Back pain, wrong bike, give up?

[ayceejay]

Your position on the bike looks pretty good to me, perhaps more of a bend in the arms and maybe turn the handlebars down so that the grips are not flat. Loosen the bolts holding the handlebars slightly then hold the grips and pull them towards you and down = just a bit. You will note the girl in the white skirt - the top of her head is in line with her coccyx her arms slightly bent and wrists straight = in other words she looks relaxed, this is what you should aim for.

 

[mjr]

Saddle fore/aft position is the very first step in bike fit and is dictated by the knees.

In the words of Mencken, "There is always an easy solution to every human problem–neat, plausible, and wrong."

While it forms the basis of many bike fit methods and I'd agree it's a constraint, knees do not dictate the saddle position completely. Why would it? Your knee isn't part of the saddle! See http://sheldonbrown.com/kops.html for another view but surely you've noticed that how far back you want your bum varies with the counterbalancing needed as you lean forwards more? If there was One True Saddle Position for you, you'd be either sitting on the saddle nose on upright bikes (ow!) or flopping over the back on full-speed road bikes (chafe away!). This may be more obvious for riders who often switch between completely different styles of bike.

There are limits and note I was assuming that the bike fitter put the handlebars in a sensible position for an athletic fit (based on the description and attempt to recommend a road bike) which may not be the case and so it may all not work because I'd agree you can't completely vary the position to reduce the weight on the hands.

 

[velovoice]

In the words of Mencken, "There is always an easy solution to every human problem–neat, plausible, and wrong."

While it forms the basis of many bike fit methods and I'd agree it's a constraint, knees do not dictate the saddle position completely. Why would it? Your knee isn't part of the saddle! See http://sheldonbrown.com/kops.html for another view but surely you've noticed that how far back you want your bum varies with the counterbalancing needed as you lean forwards more? If there was One True Saddle Position for you, you'd be either sitting on the saddle nose on upright bikes (ow!) or flopping over the back on full-speed road bikes (chafe away!). This may be more obvious for riders who often switch between completely different styles of bike.

There are limits and note I was assuming that the bike fitter put the handlebars in a sensible position for an athletic fit (based on the description and attempt to recommend a road bike) which may not be the case and so it may all not work because I'd agree you can't completely vary the position to reduce the weight on the hands.

Oh good, we are talking about the same thing, just approaching from opposite ends. Will respond after work, so we can target the info to help @Short_Lass.

 

[Short_Lass]

LATEST!
Cycling colleagues at work say man from shop #2 was talking twaddle and there must be a way to adjust the bike more than he claimed. So I rang the second shop again and asked to speak to their top bike expert. They agree with the twaddle analysis and say there are loads of ways to adjust the bike I have including moving seat or handlebars backwards or forwards. Or even mounting different handlebars on the stem. So I feel very let down by the "expert" at the second shop who charged me £30 and told me my bike was unsuitable.
I can't get to the shop until next week (as he's only working when I'm at work this week), but will definitely be going in on Monday. Much relieved that this cycling thing maybe ok after all.
Thanks for all responses. It was interesting that no one seemed to agree with the "expert" I saw that the upright position was a problem, so that encouraged me to find another solution.
Will try to update you again next week.