Mountain bike to road bike transition

[Gruff Eddie]

Hello there my 2 wheeled chums

My wife has recently bought herself a shiny new road bike, having got up to riding 20 odd miles on a cheap full suspension mountain bike.

Is it normal for there to be much of a transition?

She's struggling with her arms, it feels like a lot of her weight is going into her arms and hands. Could this be down to incorrect riding position, being too tense, or just having to adjust to a different riding position.

She's also complaining that her quads are burning while she's riding. As she's well used to riding, she wasn't expecting to be back to square one.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

 

[cyberknight]

Sounds like some basic fit tweaking is needed, it is true that the position is different and you do need to get used to riding a road bike but i would look at these...
http://www.jimlangley.net/crank/bikefit.html
http://www.jimlangley.net/crank/bikefitchart.html

 

[defy-one]

The saddle needs bringing in by a few mm towards the bars. And swing the bars up by a degree or two. This should help her sit more upright as she did on the mtb. As she gets used to the road bike she can drop the bars back to zero degrees.

 

[Gruff Eddie]

Thanks for the replies chaps. I'll get my spanners out, and failing that I'll take her down the local bike shop.

 

[Gruff Eddie]

Sorry, it's a modern bike, I meant Allen keys

 

[Fab Foodie]

The saddle needs bringing in by a few mm towards the bars. And swing the bars up by a degree or two. This should help her sit more upright as she did on the mtb. As she gets used to the road bike she can drop the bars back to zero degrees.

Sorry, but that's a common misconception.
The saddle needs to go back and at the right height relative to the pedals to take the weight off her arms. Then adjust the bars to suit (a shorter stem may be required).
See here:
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.htm

 

[daSmirnov]

My first 3 miles on a road bike were pure agony. Back, neck, arms were feeling it. I had prior to that been used to a very upright (tiny) mountain bike.

10 mile ride the day after was much better without any tweaks.

Over the next few weeks made numerous little changes to improve fit, moved the saddle back - at first it felt a bit weird being stretched out another centimetre or two, but takes weight off arms - my mid section is probably a bit stronger now which takes some weight. Flipped stem around to hold the bars a little higher for long distance (helps the neck).

After a couple of months could happily ride for 6 hours or so on it. Some of that is no doubt fit, some of it is probably just getting used to the different position.

 

[Sandra6]

When I first started using my specialized hybrid rather than the "sit up and beg" apollo I found I was stiff across my neck and was feeling it in my thighs too - I put the seat up, and back, and it's been much more comfortable.
Keeping a bend in the elbow and relaxed arms helps, but with time it becomes more natural, now I feel a bit odd when I first get on the apollo.

 

[lulubel]

Her quads are probably burning because they're having to do a greater proportion of the work than on the old MTB. I found the same when I went back to riding a road bike after 4 months on a MTB. The more upright position on the MTB spreads the work between your hamstrings and glutes as well as quads and calf muscles.

The big advantage of drop bars (which I assume she has) is that you can vary your position by riding on the hoods (top of the brake levers), drops or the flat part of the bars. I find that with my hands on the flats, I'm almost as upright as I was on the MTB, which means I can sit up and give my quads a bit of a rest.

I agree with Fab Foodie's comments regarding her riding position. It's a common mistake to move the saddle forward to try and reduce the weight on the hands and arms.