Milton Keynes

Hi all,

I've been riding a hybrid and a mountain bike for the past 5 years, but I recently got an actual road bike. This is the first time I've ridden a bike with drop bars in about 30 years.

I did a 25 mile ride on Saturday, and close to the end of the ride I could feel a dull ache in my shoulders and upper back just below the neck. Does this mean I need to move the seat forward, back, higher/lower? Higher lower handlebars? I did frequently change hand positions, so I know it's not that. On my hybrid I used to get this kind of ache from using the same hand position all the time on long rides, and after I got bar ends I never had that problem any more.

Just for the record, the bike does fit me, it's a 54 cm bike and I'm 6 feet tall. I have the seat up high enough to where my legs are just slightly bent with the pedals at the lowest position.

Any help appreciated.

KC8QVO

It could be the weight you are supporting on your arms/shoulders plus the angle. If it were me, the first thing I would do is raise the bars if you can. If the bars are on a stem that pushes them forward a few inches you could put a shorter stem on and pull the bars back towards the seat. This would in effect do about the same thing - your "reach" would shorten up and push your posture more upright, lessening the weight on your arms/shoulders.

Experiment.

When I got my touring bike I did a lot of tweaking the first few months. Note I didn't say minutes on a single ride. I rode miles and miles and then made changes and rode more miles. Don't be surprised if it takes you a few months to get things dialed in. Once you do you'll be all the better for it. If you happen to hit the "sweet spot" right off the bat or in 1 or 2 adjustments - even better. I wouldn't be concerned with it at this point, other than to know you need to adjust more.

Happy riding!

mack_turtle

first, at 6 feet tall, a 54cm frame is most likely too small for you and you'll have a hard time making it fit and handle well for you. Depends on the geometry of that particular frame though. it might be labeled a 54 but have bigger dimensions than a typical 54.

do not move the saddle to make up for reach issues! the saddle height and fore/aft position should optimize your pedal stroke and balance on the saddle. your body should feel stable and balanced on the bike with the saddle in the right position. this takes some trial and error.

once you have the saddle in the ideal position, work on getting your handlebar where you want it. on a modern road bike, this means placing the hoods of the shifters where your hands can go without causing excessive strain to your upper body and back.

this post does a great job of explaining what I am saying.

the other half of this is physical conditioning. how long can you hold a plank? how effectively can you "hinge" at the hips? that seems to be a good indication of how aggressive a position on your bike will be tolerable. less flexible and less strong riders usually need a more upright position.

fishboat

..ditto on the 54cm and being 6 feet tall. While it may work, it's a stretch that the bike will actually fit you. You'll need a high saddle height to get your legs to fit the frame and this demands a high bar height(to reduce neck-shoulder strain), by whatever means necessary, while giving you the reach you'll need. High stem angle while increasing reach is somewhat mutually exclusive.

Your saddle position isn't a variable to fitting the front end of the cockpit..the saddle fore-aft should be adjusted to get your knees in the proper position relative to the pedal-spindle, after your saddle height is set correctly.

Even with a proper size bike (probably a 56-58cm frame), your neck-shoulders may hurt as your asking a lot of the muscles that haven't done that sort of work for a few decades.

Aladin

Roadie bars... why? Understand the move off hi-breads.. but again not really. If one puts a good set of wheels on one of those the result
is amazing.. for speed increase.

Your jumping into a riding position carrying too much wt on your hands and too far over.. back angle. Is your head just above or over the bar?

One could.. move the seat back for TT length.. add an adjustable stem for reach/height.. and find the position that works.. and then have further
options later as fitness might increase.


Thing I hate on the 'lance' type bar... braking distance. Make a real world comparison.. flat bar setup stops far better.. reaction time + time to get into braking mode.

mack_turtle

sorry, but nothing in this post makes sense, even if we ignore the spelling and grammar errors. it's like you collected all the worst advice ever given about fitting road bikes and distilled it into one post. At least we all know what NOT to do now.

c_m_shooter

That bike is way too small unless you are going for a "race fit". I am 5'8" and ride 54-56 road bikes, I like a touring fit. That being said, being a little sore after the first ride does not immediately mean there is a problem. Your body has to adjust for the new position to a degree. Most road riders end up with a fit that puts them near a 45 degree forward lean when on the hoods and centered over the cranks. I know some think the old knee over pedal spindle is an overgeneralization, but it is where I start, and usually end up. Get someone to take pictures of you on the bike, pedals level leaning on a door frame or on a trainer. You can look for yourself at them or post for a bunch of random advice.

Iride01 

Make sure your helmet isn't obscuring your forward vision. Particularly when in the drops, a helmet with a visor or that is too bulky in front and comes too low on the forehead will make you lift your head more to see forward. Sometimes to the point of straining your neck muscles. You might get used to it and you might not.

But for certain there are some muscles that have to learn how to balance your noggin now that it's leaning out further than it did on your previous bikes.

frogman

Milton,

I had a similar issue on my road bike. I found that after dialing in the fore-aft saddle position it was resolved. After getting your saddle height adjusted correctly, test your fore-aft saddle position with this balance method Forget about the KOPS method (knee over pedal) it is only good to see if you are in the ball park.

Carbonfiberboy 

Your neck issue is a combination of a too-small bike and rounding your back to compensate for it. If you concentrate on straightening your back from the top of your shorts to the back of your neck, that'll help. To do that, you'll need to roll your pelvis forward. Use a mirror. It won't work as well as it would if the bike was the right size but still it'll help. I liked post 3. I'm 5'6" and one of my bikes is a 54.