riddei

Just a story to share...

I've been riding a modern "upright" Trek for my daily commute going on two years. Before that I had a 12 speed Bianchi that has been hanging from my various garage rafters for more years than I care to remember.

I've cleaned it up, brushed the dust off it, made it commuter ready... The weather has finally broken around here, so I rode it to work yesterday.

Initial thoughts: I was very uncomfortable on this bike (Which is funny because I loved riding it for years). In my short commute of 7 miles, my hands and wrists seemed pretty fatigued. While riding, it felt much more "twitchy" (most cyclists would probably describe this as more "responsive") than my Trek tank. I'd actually say it was like I haven't ridden any bike in years (but I have been daily).

I've looked at more modern drop bar bikes, and noted that the hoods seem to be placed "higher" on many, than they were years ago. So this morning I tilted the bars back slightly (not a huge amount). This put the hoods at more of a 10 o'clock position within the drops, rather than in a 9 o'clock position. I also, slid the seat forward a bit.

Result: I felt much better today. This seemed a much more natural position for me.

I'm sure 17 year old me, would look at "pushing 40" year old me and shake his head ruefully. I'm just happy to give the bike a new life.

tjspiel

I got an entry level Peugeot racing bike in the mid 80's and then in the mid 90's pretty much stopped riding it entirely after I got a mountain bike.

About 3 years ago I got the Peugeot out again and it felt really strange. Part of it was a new seat that a person I had borrowed it to had put on and part of it was because I had to readjust the seat height, handle bars, etc. Most of it however was just that it was so different from what I had become used to riding.

Last spring I started riding it almost exclusively to train for a triathlon my family had talked me into doing. Before long I was again very comfortable on it although it took a while longer to get adept at using downtube shifters. Now, I prefer a road bike and even after riding the MTB during the winter, I found it very easy to go back to a road bike again this spring.

Pig_Chaser

I had pretty much the same experience. I tilted my handle bars down to make riding in the drops more comfortable but found riding the hoods in about the 9ish position resulted in wrist pain. After one ride i returned the handle bars to thier original position putting the hoods in about the 10ish area.

sean000

I still have my 1988 Pinarello racing bike. When I was 17 (in 1988) it was a perfect fit. Of course I was younger, more flexible, and weighed a lot less than I do today. I still have it, and I'm considering rebuilding it for the umpteenth time if I can get the frozen handlebar stem out. I last resurrected it about eight years ago, and rode it for four or five years after that. In fact...I think that rebuild was my 30th birthday gift to myself! It certainly helped me get back into shape and drop a few pounds. Something about a fast bike just inspires me to ride hard, but I remember how weird it felt after riding my more upright commuter. The Pinarello is just a much more aggressive position that is harder on the arms, hands, wrists, neck, back, etc. I gradually got more used to it, but never found it as comfortable as it was when I was younger and in better shape. I called it fun for about two hours! For longer rides I wanted my more comfortable bike. The gears also make a difference. The Pinarello has a 42/53 chainring setup with a 13-21 cluster, so no slowly plodding up hills in a negative gear like I can do on my commuter.

As fun as it would be to ride this bike for another round, I'd rather get a more relaxed fast bike... and a slightly larger frame that will allow me to raise the bars closer to the saddle height... and maybe even a triple chainring. My commuter is very comfortable, but it's a touring bike with 700x37 tires. I can ride it pretty fast, but I'd still like a faster bike to ride sometimes.

Seeing the Pinarello in its current state (which is not road worthy) makes me feel old, but you know what makes me feel really old? The fact that covet my wife's mixte upright comfort cruiser with the swept back albatross bars! Not only is it extremely comfortable, but it's just a fun bike to ride... but at the opposite end of the spectrum from my old Pinarello. Seriously though... after 25 years of cycling I'm just glad I can still get excited about it.

My ideal next road bike would be fast, comfortable, lugged steel... reminiscent of my old Pinarello but slightly less aggressive and a bit more upright (actually more reminiscent of the Trek sport-touring bike I had in the mid-80s). A custom Rivendell perhaps! I'll tell my wife that is what I want for my 40th birthday, so she better start saving her money

Sean

PS: One note on making your Bianchi more comfortable... and I'm considering this for my Pinarello: Replace the existing stem with a Nitto Technomic. The Nitto's have super-long quills so you can raise the bars higher than with most stems.

alpinist

I'm pushing 50. I'm old and FAST.

jyossarian

17 yo you would think you were pretty wack for pushing 40 and still riding the same old bike. 40 yo you would look at 17 yo you's haircut and wonder what you were thinking.

Since I'm in the same neighborhood agewise, I've found raising the quill stem on my roadbike to be more comfortable. I've also thought changing to a shorter stem would help me sit upright just a bit more. And that in-line cross levers would mean I could ride on the tops instead of the hoods and still brake if I had too.

BCRider

I'm going thru much the same issues with my drop bar bikes. I seldom use the drops and only when traveling in a serious head wind. But when they are high enough that I can use the drops even for these more intense weather moments then the hoods are higher than I'd like for more typical conditions. So now I'm playing with some alternative bars like bullhorns and moustache bars. And I'm looking at getting a set of Soma's Midge bars to try. They look like they've got an angle to the grip area that will be extremely wrist friendly. Like somewhere in between the straight across mtb flat bars and the thumbs pointed ahead bullhorn or drop bar setup.

cooker

Your upper body is probably a lot heavier than it was at 17, causing you to put more weight on your hands in a forward riding position than you did then; plus you're not accustomed to the forward position so your trunk muscles (your "core") aren't sharing the load. Raising the bars and hoods slightly is an appropriate response.

Sliding the seat forward isn't necessarily helpful in this case since it moves your whole body centre of gravity forward relative to your feet and may tend to make you fall forward onto your hands. If you move it back to where it was, your butt kind of sticks out behind you and acts like a tyrannosaurus's tail, counterbalancing the frontal weight of your shoulders and head. Sheldon Brown explained this giving the example of a how you can't bend forward too far when your back is against a wall, without falling over, because you're prevented from shifting your butt back to compensate.

alpinist

Okay, maybe I'm not REAL fast, but I go forever. I'm a distance runner and just started biking, and really like it, but I find I get some pains in my shoulders in my lower back after long rides. I figure it's mainly just not being used to it, and overdoing it too soon - going on 3-4 hour rides with no experience. Got the wind, just not the muscles in the right places. Raised the seat some, it was too low to start, might raise the stem, too. Flat handlebars, a little higher than the seat. I'll give myself some time to adjust.

riddei

You are correct

That is a great visual . Glad I don't have itty bitty arms...

Good information as always!