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Old 03-29-21, 08:26 AM
  #5  
Iride01 
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Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 16,309

Bikes: Tarmac Disc Comp Di2 - 2020

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I'm first going to annoy the flat bar crowd. Flat bars have no place on a bike except for off-road and BMX were you constantly have to yank the weight off the front wheel..... entirely my opinion though.

They don't put your hands in a decent position to let your wrists and the rest of your body joints and linkages to absorb the bumps and motions of a normal ride for longer periods of time. Swept back bars like on the old cruisers and early roadsters will be a better option. Drop bars or almost any other type bar with multiple hand positions will be even better. But, for those that do only short rides... flat bars are no problem.

As for pressure on your wrists, you have to find your balance point on the saddle at the power you normally put into the pedals. For me that usually means a saddle further forward than most. Mainly because I ride just below my max sustained power for the entire ride whether 1 hour or 4 hours.

If you are going to be just leisurely riding then that will have your saddle further back and possibly needing a post with more setback if you are on a road bike geometry frame that has been "hybridized". Never understood what it was a hybrid of. Road and off road deserve their own bikes. Never the two should mix.... but I digress and just cause many to foam at the mouth with angst toward me!

A better bike for leisurely riding is a cruiser. It has a more sloping seat tube than a road bike. So the saddle by design winds up being in that way set back position that leisurely riders on a road bike or hybrid bike try to get. Look at the Trek Electras if you do want a leisurely ride. Or if you want a comfortable ride for longer energetic rides, then look at a road bike or gravel bike/cross bike.

If you are going to ride this bike at a high level of output, then reach is key for your balance. I'd try a smaller frame as well as a bigger frame. Change up your hand positions while riding as best as you can. After the purchase, you can get little add-ons to give you a different grip position. But then.... why get a flat bar?
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