Too much weight being put on the bars ?

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goo_mason

Champion barbed-wire hurdler
Location
Leith, Edinburgh
Sitting on my new road bike (Giant SCR2), it feels like all of my weight is being pressed down onto my hands and the bars. I know you're supposed to be able to have a light grip on the bars, but I feel weighted-down onto them which is going to give me sore hands and arms very quickly.

What's the solution ? Should I drop the seatpost a smidge and maybe slide the saddle forward on the post ? Or is it just the newness of the bent-over position and the fact that I need time for my arm muscles to adjust ?
 

RedBike

New Member
Location
Beside the road
I had the opposite problem with the SCR. The bars felt far too high / close.

A picture of you on the bike would be very helpful for this post.

Make sure you bend your arms. That way your elbows will work as natural shock absorbers and you wont put much weight on your hands.
 

Tetedelacourse

New Member
Location
Rosyth
If you're moving from MTB there will be a fair amount of just getting used to the different position. That said, you want to get used to the right new position. Did you get it fitted?
 
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goo_mason

goo_mason

Champion barbed-wire hurdler
Location
Leith, Edinburgh
No, it wasn't fitted ... :biggrin:

I dropped the saddle a bit as it was possibly a bit too high and there's less weight now on my arms. As for saddle position, that'll probably be a case of trial and small adjustments, as it was when I fitted a new saddle to my MTB which took about a week to set into a comfortable position.
 

John the Monkey

Frivolous Cyclist
Location
Crewe
Saddle angle could be a factor too - having the nose sloping too far down will put more weight on your arms.


My Giant started off with the bar tops level with the saddle nose - ok to start with, but too upright on the compact frame for me, so I've been dropping them in small spacer increments each weekend (prob. 10mm below the saddle nose now, or thereabouts). As I remember, we're similar heights - have you got much of a spacer stack to play with on your SCR?
 

Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
I had some sore elbow/arm/shoulder isssues riding to Sarfend on Friday night with the FNRttC lot, a couple of experienced roadies types said it happens to everyone for the first couple of weeks when starting with drops

that's not to say there isn't a problem, natch
 
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goo_mason

goo_mason

Champion barbed-wire hurdler
Location
Leith, Edinburgh
John the Monkey said:
Saddle angle could be a factor too - having the nose sloping too far down will put more weight on your arms.


My Giant started off with the bar tops level with the saddle nose - ok to start with, but too upright on the compact frame for me, so I've been dropping them in small spacer increments each weekend (prob. 10mm below the saddle nose now, or thereabouts). As I remember, we're similar heights - have you got much of a spacer stack to play with on your SCR?

From memory (as I'm in work and it's chained up in the car-park at the mo), it has three spacers visible.

However, after adjusting the saddle height and the saddle position last night and riding in this morning, there was much less pressure evident on the hands. I'll be looking at the saddle angle when I get home as I felt that the nose was maybe pointing down as I occasionally felt myself sliding forwards.

Still, a lovely and quick first ride in, even if I did get lost trying out a new route and adding 2 miles to the usual distance getting back to where I wanted to be !! ;) I'll try and find the route from the other direction as I definitely know where it starts on the homeward leg.
 

John the Monkey

Frivolous Cyclist
Location
Crewe
Goo, for what it's worth, here's what mine looked like as delivered;

2315997665_ae8e6e7a36.jpg

Set up like this it was comfy, but the riding position was a bit too upright (more so than my old steel framed bike). The LBS set it up like that because I nervous about the move to a compact frame, so I may have more spacers in the stack than this sort of bike would have normally.

Bars are now two 5mm spacers lower, and I still don't feel any undue pressure on my arms. I reckon it'd be worth playing with your saddle angle a bit and double checking that it's level.
 

ChrisKH

Guru
Location
Essex
Tynan said:
I had some sore elbow/arm/shoulder isssues riding to Sarfend on Friday night with the FNRttC lot, a couple of experienced roadies types said it happens to everyone for the first couple of weeks when starting with drops

that's not to say there isn't a problem, natch

Tynan, what route did you take?
 
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goo_mason

goo_mason

Champion barbed-wire hurdler
Location
Leith, Edinburgh
Thanks John.

Ride home was fine, and I've adjusted the slope of the saddle to put the nose up a bit. I'll see how that feels tomorrow.

Here's the bike as it was delivered:

2434703996_1e87137d21_m.jpg


and after I'd tarted it up with a few accessories (but before I'd lowered the seatpost):

2434696152_e565165c01_m.jpg


I guess it'll take a week or two to adjust fully to the new riding position (and tweak the set-up to suit). Nearly shook my fillings out of my teeth on the cobbled streets around my flat tonight though - those hard tyres are not forgiving !
 

John the Monkey

Frivolous Cyclist
Location
Crewe
goo_mason said:
I guess it'll take a week or two to adjust fully to the new riding position (and tweak the set-up to suit). Nearly shook my fillings out of my teeth on the cobbled streets around my flat tonight though - those hard tyres are not forgiving !

I'm still tweaking my SCR even now (although I *think* I'm happy with the seat height at this point :biggrin: ) Fitted a bike computer yet..?

Just look on the ride as part of your training for the Pavé :biggrin:
 

Fab Foodie

hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
Location
Kirton, Devon.
Very nice goo!
It takes a bit of experimenting to find the "sweet-spot". I was going to write a separate thread about that having lost then re-discovered my seating position for max comfort/speed.
You might not need the tyres at full pressure either, often dropping a few psi will give a much nicer ride with no loss in speed for effort. Additionally, lighter more supple tyres like PR2's in 25c would give a much sprightlier and comfortable ride. Full ride report expected tomorrow then!
 
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goo_mason

goo_mason

Champion barbed-wire hurdler
Location
Leith, Edinburgh
John the Monkey said:
I'm still tweaking my SCR even now (although I *think* I'm happy with the seat height at this point :biggrin: ) Fitted a bike computer yet..?

Fitted a Cateye Strada Wireless. Certainly noticed an increase in speed, though I was disappointed that my new road-route home tonight made me slower (too much slowing, stopping and starting in queues at lights when there's no room to filter safely). On the other hand, when we got moving I was able to keep pace with the traffic, which was a change from getting the heavy MTB going :biggrin:

When I put a new saddle on the MTB, it took me about two weeks to get it positioned and angled properly so that it was comfortable, and then a few more weeks to break it in (it was VERY hard at the start). Thankfully the Royal Viper saddle is at least supple and soft to start with !
 
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