Why are drop bars so narrow, ie 46cm max?

but would much prefer wider (say 50cm), there must be loads of other people that feel the same ???? or is it just me
I don't know anything about this subject and am kind of in the same boat trying to find what would be a sensible width for my first set of drops bars going on the Voodoo. Instinct tells me to note the "rules of thumb" and deviate slightly which puts me in the ~400-420mm area so I've got a couple options in that range I intend to try.

Lucky for you broad-shouldered folks and as @Frankenorange said, wide bars are all the rage and you can probably find a bar damn near double your shoulder width. Here is a list of options though they're all labeled "gravel" bars and that really irks me, probably only because it's so en vogue.

Seriously though; wtf is it with these clowns who go bikepacking with sandals?

At the risk of sounding a luddite, I kind of get it. I don't own any sandals (I do have wool shirts, but none quilted)and I also fear losing toenails on a ride, but when the industry "innovates" at a breakneck pace and takes every opportunity to shove the newest thing down your throat and strategizes on planned obsolescence (gotta hit those q3 projections or else...) the kneejerk reaction is real. Maybe, at least partially, a generational thing too... a middle finger to the corpos, even if those bird flipping are decked out in plastic Patagonia and work in tech. Any Mad Men fans? Remember the Martinsons' Coffee pitch?

anyway, I just installed my first pair of cleats on my first pair of cycling shoes and one of the bars I bought has the word "gravel" in the name :rolleyes:
 
This is my only bike (out of 4) with flat bars, and I must admit it is definitely the most comfortable, and that mirror really works well stuck way out there, I keep drops on my Dawes Super galaxy because they look right and I have found some 460mm bars that are just about ok...ish soggy.jpg
 
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Drop handlebars marketed as gravel bars are getting wider and wider and go waaaayyyyyy beyond 46cm. They are for fitting enormous handlebar bags full of quilted wool shirts and for the control you need when your flip flops have come off the pedals on the way back home from the micro brewery.
I looked at those but they are indeed very wide at the flared drops, but not particularly wide on the tops or where the hoods sit where I need it, and as with anything to do with "gravel bikes" they are expensive for what is just a piece of tubing
 
Lucky for you broad-shouldered folks and as @Frankenorange said, wide bars are all the rage and you can probably find a bar damn near double your shoulder width. Here is a list of options though they're all labeled "gravel" bars and that really irks me, probably only because it's so en vogue.
Thanks for the link, I have never seen any of these bars available in stores but good to know the exist, its the distance between the hoods that I am most interested in, 500mm would be great, the flared out drop width is less important
 
If you're willing to pay, they exist.

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the 630mm variant measures 535mm at the ramps, probably not much less at the hoods, and there is a wider one yet...
 

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