BayBruin

I have mentioned on here before that I am in the market for a new bike. I like an upright riding position, and I like a somewhat wider tire because I'm a bigger guy. I am really leaning towards a 2007 Trek FX (7.5 - 7.7). But here is my difficulty....my hands and wrists are getting very fatigued and sore with my straight bar on my converted mountain bike. I try switching up my hand position ocasionally with some unusual holds but I can only do those for a while. I don't want to get a road bike just because of the drop down bars so what are my options? My thoughts are:

1) Maybe this will just get much easier once I get a few more months under my belt and my wrists/hands get acclimated (I've been riding consistently over the last 4-5 weeks).
2) Maybe I'll develop some long term problems due to this issue.
3) Maybe there are some exercises I can do to prepare my hands/wrists for this strain.
4) Maybe there are some alternative bars that I can use and still have an upright riding position. I have seen some straight bars that have vertical attachments at the ends. How are those used? I haven't see anyone ride using those 'wings' yet so I don't know what the benefit is.

I'm hoping the answer to my question isn't "a road bike is probably your only good option." I look forward to your advise.

pHunbalanced

One option is to get the bike you're looking at (FX) and switch out the flat handle bar for a trekking bar. Another option is just to go ahead and consider a bike that comes with drop bars. If tire size matters, look at a cyclocross bike - my personal choice for me as an all around bike. You can get big tires (700x38 or even bigger) on most of them. I ride a Bianchi Axis witrh 700x32s, not because I am heavy, but because I ride on bad surfaces often. My girlfiend just got a Bianchi Volpe. I have test ridden a Kona Jake. These as well as the well-regarded Surly Cross Check are all good al around bikes that give somewhat road-bike-like geometry with ability to take a big tire. Touring bikes offer this option as well, albeit with longer, less sporty frames.

mechBgon

As a starting point, check your seat angle. If it's nose-down, it slides you toward the handlebar and you have to push back. I saw this every so often as a shop mechanic... people complaining of wrist/hand trouble and sure enough, their seat is nose-down. Don't be afraid to use a higher handlebar & stem if it suits you, but still make sure your seat isn't trying to dump you off the front

pHunbalanced

Those are a starter option, but for long rides may not do. They are called bar-ends or bar-end extenstions. That is the minimum to make flat bars comfortable. On my Giant hybrid, the addition of good bar-ends did more than hand-strengthening excercises or nice gloves, but the greatest relief for long rides I experienced came when I switched to a drop bar bike. An otpion I haven't ried for long rides yet, but am intrigued by and find appealing are trekking bars (or butterfly bars) which offer a variety of curves rather than the two-poition option of flats with bar-ends. Oh, and how could I forget moustache bars! Not as many positions as trkking bars but about as many as drop bars and more than flats with bar ends.

BayBruin

I'll look at the trekking bars. Haven't seen those. Any drawbacks? I don't really have bad roads that I am riding on....and I was told that cyclocross are "supposed to be for" off road riding as well which I don't plan to do. But I was also informed that cyclocrosses are almost exclusively used for commuters on road surfaces. So who knows. The cyclocrosses seem to be more pricey except for the Specialized version. The cyclocross Biachi I saw at the LBS (very sweet looking) was over $2000 which is not what I am looking to spend.

mechBgon

Schwinn used the "butterfly" bars for a while on hybrids, back in the '90s. Drawbacks include a tendency for them to rotate in the stem clamp if you hit a really hard bump, and weird steering qualities in my opinion (because your hands are way back near the actual rotational axis of the stem).


a butterfly/trekking bar from the in-the-saddle perspective


What's your budget for a bike? You might want to visit an REI store and test-ride a Randonee, which is their touring bike. link to its web page. I looked at the specs and I think they did a better-than-average job of avoiding the usual corner-cutting pitfalls, such as non-genuine-Shimano hubs or bottom bracket. I doubt they used genuine Wheelsmith or DT spokes, but you can always have the rear wheel rebuilt after a couple years to overcome that. Note that it has an adjustable-angle stem, so you could have the bars quite high and easily adjust the position to experiment on how you prefer it.

Also, if you haven't ridden modern road bikes, many people ride with their hands up on top of the brake/shifters ("brifters") since all the controls are right there. You can grab onto the dropped sections if you want to, but you don't have to be down there routinely if you prefer to be higher.

BayBruin

Is it even possible to put drop down bars on a Trek FX? Is that heresy? Probably would look pretty geeky on the bike...but then again I already do!

pHunbalanced

I honestly don't know. I know that on some older raod-leaning hybrids that was a pretty easy swap, but I'm not sure on the FX. It really depends on the geometry. It might work with a really short stem. You might ask the LBS that sells it.

ScrubJ

Find a lot of interest in this thread as I own (and love) a 7.3FX. I've installed bar ends, but am considering going to some other kind of bar. I've looked at adding aeros to the flat bar or installing drops. Hoping someone will come up with a lot of info. FWIW, who cares what it/you look like as long as it keeps you in the saddle.

BillyBob

If you do a search, there was at least one guy that posted pictures of his 7.5 with drop handlebars. It is fairly expensive to swap everything.

If money is an issue, I would spend the extra $300 or so and get a Surly Cross check complete or other lower cost cyclocross bike.

I have been putting a lot of miles on my Lemond Poprad, and really like the do-it-all nature of a cyclocross bike.

Santaria

Try lowering your seat enough that the weight is on your...seat...not your wrists?

Seriously, that's the first, and cheapest solution to that problem normally. Then I'd recommend the trekking bar if you're still having an issue with pain. A drop bar will not give you more riding positions, especially if your a larger rider. You'll just be crouching into a tight ball trying to maintain control of the bike and not spew your lunch. YMMV.

BayBruin

"Try lowering your seat enough that the weight is on your...seat...not your wrists?"

I don't think it's that easy. If I lower my seat two things happen...knee pain and my gut will be even more in the way of my legs than they are now. I think I need to have my bike fitted for me. I have heard different LBS's use different techniques (some eye ball it...some have fancy equipment) any ideas on which is best? I'm not sure that my riding position is optimal right now.

mechBgon

^ Just in case you missed that The usual rationale for tilting it nose-down is that it makes most of the pressure rest on the wide part, but the practical effect is that you keep sliding forward onto the narrow part, and therefore you have to counteract that with additional pressure on your hands/wrists.

With your seat leveled out, you're going to decide "hey, I want my handlebar higher." Easily done, you posted a pic of your bike in this thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/205817-test-post-pic-my-bike.html And it looks like you could simply plunk a 3-inch-rise handlebar onto the bike in place of the flat bar, you have a fair amount of front-brake-cable housing to work with.

Here's a bar with about 2.5" of rise for $5, to get the ball rolling: https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...eid=&pagename= They also have a 4"-rise one, but you'd want to replace your front brake cable & housing if you chose that one. It doesn't look like you've got quite that much leeway in the front brake cable.

BayBruin

Awesome...thanks for the advice. I didn't think my seat was tilted forward but after you commented I checked and it looked like it was a little tilted. I'll start there and see what happens. Thanks!

bigfo

I have the Trek 7300 and I had the same problem. I bought the trekking bars from Nashbar and they have worked great. I'm a bigger guy as well and I figured there to be about 5 hand positions on them. I looked at it as they were $16 and if they didn't work I would look elsewhere. I can feel them flex a bit when I go over really bumpy roads and trails but they haven't moved in the stem yet and I've had them for 3 months now.