Originally Posted by
DataJunkie
I tore up my lower back in high school. If I ride a bike with a completely upright position it results in quite a bit of pain in my lower back.
The bizarre thing is that my saddle to bar drop is fairly large on my fixed gear road bike and my CF tarmac. I find them quite comfortable. I do stretch daily to keep my back somewhat limber.
Even my MTB has the bars a tad lower than the seat.
As for the comment about riding a unicyle in college, I am assuming that poster was at most in his early 20s. I did quite a few things to my body back in my early 20s that it can no longer stand now that I am in my 30s. I am assuming this will continue to change as I age.
People are all different and I don't think there's a universally comfortable cycling position. If you look at the picture of people sitting on the floor that I posted, virtually none of them are sitting the exact same way. If you were to take the same picture 15 minutes later, I'd bet that a lot, maybe even most, would have changed position.
If someone's comfortable on a dutch style cruiser for their commute then I'm not going to try to tell them they're not. Likewise, I'm skeptical of any claim that an upright position is
the most comfortable one for short commutes, or any commute. It may be fine for most people, but I don't know if it's the best, or that any single position is the
best.