Posted by: craw
This 100%. Most riders now are joiners and they tend to buy into the whole "that one trendy solution is the right solution for everyone" thing that mountain bikers love so much. I'm rooted in a time way before that when people were more proudly experimental about the weird stuff they tried. But now you see someone who's 5'2" on a dual 29" bike with 820mm bars that are way wider than their shoulders and it's easier to not say anything. Enjoy riding a bike you can't maneuver. Everyone has different needs but you have to listen to your body and be willing to make incremental experiments.
I'm bigger and wider than most. I used to have the big SixC bar. Then I switched to a longer 60mm stem (god forbid!) and bar with 12' sweep at 780mm and guess what? It's great. I don't miss that width at all. Plus the SixC is brutally stiff and my new bar is quite comfortable.
Dealing with my GF is always educational when it comes to bikes. She doesn't know or care about 90% of the stuff I think is super important. I could totally change her suspension settings and she might comment on it casually after a couple weeks. Maybe. The most egregious incident was when one of her GFs mentioned to me that my GF didn't like her fancy new [6 month old] bike. So I asked her about it and she only then mentions to me that she is going OTB a couple times a ride because the back end bucks her forward. I let out a long sigh and turn the rebound knob on her shock. Problem solved. We spend everyday together when we are not working and it never occurred to her that she should mention that tidbit of info...despite months of OTBs. She's been an ICU nurse in the past so dealing with complex situations/machinery is not a problem for her, but some how she can't apply that to bikes. And then of course you have people that are legit operating way further down the IQ distribution curve trying to make sense of a modern MTB. It's no wonder not many people are getting the most from their bikes.
The fact that you are willing and able to make changes is huge. You can't know what you aren't willing to try. OTOH going from a poor bar/cockpit setup to one that suits you is a night and day difference. Once you have tasted that success. It's really really really hard to not change stuff that doesn't make you happy. That's the blessing and the curse of being a bike geek.
It's kind of hilarious that when you mention a 60mm stem now it sounds like you are riding a road bike. In the days of 90-120mm stems running a 60mm stem would be a weirdo stubby setup for when you bought the wrong size frame.
It's great that you found a setup that works for you. Those SixC bars were awful for being overly stiff.