jaycb74

I currently ride a 2012 hybrid Trek FX 7.5, has been a great bike for fitness over the years. My typical ride is 10-18 miles, 800-1500 ft of elevation gain (San Jose area) about 2-3 times per week. Some weekends take me up to around 25 mile rides with 2-3k of elevation. I really struggle on the longer climbs with back pain and when I do too many short rides in a week. I'm 46, 6'3 205 lbs, so obviously not built for climbing but do really enjoy it. I'm ready for a new bike and just wondering if a endurance road bike like the Domane 5.0 would have a better geometry for climbing and help with the back pain? Trek also has the FX S 6 now which appears to be basically the Domane frame with flat bar. I've never had a road bike as ridden mtn bikes and hybrids so hesitant to make the switch but want what will treat my back the best, especially when climbing as the flats don't really bother me.

Thanks for any insight.

Carbonfiberboy 

Domanes climb just fine. If you want a road bike, get a road bike. No flat bar. Best thing for your back is barbell squats and the back machine at a gym. Work it 'til it hurts, rest, repeat.

Another thing which helps most people's backs is to be more stretched out on the bike, i.e. drop bars, slammed flat stem, well stretched out position. Exactly the opposite of what one hears from the out-of-shape.

PepeM

Make sure you have a 120mm or longer stem.

OneIsAllYouNeed

A professional bike fit is usually money well spent.

Riding in too hard of a gear causes back pain. Strengthen your core or use lower gears.

How does climbing feel on your MTB? Does your position match on the hybrid?

Any road bike that fits you should be more comfortable for climbing than a hybrid. You'll have more hand positions to choose from. Being able to shift your weight fore/aft helps with comfort on long climbs, too.

jaycb74

the hybrid has a compact crankset, not sure the size but there really isn't any granny gear like my mountain bike. But my back can flare up on the mtn bike as well but its a good point b/c its when on steep stuff where I'm grinding that first gear on the hybrid, I can feel it in my back. My back is a mess, no doubt about that, I try yoga and anything and everything to keep it from flaring up but day to day struggle. As riding is my primary form of exercise, want to do anything I can to help it.

any new bike I'll definitely get a fit. Doesn't sound like the geometry of a endurance road bike will really make that much of a difference in helping avoid back pain compared to the hybrid?

OneIsAllYouNeed

Riding with a flat back rather than an arched back should help. A longer and lower position (relative to the hybrid) should help achieve that. Don't fall into the trap of putting a high-rise stem and short reach handlebars onto your new road bike.

Otherwise, it's off-the-bike stuff: sit less, don't slouch, practice good posture, etc.

jaycb74

[QUOTE=OneIsAllYouNeed;19907443]Riding with a flat back rather than an arched back should help. A longer and lower position (relative to the hybrid) should help achieve that. Don't fall into the trap of putting a high-rise stem and short reach handlebars onto your new road bike.

This is exactly what has been recommended to me by LBS to help alleviate back pain; small well known customer focused LBS that I have nothing but really good experience with.

f4rrest

Honestly, everyone's back pain is different. What works for some may not work for you.

I've had increased back pain over the last decade.

Gym work and many core exercises make mine worse, and I used to love the gym.

Certain stretches and some yoga helps me. One or two rest days as well.

I'm still able to climb a lot, thankfully.

Bike setup has 10cm drop.

Clem von Jones

You probably won't believe me because of your inexperience with drop bars but because you're 6' 3" you really require HUGE amounts of saddle to bar drop to be comfortable on a road bike. It's counterintuitive and you won't believe it until you see and experience it yourself, but you need around 17 or 19 cm of bar drop. Having a low bar takes weight off your arms. I know you, like myself many other have done, will do everything except this first because you can't and won't believe it. It's the truth though.

It's good to have your center of gravity low on the bike.

Good climbing geometry also features steep headtubes, seat tubes, and low amounts of fork offset - basically like a professional race bike.

Clem von Jones

Try to rent or borrow a road bike that appears at least two sizes too small for you and set it up with enormous bar drop. The experience will be like a religious revelation to you.

Clem von Jones

Back around 2001 Giant bicycle company revolutionized road bike geometry by introducing the TCR with its innovative compact frame geometry. The story behind it is fascinating. Prior to its inception classical road geometry featured huge tall seat tubes and tall head tubes. The guy who invented the TCR took a 26" mountain bike frame that was several sizes too small for him and put 700c wheels on it. He used this bike to demonstrate his conception of how modern geometry race bikes should be built. This compact frame geometry features really short head tubes that enable you to drop the bars much lower than classical frame geometry. This compact geometry also requires much longer seat posts because the seat tube and frame in general is small for maximum weight savings.

San Pedro

Stretching/yoga helped me a lot. Like someone else said, working on good posture has been helping me lately too.

jaycb74

[QUOTE=Clem von Jones;19908438]You probably won't believe me because of your inexperience with drop bars but because you're 6' 3" you really require HUGE amounts of saddle to bar drop to be comfortable on a road bike. It's counterintuitive and you won't believe it until you see and experience it yourself, but you need around 17 or 19 cm of bar drop. Having a low bar takes weight off your arms. I know you, like myself many other have done, will do everything except this first because you can't and won't believe it. It's the truth though.

I will try anything and will take your suggestion to rent a road bike with a large drop and see how I feel after some climbing. Thx!

aplcr0331

You LBS will let you demo bikes, see what they have. If you want to try another place, try Spinlister. It's a social platform where people rent bikes (and snowboard and paddleboards) from other users.


I travelled to Chicago and rented a bike for a few days. Much cheaper and easier than shipping my bike and all that entails.


I'm no shill for the website, just had a good experience and it might allow you to try more bikes.

Dean V

Absolutely, 100% wrong.
Even the Pro's don't use that much drop.
Also Giant compact frames don't have head tubes any shorter than the rest.