Adriannapolis

I have a Trek FX2 that I use for fitness and commuting. After about 45 minutes to an hour on the bike I have pretty bad neck pain. I am wondering if raising the handlebars would alleviate this, but it looks like I’m maxed out already. Do I spend the money on modifications or buy a new bike? I am a pretty tall female 5’9 32” inseam and I’m wondering if I wouldn’t be better off on a frame designed for men.

pcunite

Well, its worth it to test something for an hour and see how it goes.

MRT2

What size bike are you currently riding? Is it possible you are riding a bike that is too small for you?

Adonis72

If it's hurting your neck and its raised all the way up I'm guessing your bike may be too small.

StarBiker

It's not just that the bike could be small, it could be the frame geometry.

I concur that rising your handle bars, and bringing them back towards you could make a difference. You raised it, but did you use a shorter reach stem, and you can use a double stem to bring the handle bars back towards you more.

Bikes have to fit, and it's not just about you standing there over the bike, or riding it a mile.

With me it was always reach, and leaning. I road around on a colorful Bianchi Eros for 4 years. I need a 56 CM in a vintage bike, and it was a 48 and never gave me neck pain. I found it comfortable to ride. No knee pain either.

I have had vintage 56 CM roadies that killed my neck, a beautiful Trek 660 comes to mind. It fit well, but because it had a long reach it bothered my neck badly.

It's why I don't like putting down money on a bike without a decent return policy. I have never purchased a new bike, but I will be buying from a place with such a return policy. (I am not saying the OP bought one way, or another)

kaiserschmarrn

What size frame did you buy? I just bought an FX 2 and you are about my size. I got a medium, but I was right inbetween medium and large. My wife got fit into a medium as well, but she is only about 5'4". The salesman put her into a medium even though it is too big for her by the size chart. The small, he felt, and it looked to be so, looked like a child's bike. I looked at the men's vs. woman's frame sizing in the FX 2, because I first tried my wife's bike before buying one. In the FX 2, a woman's S, M snd L conform to the exact sizes of the men's counterparts. All you get are different colors, and in the women's line, you can get a "Step" version with a low top bar, like a old school woman's bike. I do not know if they offer a frame design like that for men. The men's and women's FX 2 do have differently shaped anatomical saddles, now that I think of it.

Danny