cyccommute 

With the exception of about a week in 2015, it’s been there since 1974.

1989Pre 

Since the rider is having so much dis-comfort on a road bike, I am inclined to wonder what his stretching regimen is like, especially for his back. I would also ask him if he has a pronounced mid-rift bulge, which could cause discomfort while in the drops..In any event, it sounds like the rider's body is in question, rather than the design of "road" bikes.

sjanzeir

To the OP: There's this little thing called a "hybrid" bike. If you're comfortable only with flat, mountain-style handlebars like I am, then you should or get one of those, like I did, or convert your road bike to a flat-bar, like I did. I feel your pain because very recently, I made one last, dear-life attempt at trying to ride a "road" bike (that is, a bike with drop bars and corresponding brake/shift levers, or "brifters" as some of us around here tend to call them because they think it's cute) safely and comfortably, and I quickly realized that I was neither feeling safe nor comfortable, so it was off with the drop bars and brifters and on with the flat bars, MTB brake levers, friction (soon to be replaced with indexed) shifters, and grips. At almost 50 years old, I'm not going to waste any more time overthinking all this. I'd rather spend my time outside on a bike that I like and feel safe and comfortable with.

livedarklions

Let's not get into an argument here about the benefits or lack thereof of stretching. I am a generally stiff guy who doesn't stretch precisely because it does me no good and it hurts. I also have no problems riding a drop bar bike.

At this point, it appears the OP doesn't want to answer personal questions in a public forum, and I think we can be ok with that.

livedarklions

I think that's one of those things that can be easily overlooked--that there's really no science to what feels safe and comfortable. I like the line about not overthinking this, at some point it's really as simple as "we like what we like". Trying things is good, trying to convince yourself you're happy with something when you're not is a recipe for regret.

Weirdly, I had the opposite experience from you. I reluctantly tried drop bars for the first time in 25+ years a few years back, and ended up completely switching over to them. I really like riding the hoods, which I didn't expect.

And no, we don't use "brifters" because it's cute, it's because it replaces three words with one. It's also a really damn useful device that deserves its own name.

Trakhak

And the OP seems to have made it to 5 posts several days ago and disappeared.

Lombard

Stretching can indeed be helpful, but it can only go so far. IOW, someone who is stiff as a board like me will never be hyperflexible or even have average flexibility regardless of how much or often we do stretches. It has helped me, but only to a degree. And I found out it is clearly possible to overdo it. I had to back off the exercises my chiropractor gave me. If I don't stretch, I hurt. If I stretch too much, I hurt. It's a balancing act.

I ride a road bike and gravel bike which both have drop bars, but I never use the drops - that would clearly be too painful, not to mention there is no way I could bend my neck up high enough to see ahead what I need to see! I also adjusted my bikes so my bars and saddle are even with each other.

I still like D.I.L.D.O.S. (Deceleration Input Lever Derailleur Operation System) better.

Bonts

Sorry for ghosting. I've been out of town and didn't have my account on the phone. I thought I already wrote a post like this, but I think the majority of my problems are experience related. I literally have 5 minutes on drop bars, so I'm just going to spend an afternoon playing with it. I'll play with the geometry of the stem as far as the parts I have will let me. I might throw my own seat post on the see if that helps. I generally have it angled forward a tad and the existing seat has basically no adjustment options.

I do think I felt a good amount of counter-steering On my short introductory ride. I've never really felt counter-steer on a bike before, but it's quite pronounced on this bike. I'm 6'-3", pushing 300 lbs and have a nice spare tire. I think 230 would be a good weight. That's thanks to allot of factors. Generally failing joints, impact exercise and weight lifting is out and those were my main thing. And I left the army, so much of my motivation left too. I'm flexible enough I think. I can't touch my toes anymore, but probably could in a couple months if I set my mind to it.

If it just turns out that this bike isn't going to work, I'll trade it for something more suitable. My wife got it from a local bike shop that does these older bikes as sort of a side business. I think it's a relative of the owner that restores older bikes as a hobby, so he just gets his money back by selling them.

livedarklions

My only point on the stretching is that everyone is so individualized on it that it that trying to prescribe stretch routines sight unseen is even worse than talking about bike fit sight unseen. I'm a stiff person whose balance is I do much better with absolutely no stretch routine.

No way am i going shopping for D.I.L.D.O.Ss in a bike shop.

livedarklions

Is the tandem thing negotiable? I don't know much about tandems. but it sure sounds like you'd do better on a solo hybrid.

Bonts

It's more of a thing to try. I've done some poking around in the tandem section and it seems that there's nothing a tandem is better at than a single aside from downhill riding.

livedarklions

Is your wife also very tall? I think a fit that would work for both of you might be a big challenge.

sjanzeir

No one was pointing a finger at you. I was pointing a finger at me.

livedarklions

Wasn't real serious. I'm the self-appointed "defender of the brifter" until a certain someone changes his sig line.

The "they" part threw me off. Glad you're a member of the club even if you can't stand using them.

Lombard

I would agree. It's like mattresses. One person's pure pleasure is another person's torture device.

veganbikes

I did work in a bike shop that was housed in a former adult store. The two were never anywhere close to each other. The adult store having been moved out for a year or two at least but it did house an adult shop and then became a bike shop. Pretty silly information and when we were there I never had anyone asking about the old store and we didn't find any leftover pleasure devices so it was rather uneventful.

Eric F 

Based on the first sentence, I was expecting a much more entertaining story.

veganbikes

Yeah I was as well. When I first went to work there I thought maybe we might find something but no, nothing exciting had some good employees though wish they were still with us but they went to school or left to start companies and design stuff or just had to get out of the area. Though at small grocery store/sandwich shop I worked at we did get a pair of loose panties in a shipment of cakes and that was exciting.

BlazingPedals

Meh. I always had problems with road bikes, too. At the time, I was a springboard diving coach. My flexibility and upper body and core strength were off the top of the scale by most cyclists' standards. To be fair, I didn't do well on flat-bar bikes either. Rather than whine about it and tell everyone that road bikes were terrible, I just went to a bike style that didn't give me those discomforts. Nobody is forcing OP to ride a bike with road bars.

Bonts

What’d you end up liking?

sjanzeir

Wrong question. "What do I like riding best?" would be a better question. No one on Bike Forums can tell you what you can or cannot ride, should or shouldn't ride. Hit the local bike shops and, at the very least, sit on some fitness, dual-sport, and flat-bar gravel bikes, and maybe even a few MTBs for good measure. There are people who love Dutch shopping bikes, and others who find their niche in recumbents.. Neither of them are better or worse than the others. There's no shame in either. Only you can answer your own question.

rsbob 

What does that even mean?

sjanzeir

It means that a Suburban will do more damage barrelling downhill into a busy intersection than a two-door Jimmy.

rsbob 

Positively brilliant!

1989Pre 

Of course, one would have to identify the location and nature of any discomfort, and then set about researching remedies.
Sources of information could range from fellow-cyclists to massage therapists to medical doctors. I assume that O.P. wants to ride a road bike, but I could be mistaken, and he may have given up on the idea, but others might see this string and get some ideas.