Originally Posted by jimv
If you are experiencing hand and wrist pain and your butt naturally tries to move further back then I'm thinking that a longer stem may not be the solution to your problem. The financial pain of a new seat or a setback seatpost may be easier to bear than the physical pain of long term joint/tendon problems. It sounds like your center of gravity is positioned forward of your feet. Try this. Have a friend steady your bike while you sit on it. Place your hands on the bar tops and position your pedals at 3:00 and 9:00 (i.e. horizontally). Place the balls of your feet on either side of the bottom bracket shell. Now, lift your hands off of the bars and hover them palms down about an inch above the bars. You should have no problem doing this. If your butt comes up out of the saddle as you try to lift your hands then your COG is too far forward.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, this may not be a big deal for everyone. I suspect that a young, light, fit rider has a lot of flexibilty in the setup they ride, and I don't know anything about your age, weight or fitness level so you'll have to decide the best approach for you.
Good luck and keep us posted.... I'd like to know.
Take care...
Jim
Okay Jim, all,
So I checked, and my COG is DEFINITELY not far enough back. I can't get myself off of the bars to sit up straight at all. No wonder my hands/wrists are hurting. I'm going to guess part of this has happened because I was not used to the posture on a roadbike/fg bike. But it suddenly makes sense why I haven't been able to do no hands while riding, as I used to, on my mtn. bike. That bike, I bought at a store, and the fit was determined by them beforehand.
So should I go with a new seat/post, or just sell the bike and find something that fits better? I definitely can't go much beyond a 56cm bike as far as standover height goes--I think my inseam is about 31.5 inches, and most 57cm bikes seem to hit my crotch bone a little too tightly.
I just want it to fit right.
Alternative: I have an old 22" frame that I could build up, but that could end up being a fair number of (smaller) parts.