Am I too stretched out?

James1823

This is really bugging me as it's stopping me enjoying riding my bike. I've been getting neck and shoulder pain recently after a few miles in the saddle. I am 6'2'' and ride a 58cm frame (top tube and seat tube) with about 58cm distance between saddle tip and centre of handlebars.

Does that sound like a stretched out position? What distance does everyone else have?

I am at a loss because my two other bikes have the same set up and I don't get this pain on those. The saddle on one of those bike is a cm or so lower but I wouldn't have thought a slightly higher saddle could cause neck problems.

sibx

1mm can sometimes make a huge difference. I'm no expert on position so maybe others have better advice, but maybe its worth dropping the saddle 5mm to test if that is the problem?

Bronzie

James1823 wrote:

I am 6'2'' and ride a 58cm frame (top tube and seat tube) with about 58cm distance between saddle tip and centre of handlebars.

Exactly the same as me.............but no way of knowing whether our upper bodies/arms are same lengths.

That is on my race bike by the way - a little less stretched out on my hack bike.

sibx

Oh and for what its worth, I am 6'1 and I tend to ride 60cm frames with long top tubes. Perfect fit really depends on your body.

ride_whenever

Just a couple of things, are the handlebars the same width as your shoulders, are you craning your head up to try and see ahead?

Zendog1

Have you tried flipping the stem - that usually puts the bars a couple of cm's up and back. - makes a surprising difference to the ride position.

Monty Dog

Check whether your elbows are locked or not - if they are, this tends to rotate the arms and leads to tension in the neck and shoulders. Raising the bars, sliding the saddle forward or fitting a shorter stem can all potentially alleviate the symptoms.

schlepcycling

There are a couple of 'rules of thumb' that may indicate that your position is too stretched out. Firstly when you're riding normally on the brake hoods the front hub should be obscured by the bars.
Secondly if you put the tip of your elbow on the end of your saddle with your hand pointing it towards the bars then put your other hand across to form a 'T', the outside edge of your hand should fall in the centre of your bars.

Neither of these are scientific ways of determining reach but can give you a quick check.

a_n_t

James1823 wrote:

with about 58cm distance between saddle tip and centre of handlebars.

Does that sound like a stretched out position? What distance does everyone else have?

60cm on my wilier.

Steve_b77

schlepcycling wrote:

There are a couple of 'rules of thumb' that may indicate that your position is too stretched out. Firstly when you're riding normally on the brake hoods the front hub should be obscured by the bars.
Secondly if you put the tip of your elbow on the end of your saddle with your hand pointing it towards the bars then put your other hand across to form a 'T', the outside edge of your hand should fall in the centre of your bars.

Neither of these are scientific ways of determining reach but can give you a quick check.

With regards to this:
- Iif the hub is behind the handle bars (closer to you) would you need a shorter stem?

James1823

thanks for the advice

When my hands are on the hoods the hub is actually in front of the handlebar.

The good doctor

In answer to the OP, I have been riding with the same symptoms as you although I don't feel stretched as such. I'm 6' 3" and currently riding a 58cm BB to TT frame. I have tried changing stems and flipping them to no avail unfortunately.I would be interested to hear if things improve for you.

Tomorrow I am off to Epic to test a bike or two and hopefully put an end to my problems.
A-N-T , what size is your Willier and how tall are you ?

synchronicity

I notice that most beginners point the saddle nose down, thinking that it'll relieve pressure on the crotch region. but the opposite is true. When you point it up, you slide back a bit + it's generally more comfy.
Actually I think I misunderstood & reading through it again, yes this could make a difference. They higher your saddle, the more hunched over you become.

If your arms feel too stretched out, get a shorter stem.
If your back feels too hunched over, raise the bars.
Just try these things & see how it feels.

redddraggon

58cm from Saddle to Centre of bars for a guy of 6'2'' doesn't seem stretched out at all.

I'm 5'7"/5'8" ish and my saddle to centre of bars is 55cm.(And I reckon I could swap out the 11cm steam to a 12cm stem and still be comfortable)

graham_g

I find the drop from saddle to bars is far more critical in these cases.

The emu

Obviously its not just the distance but the angle.

If your other bikes are fine, as someone has already suggested maybe raise the bars by either putting spacer(s) under your stem (if you can), and/or try flipping your stem.

With regards to Good Dr, sounds like your frame is actually too small. I'm an inch taller than you and I went with the Wilier Izoard XXL with a flipped stem and spacers. (Also from Epic, top value )

Before that I had a 58cm frame and I found I got back pain and a lot of speed wobbles because I had an insane amount of seat post showing and a steep angle down to the bars which led me to putting a lot of weight on the handlebars, stretching the neck more than I should need to...and which ultimately led to lots of neck and back pain as well as hands.

Best advice however is take it somewhere and get it fitted by an expert.

a_n_t

The good doctor wrote:

A-N-T , what size is your Willier and how tall are you ?

its an XL, 57cm toptube, 120mm stem. I'm about 6'2" 6'3".

James1823

My top tube is 58cm long with a 11cm stem (although I think it measures more like 11.5cm). I recently reduced the air pressure on the tires to about 90psi and I got less neck and shoulder pain, so perhaps it's to do with it being a too hard ride before. The day I got real pain I had pumped the tires up harder than normal and the pain was hardly alleviated by riding with my hands on the top of the bars (which it should do if the problem is being too stretched out).

The good doctor

James, sounds like you're making some progress, try a few of the other suggestions already made or get a fitting session perhaps.
A_N_T out of curiosity how high is your saddle ? I have had a very good afternoon at Epic and tried the Izoard XL. I am very long in the leg compared to the body and the test ride I did felt alot better than my cuurent ride with a slightly different setup so I am hopfully on the way to solving my problems.
I also couldn't help but notice thet Worcestershire is a damn site hillier than hilly hampshire.

John

a_n_t

The good doctor wrote:

A_N_T out of curiosity how high is your saddle ? John

bit higher than that picture now. Its 81cm from the centre of the bb to the top of the saddle. [using the 109% method] I'm long legged too!