Why would I lower my handlebars?

I'm so thankful for you experts who take your time to answer these questions.

During my bike fitting, the fitter told me he guessed I would probably take another spacer out of my handlebar stem before the season is out. But, he didn't explain why I would do that or how I would know if I wanted to take one out. Any thoughts on that?

In the last few rides I've really started using my drops, and I'm much more comfortable with the road bike position, whereas when I started, it made me super nervous, since I was so used to riding a hybrid with very high bars.

At the moment my handlebars are exactly level with my saddle. I've lowered the saddle since my fitting - since I'm not using clipless, I needed to be closer to the pedals.

I dunno.

Why would you?

If you are happy and are using the entire bar and life is good... leave it be.

If you feel cramped and the need to stretch, or if you are very concerned about aerodynamics, or if you feel you get more power and happiness from your glutes by having more hip flexion, I guess you could lower the bars or toss in a longer reach stem.

But really, if you feel good, leave it be.

Why didn't you ask him?

Most road bikes and racing bikes have their handlebars lower than their saddles. you can crunch down more and be more aerodynamic that way, and can get more speed going. The down side is that it's sometimes less comfortable that way for hours at a time, or you might have more pressure on your frontal 'girl parts'.

Most touring bikes (intended for multi-day long rides), hybrids, and utility bikes are a little less concerned with speed and more designed for comfort. They mostly have bars and saddles at the same height so the rider can be a little more upright and comfortable on long rides. This increases wind resistance, so people whose goal is speed will avoid this setup.

You can strike a personal happy balance between a position favoring speed and one favoring comfort. Many new riders like to be very upright. Many of them who are getting used to their first 'road bike' will slowly lower their handlebars as they get used to the more common road/racing bike position.

You can adjust your position any way you like, depending on your own goals and preferences. :) Try lowering the bars some more, and if it's not to your liking after a good try for a month or two, you can always put the spacer back again.

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Originally Posted by KnottedYet

I dunno.

Why would you?

If you are happy and are using the entire bar and life is good... leave it be.

If you feel cramped and the need to stretch, or if you are very concerned about aerodynamics, or if you feel you get more power and happiness from your glutes by having more hip flexion, I guess you could lower the bars or toss in a longer reach stem.

But really, if you feel good, leave it be.

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That's what I was looking for - thank you! I wondered if I was limiting myself in some way or something. There are still two spacers I could take out, but I will leave them for now, since I have no reason to move them.

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Originally Posted by Zen

Why didn't you ask him?

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OMG he was spewing out so much information my head was spinning. I wish I would have, but I was probably still asking questions from two topics prior, lol.

x-posted w/ Lisa. You are right, I could always take one out just to try it. I think when I feel totally comfortable w/ the road bike I might give it a shot. I don't plan on ever racing, but I do enjoy going as fast as possible.

If you take one out, put it back on top of the handlebars to better keep them in place, and do use a torque wrench on that cap bolt - that's what loads the headset bearings. (If you have a carbon steerer tube, use a torque wrench on the stem clamp bolts as well.)

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Originally Posted by trista

I think when I feel totally comfortable w/ the road bike I might give it a shot.

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That's a good plan. I found when I was fairly new to riding, that for a long while i couldn't tell whether I needed to make any small adjustments in my bike or not. But after a couple more thousand miles, it would become much more obvious what I needed to do in terms of adjusting fit. The good news here is that you are not uncomfortable right now the way it is, so you can take your sweet time about changing anything. :)

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Originally Posted by BleeckerSt_Girl

The good news here is that you are not uncomfortable right now the way it is, so you can take your sweet time about changing anything. :)

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I agree, and don't think that because someone suggested you might want to make a change, you absolutely have to - you don't :)

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Originally Posted by trista

I'm so thankful for you experts who take your time to answer these questions.

During my bike fitting, the fitter told me he guessed I would probably take another spacer out of my handlebar stem before the season is out. But, he didn't explain why I would do that or how I would know if I wanted to take one out. Any thoughts on that?

In the last few rides I've really started using my drops, and I'm much more comfortable with the road bike position, whereas when I started, it made me super nervous, since I was so used to riding a hybrid with very high bars.

At the moment my handlebars are exactly level with my saddle. I've lowered the saddle since my fitting - since I'm not using clipless, I needed to be closer to the pedals.

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This comment isn't totally on your topic, but so glad to hear you're happy making the transition from hybrid to road bike. I've been riding my hybrid mostly on weekends - usually 40-50 mile rides w/ some shorter rides during the week. The people at the bike shop keep telling me it's time to move on to a road bike. So, the other day I rode my step-daughters road bike over to the gas station to put air in her tires. Granted, it was way too short for me (she's about 5 inches shorter), but everything threw me. The sitting position, the gears, the idea of clipless, the brakes...just everything. For a moment, I thought maybe I'll just stick with my good old Trek 7.3 and be happy with my 14mph rides. But, hearing "happy transition stories" makes me ready to go try out some new bikes.

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Originally Posted by nikkoblu2

But, hearing "happy transition stories" makes me ready to go try out some new bikes.

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I transitioned from a hybrid to a road bike about 4 months ago.. it was an easy move for me. Go out and try some bikes... it took me several months to find the "right" one for me, but I'm glad I took my time... I was immediately so much more comfortable on my road bike than I had been on my Hybrid.

I've only had it for a month but I really love it - definitely a happy transition. I was lucky that the 2nd bike I sat on was a perfect fit - the Trek Madone. On the first bike I tried, I felt like you said you did on your step-dd's bike - everything felt weird and wrong. But on the Madone it all felt right. So definitely try a few different bikes and maybe you'll find one that feels like butter.

The first several rides I was kinda like "whoa.... whhhhoooooaaaaa" all shaky and scared. But that feeling didn't last long. This morning i was approaching 30 mph down a hill and did not feel shaky at all.

As I've become more limber in the lower back over the season, I've been itching to take out a spacer, but I didn't want to change things up too close to a race. I might start playing with it now that the season is winding down. I just feel like I want to stretch out more. I find myself hanging my hands over the tops of the hoods when I want to set a steady tempo. I don't think this is an uncommon thing, particularly for people newer to road bikes. I lowered the bars in my first and second seasons. Then I moved to deeper drops for the third. I kept the tops the same due to shoulder problems. Now I feel comfortable enough to go for some more reach. I also think being lower makes me feel more stable for corners and descending so long as I'm not so stretched out that I can't scoot my weight back over the saddle for those activities.