road bike riding position ?

tarbot18

Hi everyone im new to these forums although have used and abused the site for a while ! Ive recently ventured out of my comfort zone and have purchased a road bike after many many years on a mountain bike which i used for off roading commuting and coast to coast trips etc .
After watching the road bike s leave us for dead on the many hills of the coast to coast i decided to get a road bike for commuting duties and the annual long cross country trip. Ive purchased a Scott s50 but i opted for the flat bars purely as i mainly use it for commuting and thought it easier for braking in a hurry which i frequently have to and slightly more upright riding position which suits my back at the minute.
Without getting onto whole flat versus road bars debate ( apparently easy to swap over at later date bikes are identical !) im curious as to the different riding positions of road bikes and mountain bikes, basically i seemed to have more weight on my saddle on my MB wheras a lot more weight seems to be over my front wheel on my scott and im struggling with the change and lower bar height etc is this normal and something ill get used to in time , i realise i have been institutionalised on a MB for a long time but i am trying to open myself up to change !

rogerthecat

Difficult to say m8, alot of factors, however search the net for bike set up and you should find loads.

A few points however, if your lower back aches, this may be due to you pushing too bigger gear, wrong size bike and / or just your body geting used to the position.

If you have poor core strength then you may find your hands numbing as your body is more forward also back ache.

I see many MTB riders who have their saddles quite low so watch out for this.

Not sure what else I can help with, at least this may get other input from guys with more road time than I.


Oh BTW welcome to the road, she can be a cruel mistress.

rick_chasey

Sounds pretty standard. When I first took to a road bike it felt like everything was on the front wheel.

It's just getting used to it.

niblue

First thing I did on my road-bike was to flip the stem, and I much prefer the riding position like that.

peterw47

As above also, always had mountain bikes but got a road bike few weeks ago. First thing I done in the shop was flipped the stem around so points up slightly... Position feels really alien at the moment!

tarbot18

Thanks for the replys i think i just need to get used to the different position and characteristics of a road bike although flipping the stem is a good idea im going to try that should give me another inch or two in height. I find it weirdest when swapping between the 2 bikes a bit like when i go from my 4 wheel drive to my wifes nipply little hatchback i suppose , thanks again for your help.