How to Determine if Your Bike Handlebars are Too High

Question

They should ideally be registering at mid-chest level, although many riders have them set at neck level. A height that high generally puts too much strain on your back and shoulders. If you find yourself leaning down on the handlebars to maintain balance, that is a clear indication that the height is not in the optimal range.

Answer 1

Riders may apply unnecessary weight onto their hands along with shoulders and neck issues as well as numbness of fingers further with the saddle height which might have been set too high. You might also observe that your torso actually seeks to squeeze down between your shoulder blades and this throat position is easy to capture on your action camera mounted on the trainer. Additionally, more than half the time, this position is not due to aerodynamics but comfort, suggesting that the handlebars are set too high.

Comments

Is your thighs smacking into your chest when down in the drops on a hard effort, a (dis)function of bar height and reach, or is it the exclusive problem of the saddle fore-aft being completely wrong??

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hi! how do you increase the dropbar height if your steerer tube length is limited?

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A complication to the whole bar height issue is the bar reach (even after the back end is dialed in). Won't a long reach or even too large of a frame result in the same symptoms as a bar height being to low?

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if bars are too high, your weight will be on seat more. obviously.

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"if the bars are too high what you'll find is that you tend to prop more weight onto them" ... I've found excatly that on my aero road bike, and lowering my bars gave me less numb hands.   But then for your gravel bike, should you have as low bars as on your roadbike?  Or maybe if you go high enough you will stop pushing yourself up like this and again relax? So "half low" is worse than proper low or 'mtb-like' high? Reach also come into play somehow I guess?