Indyguy

I am very new to cycling sorry for the newbie question

I have a Flet F45, 56cm

I just ride around the local neighborhoods, 7-10 mile rides four or five times a week

I feel like I am straining my neck a little bit trying to look up at the roads.
Is this something that is typical when first starting to ride, will it get better/more comfortable with time?

Is there something I can do to help, different handlebars??

Gyrine

https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...discovery.html

jyl

+1

Also, you could raise your handlebars so that your whole torso is more vertical and you don't need to flex your neck. But that defeats the purpose of getting a drop bar road bike.

The solution is mostly to build up the muscles that hold your neck in the flexed position. Like most things cycling, it takes time. And the straighten spine described above.

In the meantime, remove any helmet visor that is forcing you to flex your neck further, and if you wear glasses make sure they are sitting high on your face.

berner

Although I can ride most days here during winter, mileage is typically much lower than summer. As a result, I also get some neck discomfort during Spring. I usually have the handlebars a bit higher then and begin during some neck strengthening exercises and soon, neck discomfort goes away.

fietsbob

Use Your eyes to Look Up so you dont have to raise your head .

See Shermer's Neck Shermer's Neck: Cycling's Most Bizarre Injury | ACTIVE

https://ultracycling.com/old/training/neck_pain.html ... https://raamforsickkids.files.wordpr...rvid-pain1.jpg

ray.garza

Take your bike to your fav bike shop and get a bike fit done. It will save you a lot of time and hassle. While there they can show you what it is they are doing and why.

If you are in a lage market, then ask around to find which shop does the best fit that you can afford.

WNCGoater

Pretty much a newb here to the road bike.

Two things I've experienced, concerning neck pain. One has been mentioned above.
I started riding my new road bike with my mtn bike helmet and quickly realized the visor required me to hold or tilt my head back pretty far to see under the visor. This produced neck pain. So I remove the visor which helped. I now see the value of buying a road-specific helmet.

The other thing is I find myself allowing my head to slump down between my shoulders sometimes. This produces neck pain also. So I have to be aware of my posture and quit slumping.

One other thing, if my sunglasses slide down my nose slightly(which they do continually as I ride) I have to lift my head up higher to look through them, rather than looking over them (kinda like tilting your head back to look through bifocals). So this has the same effect as the visor, having to tilt my head back to see forward. Keep your glasses pushed up, your face toward the road and turn your eyeballs up to see forward. Half the time I'm looking over my glasses.

That's all I have. Beyond that I would suspect a fit issue, which I'm still learning and tweaking.

ltxi

I've always preferred endurance frames with drop bars, but have always found it necessary to change the stem/raise the bars to get what works for me/my riding style....neck pain being one of my issues with stock setups. I figured this all out 35 years ago so I don't do a professional fit with a new bike but I'd highly recommend it if you don't have a good handle on what you need.