FeelTRush

I have a 2003 Felt F65 which causes me to stretch out, and a 1980's mixte which allows a more upright position. Although the F65 demands more of the rider, the mixte causes my hip to hurt after 25 miles. Pain lasts nearly 24 hours. So I quit riding it.

I am 5'05".

Can anyone suggest why the relaxed mixte, which places the rider more rearward of the BB, creates this discomfort when the more aggressive geometry of the F65 does not? I have ridden 65 miles on the F65 without hip pain.

Thanks for all guesses!

10 Wheels

No guesses....Had MRI's

Up right position can pinch your sciatic nerves in your lower back.

My wife has that problem.

It is not her hip but the pinched nerve.

I have a damaged disc at my L4-L5.
Stretching riding on my road bikes ( F-80-85) causes me No Pain.

FeelTRush

Hmmm. Great suggestion.

I'd really like to get a steel bike as backup, but I'm concerned that they tend to have the relaxed geometry which causes me trouble. Maybe I'll just have to buy another F-series bike.

10 Wheels

I now have 32,000 miles on my Felt.

duffer1960

1st rule of thumb for hip pain is, i think - saddle too high, lower it a bit.
I have a Brooks B-17 that's a bit crooked. Had pain on one side with this. Helped to center the sit part of the saddle instead of the nose.

FeelTRush

Wow. Just wow. And I just passed my first 1,000. LOL!

vol

I can confirm this. Not long ago I developed hip pain when my saddle was quite high. After I lowered it a little, no more hip pain now.

(P.S. "1st" is redundant. )

Nermal

Another guess. An upright position does put more weight on the saddle. Also, I consider the possibility, though not the necessity that different bikes might have different saddles

grndslm

Crank arms are too long???

dnuzzomueller

This is interesting because I have had a similar experience with my saddle and bikes.

I have noticed that moving my seat higher, and farther forward helped alleviate my hip pain, personally.

steve0257

IF the pain is one only one side you might play with the saddle left to right setting. I've discovered that I need to have my saddle turned just a bit to the right or I get pain in the right knee/leg.

MNBikeCommuter

I was actually going to ask if they're too short. :-) I had some hip problems years ago switching between 170 and 165 crank arms on the "good" and "foul" weather bikes. Getting rid of the 165s took care of the problem. Does the mixte have a single or three piece crank? My 165 was a single piece crank on a 38 lb. Schwinn Tank..er..Varsity.

tsl

The two bikes fit differently.

Saddle height, setback form the BB, the crank length, and the saddle shape are all suspects.

I have four bikes. Each one fit, but fit differently. Riding any one bike was fine, but switching between them caused pain for a few days. Two months ago I had a fitting, then had the measurements transferred to the other three bikes. No more pain when switching bikes. It's a wonderful thing.

FeelTRush

Maybe a fitting is the way to go. I've been measuring my F65 to determine its geometry in hopes of (re)building another bike to match. Asking a fitter to help would be a great way to move the project ahead more quickly.

jputnam

Saddle too high can do it, or just a different range of motion for your hips -- if you lengthen the cockpit and lower the seat relative to the bottom bracket, your hips may flex up higher (knees closer to your chest) for the same range of pedal stroke; for some people, that extra flex can cause hip pain.