overthebars

Hello fellow biking enthusiasts! My first post here but have riding since Stingrays/banana seats were new tech!

My present hybrid bike is a 2015 Scott Sub Speed 20. Priced under $1k, I’ve gotten great, daily in-town use from it for a few years.

But I’ve got a nagging hand/arm/shoulder injury and wondering what (if anything) I might do to soften the ride. I don’t hop curbs, etc, just talking about rough/uneven pavement. I generally keep the 37mm tires aired to about 55 lbs. I don’t want to run them at lower pressures, feels sluggish, and I don’t think a fatter tire will fit under the fenders. The only mod so far has been to change out the stock flat 31.8 mm mtb type bar for a more traditional set of 27.4 upright bars/stem. This took weight off my hands/wrists and put less strain on my neck, definitely an improvement.

Keeping in mind that it’s an economical 6061 aluminum frame/forked bike, wondering if I should just accept that the ride will be stiff. Wondering how much more compliant a similar bike fitted with a rigid carbon fork might be. I’ve been curious about some of the Sirrus bikes that have some kind of steerer tube suspension. I rode with a Soft-Ride stem on a mtb in the old days so I’m not against using some kind of suspension. But I’ve already got a dedicated off road mtb, don’t want a city bike with a big/heavy suspension fork.

Due to the current bike shortage, looks like I’ll be keeping the bike for the time being, a replacement would be hard to come by.

DorkDisk

"Suspend the rider" is back with new suspension stems and seatposts from various brands. Quality carbon forks can make a big difference; don't neglect different tires. Some ride smoother than others. Ti or carbon bars soak up vibrations also; 25.4mm even more so.

xroadcharlie

I concur with DorkDisk. And would start with different tires. A more compliant tire (even a 35 mm) with a higher thread count casing is probably more of an improvement in both ride and handling then a just a wider tire. I rode a friend's vintage 10 speed racer with 25mm tires and was surprised to find they rode as good or better then the cheap 50 mm tires on my bike on reasonably good roads.

Changing the forks might be a big job, But a suspension seatpost and shock absorbing stem (if it's not a quill stem) might be doable. Perhaps their are hand grips that can help too.

Do some research on these items first. As usual there are mixed reviews on suspension anything on bikes. I think a good suspension seatpost might help a lot, But some of them a expensive.

overthebars

Really helpful advice, thanks. Pretty sure a Redshift ShockStop is in my future, had no idea this existed. I may look into a suspension seat post later down the line but I’m mainly trying to isolate front end chatter.

I’m open to suggestions on finding/choosing compliant 37mm tires. The Scott originally came with Continental Sport Contact 700x37mm tires. Looked voluminous but bumps weren’t muted liked I’d hoped they might be (I think they may have been discontinued anyway). When those wore out I tried a different set of 35mm Continentals, don’t recall the model but they had a prominent ridge/strip in the center, didn’t care for them at all. Current tires are 38mm wire bead Schwalbe Marathon HS which aren’t too bad, they offer confident cornering but feel heavy.

Darth Lefty 

Some other ideas...

More premium tires don’t suffer as much speed loss when aired down and feel even cushier due to the thinner side walls. Less armor though obviously. I’d say tubeless but you probably don’t have the rims for it.

Grips. You can get some big foamy ones, or ergonomic shaped cork. Ergon or knockoffs.

Premium handlebars that weigh less also flex more because there’s less material. Carbon ones have the same slight shock absorption as carbon forks. That’s really the primary reason to get them as the weight savings is minimal. You could even consider a chromoly steel handlebar... not a cheap steel one because they are thick to make up for their material weakness

Vibrocore handlebars or something similar. The ones I know about are extra wide for mountain bikes and only cut down to 740mm which is still pretty wide for a hybrid. I don’t know what else is available but there’s likely something.

You can change your posture a bit with stem and bar rise but too far from the basic design of your bike and it can get goofy

hokiefyd 

These are all commuting-focused tires which usually have puncture protection strips and thicker casings to help stave off punctures. Unless you're paying a VERY high price, these things usually negatively influence ride quality. In general, the best-riding tires are also going to be the most vulnerable to punctures (again, given a reasonable budget), and everyone really needs to strike a balance for their own riding. Continental's Speed Ride is a tire in this size range (it's marked 42mm but is really more like a 38mm) that is inexpensive and fairly cushy. But it's also fairly thin and, although I've never punctured with mine, it's not going to offer the "bombproof" nature of something like a Marathon.

overthebars

Again, there are some useful recommendations, much appreciated.
I use Ergonomic grips on my mtb and they offer an improvement in reducing some buzz over the stock grips, will get some for the commuter.
I’m primarily biking in my city, really don’t have to worry about flatting far from home, am now looking for lighter-constructed tires.
Don’t see that Vibrocore offers the shape/type of bars I want. I haven’t seen carbon or Titanium upright/commuter bars, will keep looking. But assuming they’d be on the very pricey side, maybe not the best allocation of resources on what is admittedly a modest bike.

overthebars

Thanks for the very helpful suggestions to consider lighter, more compliant tires, that was the ticket. I recently switched out the 700x37mm Schwalbe Marathon HS tires (excellent wear and grip even in slick city streets) for a set of 38mm Panaracer Gravelking slicks. Really blown away by how much these tires have smoothed out the ride. Jolts from the front wheel/fork/handlebar are greatly diminished and the bike feels far more sprightly, really fun to ride now, perhaps not surprising given how much lighter the Gravelking tires are. Given how much lighter these Panaracer tires are, I don't expect them to wear nearly as long as the Schwalbe tires have so far (they still have plenty of tread left).

travbikeman

I'm actually impressed with the Panaracer Gravelking's. I don't have the slicks, I have the SK's for the gravel riding I do. Very compliant and yet good grip. Curious if you also changed your handlebar?

