Originally Posted by
Campag4life
A bit OT but if you struggle with this which is btw a leading contributor to neck pain, then consider lowering your handlebar as well. This may seem counterintuitive but the dynamic is...when riding moderately aggressive your back tries to assume at least a 45 deg angle to enlist your glutes which are the strongest muscles. If the handlebar is too high then your arms will push down too hard on the handlebar when applying good effort to the pedals. The key is to find a neutral handlebar position that allows a fair amount of pedal pressure without putting your arms and shoulders in compression as your back tends to rotate forward. This btw is why a so called comfort fit 'for a better rider' tends to be the opposite. If meandering with little pedal pressure than riding upright is fine but to ride with even slight aggression, the torso needs to come forward.
I agree with this. I found that my Look 595 w/ no spacers is much more comfortable and causes me much less trap/neck strain than my '11 Cervelo R3 w/ a couple spacers did. That's why I don't buy the whole "comfort bike" nonsense. Bikes like the Roubaix and R3 with their taller head tubes just don't work for me. I'd have to run them with -17 deg stems and no spacers to be comfortable on them. I agree though that it sounds counterintuitive but shorter head tubes actually make for a more comfortable ride. It's too bad all the marketing of these endurance/comfort bikes is really working when it's probably hurting people more than helping them. Assuming a person is in the average flexibility range, a proper fit on a bike with a normal height head tube should be more than comfortable.