Is my touring bike badly fitted or just heavier than I'm used to?
06-25-14, 06:14 AM
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Is my touring bike badly fitted or just heavier than I'm used to?
Hello!
This is my first post. I have been reading on this forum for a long time to learn things, but this time I feel as though I could need some specific advice.
I bought a touring bike a few months back as I wanted a bike to go camping with and to help me through hilly terrains that my day-to-day fixie isn't ideal for. It's a 46cm Surly Long Haul Trucker, a beautiful machine that I love riding. But I have noticed lately that I kind of stop loving to ride it on longer rides (>30-40 miles) because I start feeling very sore, particularly in my knees and lower back. My riding position feels very comfortable, it's quite relaxed with the saddle about the same height as the bars. I had a basic fitting done when I bought the bike, and I feel well fitted to it - until everything starts to hurt. This confuses me as on my 43cm Fuji track bike I can ride for much longer with no pain at all, despite the much more aggressive riding position and the fact that it is almost too small for me (I'm 5''1/156cm).
So I'm wondering now whether I should start messing about with the fitting on the Surly, or if it could just be a case of it being much, MUCH heavier than the fixie and I'm getting sore because I'm working harder, and I just need more training to get used to it?
Thankful for any ideas or suggestions!
This is my first post. I have been reading on this forum for a long time to learn things, but this time I feel as though I could need some specific advice.
I bought a touring bike a few months back as I wanted a bike to go camping with and to help me through hilly terrains that my day-to-day fixie isn't ideal for. It's a 46cm Surly Long Haul Trucker, a beautiful machine that I love riding. But I have noticed lately that I kind of stop loving to ride it on longer rides (>30-40 miles) because I start feeling very sore, particularly in my knees and lower back. My riding position feels very comfortable, it's quite relaxed with the saddle about the same height as the bars. I had a basic fitting done when I bought the bike, and I feel well fitted to it - until everything starts to hurt. This confuses me as on my 43cm Fuji track bike I can ride for much longer with no pain at all, despite the much more aggressive riding position and the fact that it is almost too small for me (I'm 5''1/156cm).
So I'm wondering now whether I should start messing about with the fitting on the Surly, or if it could just be a case of it being much, MUCH heavier than the fixie and I'm getting sore because I'm working harder, and I just need more training to get used to it?
Thankful for any ideas or suggestions!
06-25-14, 06:58 AM
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Bikes: Specialized Tarmac Expert, 2002 TREK 520, Schwinn Mesa WINTER BIKE, Huffy Rock Creek 29er, 1970s-era Ross ten speed. All my bikes are highly modified(except the Tarmac) yet functional, and generally look beat to ****. .
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Hello!
This is my first post. I have been reading on this forum for a long time to learn things, but this time I feel as though I could need some specific advice.
I bought a touring bike a few months back as I wanted a bike to go camping with and to help me through hilly terrains that my day-to-day fixie isn't ideal for. It's a 46cm Surly Long Haul Trucker, a beautiful machine that I love riding. But I have noticed lately that I kind of stop loving to ride it on longer rides (>30-40 miles) because I start feeling very sore, particularly in my knees and lower back. My riding position feels very comfortable, it's quite relaxed with the saddle about the same height as the bars. I had a basic fitting done when I bought the bike, and I feel well fitted to it - until everything starts to hurt. This confuses me as on my 43cm Fuji track bike I can ride for much longer with no pain at all, despite the much more aggressive riding position and the fact that it is almost too small for me (I'm 5''1/156cm).
So I'm wondering now whether I should start messing about with the fitting on the Surly, or if it could just be a case of it being much, MUCH heavier than the fixie and I'm getting sore because I'm working harder, and I just need more training to get used to it?
Thankful for any ideas or suggestions!
This is my first post. I have been reading on this forum for a long time to learn things, but this time I feel as though I could need some specific advice.
I bought a touring bike a few months back as I wanted a bike to go camping with and to help me through hilly terrains that my day-to-day fixie isn't ideal for. It's a 46cm Surly Long Haul Trucker, a beautiful machine that I love riding. But I have noticed lately that I kind of stop loving to ride it on longer rides (>30-40 miles) because I start feeling very sore, particularly in my knees and lower back. My riding position feels very comfortable, it's quite relaxed with the saddle about the same height as the bars. I had a basic fitting done when I bought the bike, and I feel well fitted to it - until everything starts to hurt. This confuses me as on my 43cm Fuji track bike I can ride for much longer with no pain at all, despite the much more aggressive riding position and the fact that it is almost too small for me (I'm 5''1/156cm).
So I'm wondering now whether I should start messing about with the fitting on the Surly, or if it could just be a case of it being much, MUCH heavier than the fixie and I'm getting sore because I'm working harder, and I just need more training to get used to it?
Thankful for any ideas or suggestions!
06-25-14, 12:06 PM
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06-25-14, 12:12 PM
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Having the seat too low was giving me knee pain on the inside front of the knee. Seat height seems a good place to start.
06-25-14, 02:12 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Cape Vincent, NY
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Bikes: Specialized Tarmac Expert, 2002 TREK 520, Schwinn Mesa WINTER BIKE, Huffy Rock Creek 29er, 1970s-era Ross ten speed. All my bikes are highly modified(except the Tarmac) yet functional, and generally look beat to ****. .
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I wouldn't expect that it's a matter of the bike being heavier. The frontal knee pain usually indicates a seat that is a little too low, or you might be pushing harder on the forward part of the downstroke, possibly because of the more upright position. Any time I ride a bike I'm not used to I know that I'm bound to get a few odd aches and pains, just because my body hasn't had time to adapt to that exact riding position yet. The problem with touring bikes is they make you want to ride slow, and that sometimes leads to bad form which leads to problems. You have to find a happy medium.
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