Bar tilt conundrum

[rousseau]

I go through periods where I can't stop fiddling with my bar tilt. This is one of them. Does anybody get it perfectly right?


When it's like this I feel pretty comfortable on the hoods when I'm seated, where I spend 85% of the time, but when climbing or pushing out of the saddle my hands feel way too high. Like I'm on stilts, or a kid's scooter. I don't feel "tight" with the bike. Plus the drops aren't horizontal enough, so I need to arch my hands upward.


This is way better for climbing out of the saddle, I feel more in control of the steering. And it's a dream in the drops. But on the hoods when seated I'm not quite as comfortable as in the first scenario above. Feels like reaching and bending the wrist so that the forearms and hands don't form a straight line.

What do people do?

[eBAUMANN]

first pic.
or get bars with a better bend...

[ultraman6970]

This.

Originally Posted by eBAUMANN

first pic.
or get bars with a better bend...

[rousseau]

For those keeping score, I put the 17-degree 120 mm stem on and angled the bar like this.



Not sure if the stem is going to be too low for me. I can always switch back to the 6-degree stem if need be.

With this setup I've basically decided to compromise. It feels great on the hoods when seated, and where I complained before about the hoods feeling too high when out of the saddle, tonight I found I could live with it.

But in the drops I need to arch my hands up to reach the brake and the thumbshifter. Since I don't race and I only sprint in the drops on solo rides for fun, I'm thinking I can live with this.

For now, anyway. I welcome all critiques and suggestions. For example, can anyone link to a bar with a "better bend"?

[fuzzalow]

Based on the ways, methods and approach to how I fit onto a bike, it is not possible to know how close you are to getting a functional fit & position without seeing your entire posture on the bike.

What this means in real terms is that your issues with the bars could be either the last of minor tweaks to get dialed into a good position or it could be you are still a long way from getting a good fit and the bars are now present in your mind only because they are the last link in a faulty fit & position causal chain and the bars are, in essence, left holding the bag for all that is wrong preceding it.

Nothing can be viewed in isolation. Everything effects everything else. Again, this is not to discourage your effort here as you may well be very close to a good final position. But without seeing you on the bike, there's no way to know.

IMO classic bars are the best for a reason - they don't use an ergo bend to mask or create a solution in the bars when the bars themselves don't create the determinant element in riding a racebike. That happens from the power locus outwards which means it all starts from the saddle first.



Good luck.

[93KgBike]

No school like the old school!


Matching the bar and shifter as intended in the era of the build/bar/gruppo works out. I tend to follow the peloton of the frame era on bar choice. But I enjoy reading decades old CS's in the outhouse; only for the photos.

[FlashUNC]

I find the notchiness of the transition from hood to bar ideal for how I ride on the hoods, which is more Hinault (palm resting on the outside, notch of the thumb over the top, fingers underneath) than Froome. Feel like that non-flat transition gives me more hand positions on the hoods too.

Haaaaate the flat transition.

[rousseau]

Further to this, I ended up moving my saddle back almost 1 cm and swapping out the 120 mm stem for a 100 mm stem while maintaining a slightly raised (i.e. non-horizontal) shifter position on the bar. So, essentially like in post 24, save for a shorter stem.



I think I've got my saddle in a better position now. I think I had it too far forward. With 1 cm back on the saddle and 2 cm back on the bar I've decreased my reach by 1 cm, and it has made quite a difference in how the bikes feels. It handles a lot better with the shorter stem, plus I'm not as stretched out, so I feel more confident.

So that's the fit for now.

[rousseau]

Moving my saddle back 1 cm and going for a shorter stem seemed like the right fit for me, but lately I've been having some pain in whatever muscle is at the front of the legs right up top there close to the hips. Not the quads. I've noticed that I am indeed recruiting this muscle more in my stroke.

I honestly thought I'd got the bike set up right for me, but does this sound like the saddle might be too far back?

[Tandem Rider]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Moving my saddle back 1 cm and going for a shorter stem seemed like the right fit for me, but lately I've been having some pain in whatever muscle is at the front of the legs right up top there close to the hips. Not the quads. I've noticed that I am indeed recruiting this muscle more in my stroke.

