BMX Bars Facts from the Present and the Past

Anyone who has followed the development of BMX long enough has seen all kinds of trends come and go cause things change constantly – one day we have big bars, then small, then back to big again. This is because BMX is always trying to find the prefect design that could make riding better and smoother. As with any design process, there has been a lot of trial and error over the years, we’ve seen things go from extremely rough and unreliable to very technical and precise. Over the years, there have been a lot of changes from every aspect of what makes a BMX bike and it seems that bikes are getting more and more refined.

Let’s take for instance the Haro slim bars. They are not the first bar to ever emerge (there had been a lot of different bars before them), but given the long history of BMX, they are a good place to start. These were the first bars that stood out when it comes to changes in size. These BMX bars were part of a slim and low trend that hit in the 2000’s, great for X-ups and out of the way of your knees. They measure 17 cm in height and 63 cm in width and these are not ever the smallest ones to have ever come out which is pretty crazy considering today’s bars measure at around 76 cm on average.

Then, around 2007, companies turned to bigger designs. When the original Odyssey bars came out, they measured 20 cm in height and 71 cm width. These BMX bars were BIG and it didn’t take long for riders to fall in love with them since they were better on the back, provided more control and didn’t hinder tricks like barspins. After that, it was just a matter of time before riders realised the benefits of bigger bars which lead to them going up to 22 cm in height and 76 cm in width.

When the 2010’s came around, the biggest BMX bars were released – the perfect 10’s, clocking in at 25 cm height and 76 cm width. However, in order to feel comfortable riding one of these bars you have to be exceptionally tall, they are not for everyone and can make riding a bit more difficult if they are not proportional to your size.

And today we have a huge number of BMX bars options, ranging from 20 cm rise all the way up to 27 cm. This means that every BMX rider can find the best bars that are just right for them.