rbautch

I converted from running to cycling this Summer, and purchased my first decent bike since college 20yrs ago. I ride 75 miles/week, mostly training rides on gravel trails, but every few weeks I swap out tires and do a 50+ mile road ride. After the second fitting at Performance (first one was a 10-minute, adjust seat, "you look perfect" fitting), the bike feels really good. However on rides greater than 40 miles, I've been feeling some significant soreness in my neck toward the end of the ride. While in the hoods looking down, the hubs look a few inches in front of the handlebar, so my last fitter told me I should consider swapping the stem for one with a greater angle. My current stem is 110mm x 6-degrees turned up. Should I:

1. Wait until my fitness and flexibility catch up to my current geometry?

2. Buy a 110m adjustable stem?

3. Buy a 20-degree fixed stem to gain 30mm in height?

4. Mess around with spacers?

5. Other ideas?

lpolliard

Can you lift your hands off the bars while pedaling with little to no effort. Move your seat back if you can not to balance your weight more evenly over the seat. This then may necessitate a shorter stem so you are not stretched out.

makeitso5005

What is your spacers stack height? 6 degrees doesn't give a lot of play in terms of being flipped or not. I'd consider getting something like 17 degrees (NOT 20+ degrees) as that will give you around a 2" variation by flipping it depending on your final length. When was the bike purchased though? If it was within the last 90 days I'd go back to Performance and ask them to swap out your stem to whatever you're looking at as they failed to fit you correctly.

dploy

I had the exact same issue...fitter put this on and it cured me. I was shocked how high it needed to be but I will be able to lower it eventually as I become conditioned.

rbautch

I bought the bike in early July, so I'm just inside 90 days. Is a stem swap-out typically included in a bike fitting/purchase? I'll check on the spacer stack height when I get home tonight. I can lift off the bars easily, and I think the seat is just right relative to the pedals. in fact, they moved the seat back quite a bit on my last fitting. I feel stretched out a bit, but only slightly.

lpolliard

I would shorten the stem 10 to 20 mm. If you think you are stretched out a bit, then you are probably stretched out. You should have at least a 10 degree bend at the elbows. A new stem is usually not included in the fit or purchase but it never hurts to ask. Take it back and tell them your issues. They may come to the same conclusions with out prompting.

makeitso5005

Almost all shops that I've been to will swap out stems and bars to achieve a good fit on new bikes. It hurts them more when someone is ill fitted to their brand new bike as it becomes less likely you'll come back for additional parts/help in the future and gives them a bad rep. Stems are like $20-40 on most stock bikes so swapping it out doesn't really hurt their bottom line as they get a stem back as well. You might not get the sexiest stem in the shop, but should get something that fits you a lot better. The most adjustable option is obviously the adjustable stem. It will give you a angle adjustability and length (you gain a small bit of length at the lower angles). They're prone to squeaking but if you can live with that until you figure out exactly what you want it's probably the best route. The other route is determining if you want a same length or shorter stem and then doing some basic geometry to determine the angle which will equal your stack height if the stem is flipped. This won't squeak but won't be quite as versatile as the adjustable stem.

rbautch

Thanks for the advice. I'll take it to Performance and see what they can do for me. Here's what the stack looks like now: There's about 40mm of spacers below the stem.

Monkey Face

Yes. Move the saddle back or get a BIGGER bike.

Sorry, but I suspect all the advice so far is wrong. If you can see a lot of axle over your bars the bike is too small or the saddle is too far forward.

It sounds to me like you are not stretched 'out', but stretched 'over'. What I mean is that your spine is curved and your neck is struggling to oppose that curve, to compensate for the bike being too small.

If your bike was bigger, your spine would flatten, your neck would not be fighting with your spine and the longer reach would actually FEEL shorter, or at least, more comfortable.