There are some aluminum handlebars that are now more compliant similar to carbon but more affordable. Example the PNW's range handlebar. Although it's more mountain bike and will more likely need to be cut down for a hybrid.

VicBC_Biker

I recently 'got back on the bike' after a few non-cycling years.
Bike was a Kona Dew+ hybrid with an aluminum frame and stock bars, tires were 28 mm Armadillos with tubes, inflated to about 80 psi.

I was hurtin' - every bump in the road was an 'ouch!' experience.

I bought a Redshift seatpost and it made an immediate, positive difference. It didn't seem to affect the bike geometry, but bumps in the pavement weren't painful any more.
Since my butt wasn't being hammered any more, I wasn't putting as much load on my hands, so they seemed better, too.

Next change was to wider and more fragile tires - 44 mm ReneHerse, still with tubes. Tire pressure now 40-45 psi.

It's a completely different riding experience. Now, my rides are limited by my poor fitness, not butt and hand pain.

For me, it was worth spending a few hundred dollars on the seatpost and tire changes. Even if better and more expensive bikes were available at the LBS, I don't think the ride- if using 'armoured' narrow tires and the stock seatpost- would compare to my current 'base model' bike.

ClydeClydeson

Position on the bike may be another thing to look at. Especially if your saddle is nose-down when viewed from the side - having a nose-down saddle causes your weight to want to slip forward and you get a huge increase in load on your hands and arms from subconsciously trying to resist sliding forward.

If your position is good then the next step is tires - slightly fatter, slightly softer (less pressure) will immediately make the ride softer. There is no reason to avoid putting a slightly wider tire on the front for greater upper body comfort if you want.

CHanging the fork would be the last thing I would do. Just because a fork is made from carbon does not guarantee it is designed or built to make a significantly smoother ride.

I have been using 35mm tires for a few years and switching from thick casing flat resistant tires (Specialized Blackbelt of some sort were what I had) to thinner casing lighter tires (my favourites are Panaracer Pasela) makes an immense difference. My heavier SPecialized tires are slow as hell when around 45-50psi, but comfortable. At 80psi they are acceptably fast but harsh. THe much lighter Paselas are not as slow when pumped up soft, and not nearly as rigid or harsh over small bumps when pumped up hard.

ClydeClydeson

Armadillos, in my experience, have very good flat protection but at the cost of being the harshest riding tires I have tried. I am sure your suspension made a difference, but I bet you could swap back to rigid bar/stem and leave the 44mm RH tires and still be miles ahead (comfort wise) of your original setup.

VicBC_Biker

Clyde: Absolutely correct, IMO.

The tire change gets credit for about 70% of the comfort improvement. The Redshift seat post 30%. I also bought and installed a Redshift stem with the elastomer plugs, but any improvement there was quite subtle.

overthebars

Clyde, good advice on how a downward sloping saddle can adversely affect hand/arm pressure on the grips. My daughter was suffering from sore wrists/hands and a great mechanic at River City bikes in Portland (great bike shop) recognized it was central to her issue. He adjusted the saddle and she really benefitted from the fit. But my bike's saddle is level.

Trav, I'm pretty happy with the amount of sweep and lift of the commuter style handlebars currently installed. Originally the bike came with a mtb bar with minimal to no lift and it wasn't a good fit for me. I looked at the PNW bars and they don't seem to offer the sweep I appreciate on the current bars.

VicBC, I hear you on the tires. I'm sure the Rene Herse are great, I'd read good things about them and decided to start my supple tire search by trying the lower cost (though hardly cheap) Panaracer Gravelkings. Absolutely stoked at how much more plush and non-fatiguing riding on the Gravelkings are. And the bike feels way peppier, it's not subtle. If specs are to be believed, they weigh nearly a pound less - each.

With my compromised/aging shoulder, most of the hurt I was feeling was coming from the front end. Shocks coming thru the seatpost/saddle didn't seem to be a major cause of my issue. And I figured it probably wouldn't be especially cost-effective to buy a more compliant fork on a bike in this moderate price range. The tires have fundamentally helped how stiff/bone-jarring the ride was. That being said, I was also considering a Redshift Shockstop Stem, looks like a fantastic product. But apparently they don't come in short-ish stem lengths; the fit of my bike seems pretty dialed in with a 30mm length stem. Maybe in the future I'll try moving my saddle forward which would probably allow a great range of stem lengths and then I could give the Redshift stem a try.

Thanks to all who set suggested changing out the stiff/heavy tires.

overthebars

hokiefyd 

It's pretty remarkable how much difference light and supple tires can make to ride quality. I have two sets of Panaracer Pasela tires...one with the ProTite flat protection and one without. They're the same size even (700x38). I can absolutely tell the difference in these two tires -- the PT ones feeling decidedly less comfortable than the standard versions.

MAK

Do you wear padded bike gloves? They will make a big difference. I addition, you could also add bar ends which will allow changes in hand position. A singular hand position often will lead to some or all of your physical complaints.

Good luck.