Wrist pain and knee stress

[arnuld]

I had set up my saddle height to be little higher as compared to the handlebar, I set it up because leg has to be a little bent at bottom of the pedal. Then I see my wrists joints were in pain, now I have put the saddle height equal to the handlebar and I observed that my legs and knees are taking a lot of stress, in fact I have to peddle a lot harder and I am getting tired easily, the leg is more bent than the recommended guidelines I came across the net. With earlier saddle height I could peddle a lot easier and my legs, thighs and keens were happy. The handlebar is already raised to its minimum insertion mark while seat post has a lot of room to raise.

Whats the problem I am facing and what should I do ?

 

[Crackle]

Raise the seat back to the right height, otherwise you'll destroy your knees.

The sore wrists could be a combination of reach and an element of getting used to things. You may need a shorter stem, sounds like you have a quill stem, in which case you can get both a longer and shorter stem, which will raise the bars and shorten your reach. Also check you saddle position, it might have some room to move forward on the rails and hence shorten your reach. There is an optimum position for your saddle but let's sort the wrists first.

 

[mcshroom]

Also have a look at seat angle. I had mine pointing down a bit at the front and this put a lot more weight on my wrists, to the point I could get pins and needles in them in a half hour commute. I've set my seat up to be flat front to back now and it's made my wrists a lot more comfortable.

 

[Rob3rt]

I dont know much but maybe it would be helpful to the other users who might know more if you tell what sort of bike your riding and the type of handlebars you use and are you riding on the drops, hoods, bullbars or using normal flat bars etc when you get these wrist pains.

I ask because different bars will put you into different positions on the bike hence your weight will be shifted accordingly so your wrist pain could be related to the position.

 

[arnuld]

Here is my bikehttp://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=52321: http://tinypic.com/a/1jihh/3

posted pics sometime ago in my other thread

 

[Crackle]

Arnuld, do you find yourself sitting quite far forward on the seat? There's quite a lot of scope to move that seat forward and if the bracket swivels (so it faces forward rather than backwards now), then you've got lots of adjustment.

Overall it looks to be a more upright riding position, so it may be, there's an element of getting used to it as well.

The stem is quite long too, so there's scope to buy a shorter one, if available to you and bring the reach back a bit.

You might also want to look at rotating the bars to a different angle, that's easy to do and easy to slacken the brake levers and rotate them for the new position or to an alternative position. It could be something as simple as the brake lever position causing you discomfort.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Get the legs sorted first for efficient pedalling and then adjust the saddle for and aft so you are properly balanced on the bike. Then adjust the handlebars to meet you. It's all explained brilliantly here:

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.htm

 

[stephenjubb]

I had this same problem with pain in wrists, as I sat on saddle all of my upper body weight was on my arms.

How did I know apart from obviously feeling it?

With hands on handlebars and in normal position (lean against a fence or something) remove arms from handlebars and see what happens to your upper body. If you have to stop yourself going forward it confirms pressure on your wrists supporting your upper body.

The answer is to tilt your seat slight pointing upwards. Then when you repeat the above most of your weight should be on the saddle and your arms and wrists should have to support less weight.

It worked a treat for me.

I read all the advice on riding position and it help (definitely listened to it regarding the knees) but I think I read that your weight is supported in various proportions by the saddle, pedals and handlebars.

I threw that advice about the handlebars out. I don't want a great deal of weight on the handlebars.

The best advice is "take all of the advice given, try it and see if it works for you. Continue trying until you find what works for you." That is all that matters.

in this thread I found the ultimate riding position for me

http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=34885

but most of the posters in it disagreed with me. Were I to follow that advice blindly I would be in pain now.

Thankfully, it works for me so I'm happy.

do the same, listen, evaulate, try, decide and repeat until happy.

the good people on this forum are all here to help but without the above you'll never find an answer.

Sorry if I appear to rave on a bit. I get a bit passionate at times!!!!!!.

 

[stephenjubb]

forgot to add don't tilt the saddle too far or you'll put too much pressure on your boys!!!

 

[topcat1]

Arnuld looking at those pics it looks like the your shifters and gear levers are at the wrong angle,you've got them level which is bad for your wrist. Try pointing them down to about 45degrees and have a quick ride up the road to see if theirs any pain.

 

[kewb]

couldnt help but notice your bars are almost sit up n beg style ,slightly swept back this might be putting an awkward angle on your wrists over long trips ?

sorry never noticed post above i was on page one when i posted
great minds i guess ?

 

[Banjo]

Hello Arnuld congratulations on buying the bike. Looks good certainly much better than some you were considering.

You have to have the saddle set so your leg is nearly straight at the bottom of the pedal stroke.This cant be compromised or you will not be able to ride efficiently and could even injure your knees.

Wrist and hand pain may go away with more miles done if not follow advice in other replies but dont have your seat in the wrong position it wont work.

Many people need to buy a different stem to get comfortable on a bike.You can get stems that are shorter and angled upwards which may help you. If the bike has a quill stem you can adjust the height of the bars.

It took me a few months to get my bike just right the secret is to make one adjustment at a time in very small adjustments.If you adjust two things eg seat forward and bars raised then you wont know which adjustment has helped .


Good luck.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

Arnuld looking at those pics it looks like the your shifters and gear levers are at the wrong angle,you've got them level which is bad for your wrist. Try pointing them down to about 45degrees and have a quick ride up the road to see if theirs any pain.

+1

"cheaper" bikes (not to go through all that again), often are set up with all the controls parallel to the road, often because parents will buy an oversized bike for a child to "grow into"

In your case, the controls definitely need to be rotated downwards to whatever is most comfortable for you, so that your hand isn't bent back

They should more or less follow the line of your arm (roughly)