I honestly thought I'd got the bike set up right for me, but does this sound like the saddle might be too far back?

It sounds like the muscles recruited to actually raise the knee up and over the top of the pedal stroke. If this is correct, the fix is pretty simple. Do what I call "one leggers" every day. Start the drill by riding with moderate resistance at about 50-60 rpm, unclip first 1 leg, ride 1 minute. Reclip without coasting, ride using both legs. Unclip the other leg, ride 1 minute, reclip, ride another minute. repeat 4 times. Everyone I know who has had pain where you described has found relief this way. I repeat it once a week just for maintenance and have had no repeat flare ups.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Tandem Rider

It sounds like the muscles recruited to actually raise the knee up and over the top of the pedal stroke. If this is correct, the fix is pretty simple. Do what I call "one leggers" every day. Start the drill by riding with moderate resistance at about 50-60 rpm, unclip first 1 leg, ride 1 minute. Reclip without coasting, ride using both legs. Unclip the other leg, ride 1 minute, reclip, ride another minute. repeat 4 times. Everyone I know who has had pain where you described has found relief this way. I repeat it once a week just for maintenance and have had no repeat flare ups.

Thanks for the response on this, I will try this. I'm also interested in the possible reason that this has happened in the first place. I've never experienced something this kind of pain before.

I'm wondering about two possibilities:

1. I moved my saddle back 1 cm. The pain coincides with this.
2. I rode a bit less in August, but resumed riding more in September.

I can't help but wonder if it's more due to the fore-aft saddle adjustment. Does it not sound like I've changed the mechanics of my pedal stroke in a way to increase recruitment of the muscle to raise the knee as you say?

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Moving my saddle back 1 cm and going for a shorter stem seemed like the right fit for me, but lately I've been having some pain in whatever muscle is at the front of the legs right up top there close to the hips. Not the quads. I've noticed that I am indeed recruiting this muscle more in my stroke.

I honestly thought I'd got the bike set up right for me, but does this sound like the saddle might be too far back?

Originally Posted by Tandem Rider

It sounds like the muscles recruited to actually raise the knee up and over the top of the pedal stroke. If this is correct, the fix is pretty simple. Do what I call "one leggers" every day. Start the drill by riding with moderate resistance at about 50-60 rpm, unclip first 1 leg, ride 1 minute. Reclip without coasting, ride using both legs. Unclip the other leg, ride 1 minute, reclip, ride another minute. repeat 4 times. Everyone I know who has had pain where you described has found relief this way. I repeat it once a week just for maintenance and have had no repeat flare ups.

Originally Posted by rousseau

Thanks for the response on this, I will try this. I'm also interested in the possible reason that this has happened in the first place. I've never experienced something this kind of pain before.

I'm wondering about two possibilities:

1. I moved my saddle back 1 cm. The pain coincides with this.
2. I rode a bit less in August, but resumed riding more in September.

I can't help but wonder if it's more due to the fore-aft saddle adjustment. Does it not sound like I've changed the mechanics of my pedal stroke in a way to increase recruitment of the muscle to raise the knee as you say?

For future reference, I've found the answer to my hip flexor pain: my saddle was too high. I raised it by 5 mm this past summer for some stupid reason, like I seem to do every year, and where in the past I would get toe numbness, this year it was hip flexor pain.

So I've lowered it back down and moved it forward by 5 mm or so, and the hip flexor pain is gone, just like that.

D'oh! So what started out as an issue about bar tilt drifted toward an issue of saddle height and fore-aft position. All pertaining to the mysteries of fit, I guess.

[oldpotatoe]

[/QUOTE]

What an awesome pic!!!!

[OtayBW]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

What an awesome pic!!!![/QUOTE]


They're obviously climbing. Small ring, one gear left to go for Hinault, and which way is he shifting: up or down? Yep - this is a great pic!

[simonov]

Originally Posted by rousseau

What do people do?

Use different bars. Those may just not be the right shape for your preferred hood vs. drop vs. tilt positions. I like traditional drop bars for that deeper, level drops with the ability to mount the hoods higher. But that's just my preference.