Originally Posted by
j.postema
Hi, thanks for your replies and sharing your insights. When looking at the first picture, the angle between arms and body isn't much smaller than 90 degrees, so that should look ok? At the same time, the elbows look "locked" if I'm correct: the arms look rather stretched out? If I put the handlebars further to the front by using a longer stem, would my arms still have this stretched out position? I find this confusing as a locked elbow position is not ok?
At the second picture, where the hands are positioned in the lowest position on the bars, the angle between body and arms is clearly less than the adviced 85 - 90 degrees. Again - arms look straigh, elbows locked.
To conclude: would a longer stem and moving the handlebars to the front result in better posture / bike fit? I find it confusing as one can read that overreach causes lower back problems just like short reach?
source:
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/videos/bike-fit-and-maintenance/handlebar-reach-how-to-get-it-right-video#BmhQw4gQLR63GMOw.99
Just do what your link says, look like the photos in that link. Do what you have to do to the bike to get there, or get a bigger bike if that doesn't work. Bikes are very much less expensive than doctors and poor health. My bike is the best doctor I ever had.
So there are two ways one can be a cyclist rather than a person on a bicycle. The first is to be young. The second is to be youthful. Since the first is not possible for me, I choose the second. That's just being fit. Nothing to it really, just being consistent with the physical stuff.
Here are the stretches I've been doing for the past decade or so:
https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycl...l#post15372967
This past year I've started doing McKenzie exercises, which are very, very helpful:
https://www.spineone.com/blog/mckenz...hod-back-pain/
Besides becoming more flexible, becoming stronger is good, too. Strength work a couple times a week is synergistic with cycling.
https://www.bikeforums.net/training-...e-athlete.html
Of course there are alternatives to being fit, which is the reason one hears those who don't want to get fit talking about raising the bars and shortening the reach. The analogy would be that cycling makes your legs sore, so better not to do that.