Originally Posted by
u235
It's not a myth that wider bars on a bike give more direct control per given amount of effort. How wide you want to go and anything you see as a negative side effect of that is up to personal preference. Applies to flat bar and drop bars with width or a drastic flare. Your description is close to a similar analogy that reducing the capability of front brakes might save you from flipping over the bars.
Yeah, steering on the tops feels a tat bit too wonky on the 42s for my taste - that's why I'd prefer a wider bar. I can make do with the current one but it's certainly not ideal. However, first I need to figure out what reach I really need in order to feel comfortable concidering my neck pain - I don't think that the width has a noticable impact on that - wider bar would be a nice bonus, tho. It's propably gonna take me a bit of experimenting to figure out my ideal bike fit, tho.
Originally Posted by
TimothyH
My feeling is that this might resolve itself as more riding is done.
This is based on my own neck which got quite thick and muscular when I commuted 12,000 km/year on a road bike. In 2018 I rode nearly 8000 miles and much of that on rough gravel. Small gains in upper body mass and lots of definition, especially in the triceps, were noticeable in the mirror.
I'm not saying to ride through the pain or ignore your health care provider but only that it will might be temporary if you have not ridden a more aggressive drop bar bike and go away as your body strengthens.
-Tim-
Yeah, I think so too but I want to get the transition to getting stronger as painlessly as possible. Also, I want to make sure that the pain won't develop into something serious which keeps me off the bike, so I'd prefer to ease myself into it rather than forcing myself into a certain position.
Originally Posted by
Chi_Z
you may have a weight distribution problem, by slamming the saddle way forward, you are loading more weights to your shoulder and neck.
True. Although my physical therapist claims that this is not the case I still concider that to be a possibility. He's the opinion that the bend of my spine when I have to look up on the Gravelbike to see what's in front of me is causing the pain. So, getting to an as upright position as possible is gonna be my first try (seatpost still has 10mm setback so it's not that bad, btw). But I'm fully prepared to try out a longer reach and maybe even a lower handlebar position if that doesn't work.