it!
Love how the Bars got smaller and his voice gets higher😂😂😂 GMBN one of best channels on UA-cam👍👍
I fucking love this guy. He is so entertaining.
19:26 - that's how I was riding when I went to UK and rented a bike! Take that, British guy!
8:38 - "Shiver me timbers". best vid yet! Blake needs a massive, massive salary increase.
Blake has crazy skills and sense of humor! Thank you for vids, gmbn!
This is the single most entertaining mountain bike video on UA-cam... hands down. This guy is great!
Blake wins the Oscar for most dramatic acting 😂
Also, I love your energy dude. Every team needs a guy like you for morale.
Blake's got the best NON SWEARING vocabulary. Props bud
I’m in tears 🤣 What a great, mood uplifting video!!
GMBN, can you add a real time heart rate monitor icon, in the lower right, so we can see Blake's Fun Factor?
Jon and Kathy Rudolf Blake*
My bike came with 680mm bars. I've recently swapped them for 600 with a longer stem, which I'm enjoying but I'll probably settle on 640mm - all for XC fun
Absolutely fun video to watch. Thank you
That was me and my friend Jake that crashed into that tree, you almost hit 😂😂
Love watching Blake and his sound effects and constant commentary. lol.
D*mn this episode! Funny as ****! Good job Blake. You nailed it mate.
This video was hilarious. He had so much energy during this episode!
18:04 sounds like a European siren haha
ha ha lol
That would be the French
Hilarious. I remember around 1990 you could buy bars that were completely straight - no rise, no sweep, and no bulge in the middle, just an adapter for the stem diameter. I don't remember what they were called, but they came in a few different fluorescent colors, and they were popular. People were always experimenting with things back then, because the factory stuff was all crap and no one knew what worked yet. Guys would cut these bars down, I guess because its easier than making them longer. Since there was no bulge in the middle, the brakes and shifters could be mounted super close to the stem. Guys would have to offset the left and right brakes a bit so the cables could fit past each other. Throw a set of those on a bike with a 150mm stem, head angle in the 70's, a ridged fork, and some 1.9" tires, and things got really exciting.
Sending that wooden drop where one of the lads had a nasty crash few weeks ago :D and Blake is dropping on a 500mm bars haha savage!
Such a funny guy, Thank God for people like him...
inverted shifters, true innovation. gmbn is back baby starting 2020 with the sketchiest 300 ml bars
inverted brakes
Blake Samson is absolutely the best! If only he had a personality and sense of humor...wink!
Not only do I learn something from these videos, but Blake gets me to laugh and smile every time. The best!
Reminded me of the time I first rode moto style. The switch is scary.
Omg I knew he was going to mix his breaks up , good save !
"Uwww mud!" What a mad man. 😄👌
Blake is so damn fun to watch. I am sure he is why I keep coming back.
«It’s not ethnical!» 😂 loving the Blake!!
It's not ethical to put Blake in danger with such a silly test...
Or this 300 mm bar is out of this world, it belongs to a Liliputian ethnic group ?
Go figure.
Was looking for this comment 😂
I couldn't do that stuff period, so mad respect dude, at 50 I usually blame my weight bias/tyres/mud/brakes/too much cake/rain....etc
But now I got no excuses ; )
I ride 650mm bars, if I go wider there are alot of trails I can't even ride here in Belgium (to much trees to close together)!
Also I don't get such wide bars, even at 650mm my wrists hurt after a couple of hours!
Slick Topeak product placement, lads.
*2:28** - 700mm*
*5:41** - 600mm*
*11:39** - 500mm*
*16:48** - 400mm*
Your welcome
The last two are actually 500 and 400, not 400 and 300
@@sebastianjost thanks for pointing that out! Fixed it now👍
*You’re
I ride with 680s witch is a little too small but because my bike is light it makes it really playful and I love it's feel, plus ridding tight and raw singletrack it's useful to fit through gaps
My bars are 580 great for getting through gates
Yeah have them on my old 26er XC bike and 75mm stem. Handles well, doesn't seem too narrow compared to 720mm on my 29er.
Great width for not hitting trees
So you'd prefer going through gates than riding well?
@@pygmalion1963 Yeah..?
Is that your hobby?
Riding through gates?
@@dumbr2098 what's your hobby? turning around at gates and going home instead of riding?
I also ride 770 normally and I've recently had a chance to ride narrow bars on a city bike. I'm not sure everyone watching understands just how absolutely horrible narrow bars feel and how terrifying they are. This is one of the scariest videos on the internet - hands down. Blake - you're hard as nails.
It got pretty gnarly!
20". You have to ride a 20" somewhere. Up to you whether it's a kid's mtb or a BMX bike.
Best GMBN I’ve seen yet! Well Done Blake!
Back in the 90’s we rode narrow bars because the trees were closer together.
I still ride some of the trails that I rode in the 90s and the trees are still very close together. I kinda feel bad for guys who try to ride narrow trails on wide bars.
My trails have the same trees in places. Add 20 years of rings,.yikes! No way I am riding with over 700mm.
