pendolare 

[Moved this thread from the Commuting Forum}

Hello Bike Forum Members. This is my first post. "Pendolare" is Italian for "commuter."

I’m having bike fit problems. Longer stem: comfort in saddle but pain in shoulders and neck. Shorter stem and/or higher rise: pain in saddle and numbness in hands.

I called Mellow Johnny's bike shop here in Austin about my bike fit and spoke to someone in the service department. He couldn't see me because of the shelter-in-place mandate, but I look forward to reading any advice you can give on my current bike fit situation.

I've bought a 2001 Bianchi Volpe last year. It’s 58cm. I replaced the Body Fit Comfort Saddle with my old WTB Speed (from my 2001 Bianchi Brava).

With the Volpe, I was messing around with the saddle height and fore aft position. I realized I had it both too low and too far forward. The low height didn't make me feel like I was "floating." When I lifted my hands off the bars the saddle fore position made me slide forward (both on the road and on the trainer).

Right now, the saddle seems like it's in the right position because I'm not falling forward and it feels like the height gives me more power transfer...or something. I feel balanced on the bike.

The original quill stem is 120mm, 0 degree rise. Because of the reach between the saddle and handle bars, I feel no pressure in my soft tissues. The saddle feels comfortable and supportive.

However, my hands, neck, traps, and shoulders are in pain after about 30 minutes of riding, especially when I was looking ahead at the road, leading me to think maybe I was too stretched out. There was no numbness in my hands, but there was some pain.

The guy at Mellow Johnny’s suggested that maybe, since I'm 6 feet, my bike saddle was too small and the weight of my body was transferring to my hands and shoulders. I told him that the saddle was 145mm and he said that might be fine but also suggested I could try shallower handlebars or a shorter stem.

I've been swapping bike stems in the last month: 70mm, 95mm, 100mm. All of these have caused hand numbness as well as pain on the saddle (sit bones and soft tissue), probably because I'm too upright or too cramped.

Any advice on these problems? Should I get a wider saddle? Right now ModernBIKE has a sale on Brooks saddles (until April 30th). I could also try a wider WTB saddle. Or should I get another 120mm stem with a higher rise?

Thank you for any advice.

Iride01 

You have these issues on the Volpe only? If so, what's different about the two? Or has it been years since you've ridden very much.

Carbonfiberboy 

it's not your bike fit, it your bike fitness. Pain in shoulders: do pushups every morning, then plank for at least 2 minutes. Pain in neck: https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycl...discovery.html
For both, also dumbell work: side raises, front raises, rear raises, overhead presses, 3 sets of 12, super setting. Fix you right up.

noobinsf 

I would say a wider saddle is worth a shot, like a Brooks B17 (170mm width). You can easily sell it used if you can't make it work after tweaking fore/aft/tilt. Even between Brooks saddles, going from a B17 Narrow (~150mm) to a standard B17 made a world of difference for me.

Just to throw another variable in the mix -- what about wider bars with one of the stem lengths you've tried?

pendolare 

Iride01,

I bought the Brava back in 2005 and it was my main bike until last year when I bought the Volpe. I had the same issues on the Brava, especially hand numbness. I bought the Volpe because:

1. The wheelbase on the Brava was too close and my feet kept hitting my panniers.
2. The Brava's caliper brakes left no room for fenders.

The Volpe and Brava are basically the same size (58cm) but the Volpe has a slightly slanted top tube.

I've been riding bikes for 26 years, 3-5 times a week. I just did a 25 mile, 2-hour ride yesterday.

pendolare 

Thanks for the recommendation, Noobins. Yeah, I think I'll start with a B17.

Bar width: never thought of that. I'll look into it.

One other thing: the Volpe drop bars are very deep, unlike the current shallower drop bars. The guy at Mellow Johnny's also recommended shallower bars.

DrIsotope

Also look at your bar width. My wife was having the same issues with neck/shoulder issues, and going one step narrower on the bars (which for her was going from a 420 to a 400) made a world of difference.

Iride01 

I don't know how a different saddle is going to relieve the issues you describe, unless you are thinking a more upright position will reduce weight on wrist/hands and and not strain your neck when trying to look down the road ahead. So yeah, saddle comfort will be more an issue then with more weight on your butt.

You'l have to look for others to suggest more things to try with regards to fit. I did have issues quite a while back with shoulder, upper back and neck pain that went away after I took the visor off my helmet so I didn't have to crane my head up so high to see down the road. Numbness on hands for me was changing up the grip I had on the hoods. I used to grip them in such a way that let the heel of my palm rest on the bars. Now I find it better to only let the pad below my thumb rest on the hood and the rest of my palm is to the side where no weight is on it.

My issues were only a thing on longer rides of three to four hours. So with your issues happening in thirty minutes there is a lot more to look into.

Are you keeping a bend in your elbow's when you ride?

pendolare 

Thanks for the recommendation. I will look into that. When I put my hands on the top of the bars (the perch), the pain does go away. I only do this for a few minutes though because it isn't safe without my hands on the brake hoods.

pendolare 

Yes, I am keeping a bend in my elbow when I ride and I do rest the pad below my thumb on the hood. However, I'm not sure if I'm gripping the hood the same way you are so I'll check.

As to the saddle: I don't really want to ride in a more upright position. It's less aerodynamic. I'm wondering if my WTB Speed saddle is worn down.

pendolare 

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. Please keep them coming.

I was hoping to include pictures in my original post but because it was my first post I couldn't upload them. I got an error message that said I needed to make 10 posts before I could upload the URLs.

Once I make 10 posts, maybe I'll upload the pictures of me on my bike.