I’ve had my road bike for 6-7 years. I finally got a fit from my bike guy for it about 3 years ago, due to some knee issues (which were caused by unrelated injury), and I think he changed the saddle position a bit but pretty much said my self-fit was pretty much right on. I’ve always had some upper back/neck discomfort with it though, but have blamed it on my fitness. Lately I’ve been ramping up the mileage and the upper back pain is too much to take, and is limiting me. A few weeks ago did an 70 mile ride, wanted to do 100, had plenty of energy in the legs left, but I was in pain by mile 20 and the pain was intense after 70. I was making efforts to use good form, not put too much weight on the hands, and my hands were not numb, which they tend to get if I lean on them.

So, visited the same bike guy, and asked him to help, just wanted the pain gone.

Looking at it again, he said maybe I could use a little more reach, but I didn’t look too bad, so if I really wanted comfort he could also raise it. So, got an adjustable stem that gave me about 1.1 cm more reach and 4.4 cm more height. (90mm 6deg, to 125mm, about 24deg).

I’ve probably put 50 miles since then, and pain is totally GONE. Very happy about that.

Yet, I don’t love the new setup. My quads are burning and feels like my saddle is too low, though saddle felt PERFECT before and hasn’t moved. Overall the bike just doesn’t feel right, and I’m slower, with less power.

Question 1: Is it normal to have to change seat when making a big stem change like that? I can see where it would change my body’s angles, etc. But doesn’t change the distance from seat to pedals, so I’m not sure… Is it a matter of getting used to it, using different muscles?

But I am also wondering if maybe the change is too much, and I should dial it down to something more reasonable. It’s an adjustable stem, so could dial it down to 15deg, but that would give me over another cm of reach, which is unlikely to be good, but who knows. It’s free. Or, could go down to 15 and get a 110mm stem. Or, go all the way back to 6/7 deg and get a 100mm stem, giving me the extra reach I was missing, and see if that was my main problem.

Question 2: What would you try first in this situation?

For fun, I put dots on a stem chart, below. Red are old and new stems, purple is adjustable stem change, and green and blue are others I could get.