First road bike for....well years

[Garfeild]

Hi all,just joined the forum,having lurked for a little while. I have a question, I have been riding mountain bikes for leisure for years, and, having decided to take things a little more seriously this year, have completed the London to Brighton, and the great Kent cycle ride, 54, and 60 miles, respectively, both on my Voodoo mountain bike.
A month ago I got myself a Giant defy 4 arranged through the bike to work scheme, thinking that a road bike will be better suited to longer distances, however on the occasions I've ridden I've hated it, I can only do a few miles before my wrists and forearms are aching, and if I press on further, I get pins and needles, also the gear change seems to be vague when compared to the 1 click up or down on the mountain bike.
Is the achy arm thing something I will get used to? At the moment I would not even consider the giant for another longish ride, as I know I would give up before getting very far.
Am I doing something wrong?

 

[Doobiesis]

I had the same thing. Did 1000 miles on my hybrid thought I'd get on better with a road bike.

I hated it, and got the same things pins and needles numb feet.

You're too close to the handle bars and more than likely need a longer stem. That's what caused mine. I actually didn't get on with my Specialized and swapped to a Giant and found it much better.

Good luck - and if you haven't already then get a bike fit, or Google bike fit and follow the guides to set it up yourself

 

[Pale Rider]

The handlebars on road bikes tend to be lower in relation to the saddle than on a mountain bike.

The general riding position is also more stretched - the backs of some roadies are all but flat when riding on the drops, if not the hoods.

Common sense says this puts extra pressure on wrists and forearms, which can lead to aches as you have found.

Raising the bars on your bike, or bringing them towards you, may assist.

The frame size of your bike may not be right for you, which is obviously harder to correct.

Post your height and the size of the bike to get some opinions on that.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Having 'come from MTB's' three years ago I still find the gear shifting of a road bike less intuitive and lacking in the precise feel of MTB shifters.

Also, I am not convinced that riding on the hoods is anywhere near as comfortable/natural as riding on MTB flats.

Saying that I have gotten used to riding my CX bike now so the above is not really a big deal.

This has some serious appeal to me:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bmc/alpenchallenge-ac01-105-2015-hybrid-bike-ec072463

 

[Arrowfoot]

If you can do 60 miles on mountain bike, the road bike would be real pleasure. For a start, ride on the hoods and not on the drops to allow your body to break in. Go to google, youtube to get an idea of bike setup and posture. There are folks here that will give great advice as per Pale Rider's note.

 

[Cyclist33]

The handlebars on road bikes tend to be lower in relation to the saddle than on a mountain bike.

The general riding position is also more stretched - the backs of some roadies are all but flat when riding on the drops, if not the hoods.

Common sense says this puts extra pressure on wrists and forearms, which can lead to aches as you have found.

Raising the bars on your bike, or bringing them towards you, may assist.

The frame size of your bike may not be right for you, which is obviously harder to correct.

Post your height and the size of the bike to get some opinions on that.

Common sense says it could be that or it could equally be too short a bike as mentioned in the post above yours.

It could be saddle angle, or riding technique like arms too straight, or holding on too hard, or it could be a secret combination of more than one of these factors.

Photos won't really help unless the rider is on the bike at the time.

 

[Garfeild]

Thanks for all the advice, right,hopefully I can answer all the questions.
I am 5' 8" and the bike is a small frame size, according to the guy in my local bike shop,I looked better on the small frame, than the medium I tried first.Its approx 450mm from centre of bottom bracket to the top of seat post tube.

I assume a larger frame size would mean I had a further reach to the bars, making the load on my arms even worse?

I was thinking of trying a "heads up"extender, to raise the bars, hopefully I can get used to it, then maybe drop them again in the future,if I go this route, would I need a longer distance between top of stork stem and bars?

Many thanks all.....off to find bike setup guide.

 

[biggs682]

@Garfeild where are you based ?

only asking as there might be a fellow cc'er nearby that might be able to help with set up

 

[Davos87]

Once you have found a decent bike set up resource start from there, saddle height, bars and fore and aft adjustment etc.
After that go for a ride and see how it feels. Any adjustments after that just make minutely incremental ie raise saddle a touch, lower saddle a touch etc.
Hopefully with a little trial and error you might get it just right.Good luck.

 

[Garfeild]

@Garfeild where are you based ?

only asking as there might be a fellow cc'er nearby that might be able to help with set up

I'm in Gravesend, North kent

Just been out on the mountain bike, done 25 miles without too much trouble, but with a lot of sweating, it's bloomin hot.

I just wish I could use the new road bike, and look forward to going out on it as much as I still do the mountain bike, it looks like I have a bit of homework to do, as I'm determined to get there eventually.

 

[biggs682]

I'm in Gravesend, North kent

Just been out on the mountain bike, done 25 miles without too much trouble, but with a lot of sweating, it's bloomin hot.

I just wish I could use the new road bike, and look forward to going out on it as much as I still do the mountain bike, it looks like I have a bit of homework to do, as I'm determined to get there eventually.

have you tried setting the bars and saddle at the same heights on both bikes but remember to also check the length from nose of saddle to centre line of bars as well

 

[Garfeild]

To do that I would definitely need a fork stem extender,as the seat and bars on my mountain bike are roughly the same height,ish

The seat on the road bike is about 150mm higher than the bars, which is probably where my problem is.

 

[Cyclist33]

To do that I would definitely need a fork stem extender,as the seat and bars on my mountain bike are roughly the same height,ish

The seat on the road bike is about 150mm higher than the bars, which is probably where my problem is.

Again all this is guesswork really, but there are both advantages and disadvantages to both sizing up and sizing down. One of the advantages of sizing up is you can have the bars higher up by default. Larger frame does not automatically equal worse pain. You describe it as pain in your wrist and forearm which I would suggest is from the bars pushing into your hands rather than from your torso being too elongated. If you were overstretching you'd be more likely to feel it in your shoulders and upper arms. So the earlier advice of trying a longer stem is worth a go I think. You can get stems with quite an angle to them which would lift the bar height while giving your body and arms they space they may need. Initially it may be apparently uncomfortable because of the new stretch but could work out much better if you persevere.

Another thing to try might be this. If there's leeway to move the saddle back 1cm, do this and then lower the seatpost 1cm. There should be guide marks on the saddle rail to show how far back you can safely set the saddle. Doing this will push you back and down thus flattening out your riding position. Again it will probably start off feeling wrong because the strain on your leg muscles will be on slightly different bases. It should, though, give you just as much leg power without making you put as much weight onto your wrists.

 

[Garfeild]

Thanks cyclist 33, all that makes sense, I just assumed that the problems were due too the lower position of the bars, not the possibility of them being too close to the seat i have got the saddle pretty much as far back as it goes already.

Just to clarify on point, when we talk about a "stem" are we talking about the part between the handlebars and top of the fork stem, or the fork stem itself? As both parts seem to be called the same, there are fork stem raisers, heads up being one name that springs to mind, and ther are alternative "stems" ( the bit between bars and fork stem) with varying lengths and angles.

I have already flipped the standard one over this morning, which looks like it's raised the bars by nearly an inch so I'll try that tomorrow and see how it feels.

 

[Cyclist33]

Top bit of fork: steerer.
Horizontal piece twixt steerer and handlebar: stem
Bearings inside head tube to help steerer turn: headset.