Bike Fit Advice

XTC2009

So this year is the year that I get super fit and take on the world, and leave all my mates trailing behind in my dust... the same as last year then.

The thing I really do need to sort out is my contact points.

First, the saddle. I've been through the WTB saddle that my bike came with and a Charge Spoon before settling on my current perch, the Fizik Gobi XM. I found this saddle really good and comfortable out on the trails, but more recently the only riding I am getting in is on the road and it's proving to be a little bit uncomfortable after an hour or so which has left me feeling like I'm back at square one. I'm going to persevere here though because my rear might have gone a bit soft not having ridden as regularly as I used to since last summer.

Next, the cockpit. My bike came with a stock 100m stem and riser bar, which used to leave me with numb little fingers. I upgraded the whole bike back in 2009 with full Race Face Evolve XC setup, sticking with the 100m stem and changing the riser bar for a flat bar and Ergon GC2 grips. The grips cured the numb little fingers and had the advantage of being able to change hand position but ended up giving me numb thumbs and sore palms instead. I also found the flat bar to take something away from the handling off road, perhaps because the bars were narrower than originally fitted. So in 2010 I kept the stem but changed the bars for Evolve EX risers and swapped the GC2 grips for GP1's. I figured that the wider bars with bar ends might cause me problems in the narrow wooded sections at Cannock Chase and hadn't liked the way that the bar ends pushed my hands inboard a bit. I still have this setup, and the riser bar improved my handling and confidence greatly. But I still find the grips are making my palms and thumbs sore. Maybe it's the way that I've set the grips up. Maybe the overall geometry of the bike is all wrong for me. I don't know what it is but it's taking some of the fun out of the riding - especially on the roads.

As a good example of what's wrong with my setup, last September I did a 60=mile road ride for charity and finished with a sore, chafed bum which needed some immediate tlc post-ride, sore hands and a very stiff neck.

For the record I have a Giant XTC SX (Medium Frame), am 5ft 11 tall and weigh just under 12 stone.

I am thinking about getting a proper bike fitting done at my LBS, but I wondered if any of you guys could give some advice on how to make my ride ultimately comfortable once and for all.

cooldad

Try a pic of you on the bike, but it's almost impossible to set up a bike remotely.
On the other hand MTB's are not designed for long road rides.

ps not pics of your post ride bum tlc, please.

XTC2009

I didn't have a camera handy for the post-ride bottom sores... I'm not sure if these will help.

supersonic

I am thinking about getting a proper bike fitting done at my LBS

Be careful of these - you could go to five different shops and they'll say five different things. Sure take advice, a lot of people do fit into a narrowish band, but the key is experimenting. Don't pay people for this service.

Have you tried different shorts, and grips, such as Specialized BG stuff?

For now try rotating the bars and controls a liottle at a time, and sliding the saddle back and forth on the rails (and angle).

supersonic

The bar looks very wide, far wider than your shoulders.

XTC2009

supersonic wrote:

The bar looks very wide, far wider than your shoulders.

Here's a photo of the bike in the previous evolution, with the flat bars and Ergon GP2 as described. Those bars were narrower... I was wondering if I should go back to flat bars.

supersonic

Flat or not, what are the widths of these bars? The flat bar looks more natural to me (width wise) - you can always get a higher rise stem to bring them up. Or try moving the controls inboard on the other bar until happy, then cut them down.

Anonymous

cooldad wrote:

On the other hand MTB's are not designed for long road rides.

+1, I think this could be the core problem here.

Less roads on an MTB, more off road, and just ride more often.

The grips - I went with them at first thinking that's why the hands were having odd pains. Ended up with hands dangerously slipping forward on steep gnarly descents due to the palms being so flat. Binned them and went to bog standard Superstar grips. No pains.

Don't think it was anything to do with the grips, just it was early on and wasn't used to the riding position. More riding, and a few adjustments in position, and all is fine.

Personally on a mountain bike I'd also think twice about the usual advice of pointing the levers steeply down. Do you ride right over the front or further back? Far too many people, including shops, advise really steep levers and I think that comes from the old days and roadies. If you're big on over the front distance XC and climbs then maybe it works for you though. Otherwise, raise the levers a little if they are pointing down a lot (can't tell if they are as for some reason the photos don't come up in my browser).

Doing that made things a lot more comfortable. That and adjusting for single finger braking which stopped me death gripping the levers.

XTC2009

supersonic wrote:

Flat or not, what are the widths of these bars?

My current riser bar is 660mm wide. My old flat bar (which I sold to buy the riser, doh!) was 600mm wide.

deadkenny wrote:

The grips - I went with them at first thinking that's why the hands were having odd pains. Ended up with hands dangerously slipping forward on steep gnarly descents due to the palms being so flat. Binned them and went to bog standard Superstar grips. No pains.

I have been thinking of trying some standard grips again, just to see. The standard Giant ones of today seem a lot nicer than my original rock-hard ones, and aren't too expensive to try but I'll look at the Superstar ones too. I've never had a problem with the Ergon grips on the descents - maybe due to the death grip that steep descents seem to bring on, lol! The bar-ends on my old GP2 grips were nice for the extra hand position, but I felt my hands being squashed against them.

deadkenny wrote:

Personally on a mountain bike I'd also think twice about the usual advice of pointing the levers steeply down. Do you ride right over the front or further back?

Further back. I have my brake levers set up pointing in line with my arms when I am descending with my bottom out of the saddle and leaning back, which I find quite comfortable. They are also easy to reach without having to 'reach' - if you know what I mean - when just cruising along; they are there to use the full force of without having to move my hands. I tried pointing them down and felt it put my weight too far forward for my liking when braking on descents, and I didn't like the way I had to twist my hands on the bars to reach for them under normal braking.

deadkenny wrote:

Less roads on an MTB, more off road, and just ride more often.

I'm working on riding more often, but the problem I have at the moment is that where I live there aren't really any proper trails or singletrack unless I drive to them first, and with family commitments I make the most of what little free time I have - hence the increase in road miles. Even my LBS has just stopped stocking MTB's because "no-one rides them around here"! That was a shock!

A colleague of mine also suggested that my stem might be too long - making me lean forward and look up enough to cause the stiff neck on the long rides.

nicklouse

Also look at having your levers closer to the bars.

XTC2009

nicklouse wrote:

Also look at having your levers closer to the bars.

Will do. Thanks for all the tips. A collegue of mine has suggested that I might need a shorter stem to get rid of my stiff neck on the long rides. But how much shorter should I go, if I try this, without dramitcally altering the handling on the bike? I currently use 100mm - the same size that the the bike came with.

agg25

I'd drop it back to 70-80mm and see how you get on, helped mine a lot (although I went from 120mm!)