Originally Posted by
lungimsam
I have read that changing things more than a coupla mm's at a time can cause injury.
Yet I am sure that some people own and ride mountain bikes, race bikes, and cruiser bikes which are vastly different in fit measurements and measurement behind bb, bar reach and heights, etc. I would think that the mm adjustment principle would apply to riding different kinda bikes, too, since the fits are different. Yet I am sure people do it and they are just fine.
So, is this slow, mm, fit adjustment thing a myth? Do I have anything to fear in making bigger adjustments if a current fit isn't working out, or riding my race bike in the morning and then getting on the upright bike in the afternoon?
Another myth of cycling culture.
I take just the opposite approach: I make changes that are plenty severe enough so that I'll be able to tell the difference. When I find what seems to be the better position, them maybe I'll play around with smaller incremental adjustments over time, to get it just right.....but even then, it'll usually be at least a centimeter at a time- I don't obsess over millimeters- our bodies are far more adaptable than that; and just moving a limb or a muscle slightly will more than cancel out a difference of a few millimeters.
I really get disgusted when I see some prisses obsessing over a few millimeters. It's so ridiculous. I'd bet even the pros don't do that- it's likely the sole province of wannabes who have been heavily propagandized by bicycle industry marketing and others who want their money...and probably does more to spoil their riding experience, than to improve it.
It takes much more than a few millimeters to go from "good position" to "injury"- and even when you're way off, your body will let you know so that you can adjust things, long before you'd get injured. It's not like you're going to jump on a bike and get instantly injured on the first pedal stroke if it isn't set-up to fit just so!