Getting the correct adjustments to the bike

jefflad
jefflad Posts: 315
edited September 2012 in Road beginners
Recently bought my first road bike. having rode mountain bikes and hybrids I'm no novice... overweight maybe but know my way around these type of bikes but Road Bikes feel alien.

I went out for a first proper-ish ride yesterday and experienced some discomfort in my legs and hands. I've adjusted the seat height a bit higher and that seems to have helped but my hands still get the pain. So I was hoping someone could point me to some website that will include a blueprint for tweaks to bar height/angle that may help or anything else on road bikes I should be aware about on the setup. The bike is second hand so no going back to the shop for a fitting...

Any advice or tips much appreciated.

p.s. I loved the ride though and after shopping today plan a longer ride - pain or no pain :D

Comments

  • Alex W
    Alex W Posts: 6
    I've been riding a road bike since April, before which I spent a few years on a fairly "upright" commuter bike. The first thing I'd say is that before you think about changing everything, give it a good few rides. My first few were not pleasant. I felt stretched out, neck to cranked, centre of gravity too far forward, wrists aching and to top it all, I didn't seem to be going any faster! But over a couple of months I've got more confident, comfortable and faster. I changed the bars to narrower ones but apart from that just tweaked the seat height. I desperately wanted the bars to be higher to start with but resisted the urge and now I'm happy with the original stem length and angle.

    You can find some advice here, but there are other sites:

    http://www.bikefit.com/s-13-road-bikes.aspx
  • jefflad
    jefflad Posts: 315
    Thanks... yeah, that's what I'm suffering from the sore wrists... bloody annoying!
  • Mikey23
    Mikey23 Posts: 5,306
    Will take a while for your body to get bedded in. Most of us get some discomfort at first. Wrists, hands and arms were a prob for me for quite a long time. May be a few tweaks might be needed. Your LBS should be able to help
  • jefflad
    jefflad Posts: 315
    Mikey23 wrote:
    Will take a while for your body to get bedded in. Most of us get some discomfort at first. Wrists, hands and arms were a prob for me for quite a long time. May be a few tweaks might be needed. Your LBS should be able to help

    OK... thanks!

Categories