Counter-intuitive, I know, but this same situation worked for me when I had a professional bike fit this week. I went from thinking I need a smaller bike, to being super-comfortable on a bigger one.

aggro_jo

sweet jebus.

roadiejorge 

Wow. That's a lot of stacked spacers and you have a 6d angle stem pointed upward to boot which makes the suggestion of a larger bike a good one, and if you have serious flexibility issues I would consider comfort oriented road bikes that have longer head tubes.

rbautch

Thanks for the advice I am 5'10" on a 58cm bike. 61cm is the biggest size in the Fuji Cross Pro. That seems awfully big for me, but I'll try it out when I go back to Performance. Note that the spacer arrangement I have is stock on the Cross Pro, and I haven't touched them since I got the bike. See the pics from the link in my signature.

aggro_jo

a bigger bike won't help. ride it how it is and work on your stretching for a few months before worrying about a pro fit

roadiejorge 

Then perhaps a visit to a fitter who'll be able to give you a better fit than what they gave you at Performance. If they didn't check your reach or adjust your saddle to make sure you're generally dialed in then it's not much of a fit.

I don't think it's that bad because if he's experiencing discomfort after 40 miles then it can't be anything drastically wrong which would be obvious after the first few miles, I think he just needs to be dialed in better.

Monkey Face

Would have been useful to know that in the first place... Find another bike shop.

djlarroc

Performance has never been good for fittings. They have good pricing, that's about it. I too recently purchased a new bike from them, and am struggling a bit w/fit. Planning to see a fitter to get it all tweaked.

That's what I would suggest first OP, if the fitter says you need a different stem, or etc, then go back to PB and see if they will help you, but don't expect it.

rbautch

You may not be able to tell much from a static photo, but here's how I'm set up on the bike:

I tend to lock my arms because I'm reaching a bit for the hoods. On long rides, I stay pretty upright like this. I don't mind paying for a real fitting, but I thought I'd exhaust my free options at Performance first before I move on. I spoke with the fitter at Performance and he's going to put on an adjustable stem to see what angle feels comfortable, and then swap it out for a fixed stem with that angle. We'll do that on Tuesday.

bladehack

That doesn't look like a 58cm frame...looks more like a 52 or 54

hairnet

That'll cause pain around the neck and shoulders over time

BarracksSi

If you feel like you're "reaching" for the bars on a bike that's got its bars as high as they'll go, you're having problems with either posture or size.

5'10" isn't at all far from fitting on a typical 58cm bike. This might be workable.

Whenever a fit thread pops up and people say to raise the bars to alleviate neck pain, I think of the one BF rider who dropped his bars instead. What happened with him was the higher bar position encouraged him to relax his core and hang his upper body from his shoulders. A lower bar position made his core work more and take weight off of his arms.

But, OP, it doesn't look like you're hunching your shoulders rearward/upward in that pic.

Between now and Tuesday, you should be able to adjust the height of the stem by swapping some spacers around. That'll do the same thing as changing the angle of an adjustable stem.

Also, when you ride, try what I did when I was deciding on a stem length -- ignore where the bars and controls want to put your hands. Put your hands where they make your body feel more comfortable. Try it with your hands as far back as they'll go, right at the corner where the bars bend forward; also try on top of the shifters. Forget about what the palms of your hands feel, and pay attention to your elbows, shoulders, spine, and hips. Once you pick a hand location that makes all those other body parts feel good, figure out what you need to do to bring the bars and controls to your hands.

Seattle Forrest

That's like hoping a bad marriage will take care of itself in another 30 years.

Maybe. But know that if you pull it up, say, 45 degrees, it's going to be a lot shorter than 110 mm. It's probably still worth it, just keep in mind that it's only adjustable on one axis.

If you've already got 40 mm of spacers, I don't think you want any more than that. Use the stem instead.

You can pull the tape back and move your brifters up on the handle bar curves. This will pull them upward somewhat, a lot like rotating the whole handlebars ( only you won't compromise the drops ), and it will keep your wrists in a more neutral position.

BarracksSi

Thought I should add (and I'm going against the grain and NOT saying to make the bars even higher) --

When you ride this weekend, put a little bend in your elbows and tuck them in. See how that changes how your torso feels.

ScoJo

+1! If you are 5'10", that looks like a lot smaller than a 58 cm frame. I don't get it.

BarracksSi

Camera angle and distance, maybe?

The compact bend of the drops make them look like kids' bars, too; but then they all look like that anyway.

rbautch

It is indeed 58cm



I've heard this bike runs a little small, but it's most likely the camera angle making people think it's smaller. Full geometry is shown in the link in my signature.