The trees are further apart now because the blokes with wide bars kept running into them until they just snuffed it
You're the insanest mountain biker, Blake! Cheers to staying alive!
9:50 my mom walked in and now I’m grounded
Ahahahahahah
6:40 for me. Didnt get grounded tho.
Hahaha for real??
Lol
There were 69 likes but i wanted to like so I'll just comment
Blake is always my fave content provider. As always nice take!
Great video blake ,man I was dying laughing 🤣
Blake's squeaky endo made me proper lol 😁😁back is front dude ha ha
"Remember the back brake, blake" thats a tongue twister right there haha
Couldn’t breathe I was laughing!!! 😂😂😂😂
OMG... Blake is too funny. But it was amazing to watch him ride with those short bars!
Normally you'd have a longer stem to make it less twitchy
Like during a "normal" skinny bar challenge?
Can't see how that would be a benefit. You'd be more upright, so less weight on the bars, therefore less front wheel grip. Hmm, admittedly that would mean less response from the steering. Hehe, well I'm not trying it, I have my bars quite high anyway as I have an old neck injury from decades ago. 😑
@Vincenzio VonHook Oh crap, yes, I was thinking about the steerer tube!
Think it depends on your natural reach as well. I swapped my longer stem, shorter bar set up for a wider bar, shorter stem and got way more stability.
Finally someone to stop this bar width madness.... :) Me as a roadie just hate passing MTB riders coming from the opposite direction, for example on narrow bridges. They take up to 1 meter of space with those abominations :P
When going down a trial
Noone:
Blake: uuuuuhhhh, aaarrrgggggg,oooooohhh
You riding like that and I'm just starting mtb,....I have a looooooooooooong way to go....keep these clips coming. You teach so well..
im crying watching these 😂
It's crazy how far it's come. My 2011 reign 0 came with 680mm bars! Pretty crazy for an all mountain bike with 150mm front and rear. I think it's finally time to replace them, after rolling on a few buddies bikes, and seeing this!
12:15 If you tune in loud enough you can hear Martyn is the distance
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACKS AAAAND BODGES!"
I think it's super interesting Blake uses a 760mm bar and he's tall. I cut mine down to 760 just because almost every trail here has trees that are 770mm gap to ride through, so it's just easier to have 760. I'm 6'3" and I'm totally comfortable on a 760mm bar. When you read people talking about new bikes, you'd think anything less than 800mm is a handlebar for a child.
I heard a GCN rider has a bar with bar ends that Blake can try next time :)) Maybe better Blake try the whole bike the GCN rider has. :))
Thank you Blake! 🤩 Can always count on you for some top quality entertainment! 🤣
What did you take those of a razor scooter
The body control and composure at 19:33 is incredible
Meanwhile I'm actually on a 640mm ever since 😂😂
👍
That was hilarious! Especially when Blake goes " What the hell", when he sees each bar. Thanks
When we’ll we see the wide bar challenge with 1200mm
Lol hells angels Rollin thru 😂
Thanks mate, had an amazing laugh!!! Well done!!
19:37 front wheel drift while doing an endo in the mud. That is possibly the sketchiest thing anyone has ever done and not crashed
I rode 590mm bars for 15+ years. Finally built a new bike and as a concession to modern width bars, I went all the way to a 620mm bar. Everyone was right, wide bars are an improvement. I love mine!
Anything below 800 feels horrid to me. Really hard to find a reasonably priced bar at 800 unfortunately.
You might want to look to sites like aliexpress. I bought 820mm carbon bars for something like 30 bucks and have been riding them for at least a year now without any issues!
This man is an artist on two wheels, Blake you made my day :-D
“Opps! Sorry about that Mercedes Benz. Forgot I had wide bars.” ... and I think I’ll be riding my old rat bike with the narrower bars to work for a while. Wide bars are crap in traffic.
If I had a half of Blake's energy, enthusiasm & skills I'd be a happy man
Work on it mate, just start riding and pushing yourself to the limits.
I just got a new Canondale Scalpel & my bars are like driving a big 50s Chrysler. I can’t stand it. I think those 600s would be perfect for me. Thanks for the video! 👍☮️🌞🚲
Take some time to get used them before you cut them. I didn’t like wide bars at first but I could never go back now.
what a rider! off his head . love it
Always amazes me how any bike with any setup and still flying and able to do it all 🤔😯
just goes to show all the fancy parts aren't what makes u a good rider
@@james-yi2xx spot on said mate
You are indeed insane Mr Blake! I started mountian bike XC back in 1991 so started out on 560mm + bar ends were great and item of the times as that was were 90's mountian XC racing was (560mm to 600mm by end of the decade always with bar ends so you had chance of climbing the bikes at XC race speed), but would not go back (well have two Kona Kileaua's a 94 & 96 560/580mm is best ones for them but not modern stuff)! My regular current mountian bike is 720mm as mainly race XC 5ft 7" height not that wide shoulders so 720mm + width feels uncomfortable for me but that's just me and I know 720mm sort old skool width even now.
Not sure how I survived being a kid 😂 530mm bars with a girvin flexstem and cantilever brakes 😱
You were probably stronger and more balanced when you were a kid.