First of all, the guy in the picture is clearly and undeniably "hunched over." He may not be "extremely hunched over for riding a bicycle", but he is nowhere near upright with a vertical back. My point isn't to argue, but I want to be clear what I'm talking about here because if we're on the same page, I will get better answers that help me more. If he were upright, his head would be above his pelvis and not two feet in front of it. Try walking with your head two feet in front of your pelvis and telling people you're not hunched over.
You will see that none of these gentleman nor the lady are hunched over:
None of them have their chin in front of their forward-most knee position.
Now to be clear, I'm not promoting that this is the "correct" position for touring. I've before claimed my ignorance with respect to touring and started this thread to learn something.
Originally Posted by
headwind15
This is an interesting topic! The lower "racing" position isn't just for aerodynamic reasons. The fact of the matter is that with a lower position you are able to engage your glutious maximus muscles/ get more power. /More upright, not so much. I am not advocating a lower/ racing position. I do believe in being upright enough that your hands do not hurt form long hours on the bike. I watch a lot of the wheels 2 wander (bike touring) videos on you tube and they are really upright, and seem happy with that position. It really comes down to your personnel preference.
Here is a good point. Certainly, a person sitting upright is not able to maximize their power on the pedals. I think most people would stand to maximize their power, but it seems reasonable that a inclined seated position could not only potentially engage the glutes, but it would probably also be necessary to balance the load between the hamstrings and the quads. I'm willing to defer to road bike style fitting as our best effort to maximize the efficiency of this physiology.
Originally Posted by
elcruxio
Leaning forward low enough activates certain back muscles to better maintain a sustainable riding position.
Touring is still long distance riding so maintaining a proper posture is important for a variety of reasons. And for some that may require a more aggressive position than one would imagine.
A "relaxed" position sitting upright isn't necessarily as relaxed when the miles start piling up.
I strongly suspect the same, and that's why I started this thread. In my limited experience, I'm tempted to seek a more upright position. I have my doubts about whether I will feel the same after many, many miles. On the other hand, I could regret the wrong choice for myself either way.
Originally Posted by
Thulsadoom
I'm a recent convert to upright riding and touring. It solves a lot of problems. You'll have a lot fewer aches and pains and will probably enjoy the ride more. But you'll be slower, guaranteed.
Tell me more about that. What kind of upright position have you converted to?
I've watched two or three Paul Sucheki videos. It sounds like he was speedy in the drop bars 40 years ago, but at some point later in life, he converted to these:
I don't think he advocates them for everybody, but says it works for him.
Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
.........If I was sitting more upright, I would have less weight on my hands, more on my bum, and my saddle would get uncomfortable sooner.
I think that you will find most bicyclists on touring bikes have set it up so that it fits best for them for long days in the saddle. Sometimes it is best to just use what works best instead of trying to re-invent the wheel. I have a lower back injury, my saddle is turned slightly to the left because that fits me better than straight ahead. We all set up our bikes so it works best. And for touring, what works best is that you feel better day after day of long days in the saddle than if you had a different setup. What works best for a racer has nothing to do with comfort, for them a wind tunnel or stopwatch is used to measure what is best.
And things change, as people age they often will want the bars a bit higher. A bit over a decade ago I lost about 15 percent of my body weight, that shrunk my pants waist size by quite a bit, and after that I found that my bars felt better if I lowered them a bit. I also found that, using the drops was much more comfortable after the weight loss. But I have seen people with a huge beer belly that want to sit straight up if they can, leaning forward for them is not comfortable at all.
In other words, your final question, "Why are tourists doing it?", they are doing what works best for them.
.........
I definitely appreciate that people are going to make adaptations to their individual needs. I'm as flat as a rail in front, built like a "stick boy." I'm not young anymore, but not yet elderly either. Hence my dilemma. I'd probably get more power, speed and efficiency from a conventional drop-bar touring-bike position and I've no special needs that require adaption, but I might enjoy a more upright position even if I was slower.
I presently ride a bike with "North Road" style bars. I've had in mind to get something like a Surly Trucker, Kona Sutra, Cinelli Hobootleg, Fuji Touring, bike with the intention of swapping out the drop bar for something with sweep like porteur bars or my north road style bars. What I've found is that if I did that, I'd still be leaned pretty far forward and down. All these bikes have higher reach-to-stack ratios than what I had been imagining and these handlebars and stem change alone won't change that.
Cruisers and comfort bikes often provide for an upright riding position, but are unlikely to have the gearing and other accommodations for touring. There may be some comfort or hybrid bikes that provide an upright position and a wide range of gearing as well as front and rear rack mount points.
A bike like this with backswept handlebars would provide a very upright position. I'm sure it will not be as fast as having your chin out in front of your knees, but I wonder if I would regret a bike like this after three days and a couple hundred miles or enjoy it more than anything else.