Handle bar height

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niceride

New Member
I am relatively new to cycling and am due to take part in this years London to Brighton.

I have a Criterium Claud Butler road bike with a 50” frame. On my longer bike rides I get a pain at the top of my back and think it may be due to my handle bar height. What height should my handle bars be in relation to my seat?

In addition, the handle bars appear to need a ‘ring’ to adjust the height. Excuse my naivety, but are these standard ‘rings’ and ideas where I can get them from.

Thanks
 

gavintc

Guru
Location
Southsea
The height differential between bars and seat is not a black and white answer and it will depend upon your own flexibility and fitness. You will notice that sport cyclists have low bars while recreational cyclists tend to have them higher. However, there is literally a balance to be struck to ensure that your body is appropriately balanced and not too much pressure is applied either to your seat or your hands. Speak to the shop that sold your bike and get them to look at your position.

If you want to adjust, you will notice that the steerer (the bit that sticks out of the frame and onto which the stem is attached) has spacers above and below the stem. You cannot add extras, but you can move the ones from on top to below the stem.

But, be careful, when tightening up the 2 bolts on the stem and the one that goes vertically down inside the steerer. If you overtighten the vertical one, it will affect your steering.
 

Ant

New Member
When you ride do you have your arms rigidly straight?

It's best to have a slight bend in your elbows to absorb the shocks from the front wheel on the road. If your arms are 'locked straight' then those shocks tend to go straight up in to your shoulders and upper back, causing pain.

Your handlebar height may be a factor, but it may simply be riding position.
 

Randochap

Senior hunter
Good advice here.

You may not have any spacers to play with though, depending on how the steerer was cut at factory or assembly. Most bikes have not had enough steerer left in place to allow owners to make their own decision. This is because shops would rather not put in the time (=cost) to dial in fit with the customer. That means moving spacers around and finally disassembling the steering, cutting the steerer and reassembling, once the customer had decided on stack height.

Those shops would much rather sell the customer a riser stem, somewhere down the line, when discomfort becomes an issue.

Another thing to consider, is maybe you can just flip the stem, if it has a drop/rise configuration.
 
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