Handlebar width advice now follows current fitting practice.

The suggested drop-bar width used to sit on your shoulder width, plus or minus 20 mm. Fitting practice has moved inside that: riders commonly settle 5–10% narrower than their shoulders, and stock road bars have gone from about 44 cm to 40–42 cm.

• The starting range is now 90–105% of your shoulder width, centre to centre at the hoods, with the best guess just inside shoulder width.
• If the suggested or fitted bar is narrow, the advice now notes the UCI racing minimum: since January 2026, road and cyclocross bars must be at least 400 mm outside to outside, which is roughly 375 mm centre to centre.

Width is still a starting point rather than a rule — gravel and control-first riders go wider, and the tool says so.