Handlebars & intimidation

[amwm]

I've been riding in earnest for 2 months and thoroughly enjoying it. My husband is an avid cyclist and has been a big support and help. We bought my bike last summer. It's a Giant and has straight handlebars. I long to ride a bike with drop bars but they are quite intimidating to me. I own a hand me down with drop bars and my heart beat fast each time I went to try to ride it - thus, we bought my flat bar bike. Does anyone out there feel like they can't balance on drop bars because they're too narrow (although they are as wide as my shoulders as they should be). Like they'll land on their head ? Is it all my imagination?? How do I get past it?? Help!!

[Owlie]

Welcome to TE!
First off, what kind of bike is your Giant? (FCR/Dash or Rapid? Mountain bike?) And your drop-bar bike? Do you have difficulty steering? Are you physically uncomfortable on the bike? You do say you feel like you're balancing on the bars. Do you find yourself putting a lot of weight on your arms and hands? If this is the case, you may need a fitting and/or a new saddle.

This may not apply in your case, depending on your answers to the above questions, but: There's a part that's in your head, but it rapidly becomes physical. If you're intimidated by drop bars, you get nervous on that drop-bar bike. Road bikes are designed to be light and responsive, and that quality means that every nervous twitch or spasm gets magnified and results in squirrelly handling. No fun. The biggest thing you can do is make sure the bike fits properly, and relax!

Edit: The shoulder-width thing is a starting point, as are all rules-of-thumb of bike fit. Some people naturally hold their arms a bit wider than shoulder width, and if this is the case for you, the bars may well be too narrow.

[marni]

I am one who holds her arms out a bit so my drop bars are a bit wider than my shoulders but I have the hoods angled in a bit which works for me although I will admit that when I switched from a hybrid to a road bike, it did feel a bit uneasy, but it was so much fun to ride.... Aerobars on the other hand, definitely felt very unstable at first.

It's amazing how fast your body will adapt if the fit is right. Core exercises for stability may help.

marni

[amwm]

Thanks for the comments. An appropriate fit is everything, isn't it? We have a tandem for which we had a professional fitting ... love riding that! My current bike is very comfortable as my husband used the tandem fitting to adjust my Giant - but as I said, my goal is to "graduate" to drop bars. The core issue is out there too - I was not in terrific physical shape when I started riding, but my lungs are starting to catch up with my legs. I need to find time for some core strengthening workouts. This fitness stuff is sure time consuming, isn't it??? Good thing it's worth it! Will update on my progress. Thanks again!!

[OakLeaf]

If you're looking to ride on the tops of the bars, remember that you'll need bars that are MUCH wider than if you limited yourself to the hoods, hooks and drops.

Even if you hold your arms straight and the shoulder measurement is accurate for you, if you're riding on the tops, your hands are a good 6-8 cm closer together than they are on the hoods.

[Skierchickie]

What everybody else said! Poor fit could definitely cause this.

Also, just from my own experience, is it possible that you're uneasy about the drop bars mainly because you are so used to the flat bars? You're outside your current comfort zone? Every time I've ever gotten a new road bike, the first few rides seem a bit scary (especially my first "real" road bike), because it feels different than I'm used to. You have to adjust to the new feel. Sometimes, when I've been road biking a lot and not mountain biking much, I feel awkward (like I'm over-steering) on my MTB. The grips just feel wide, in comparison. I was thinking about getting narrower bars at one point, until somebody pointed out this would just make me over-steer more, if I really was. Then the next season I upped the mountain biking, and the issue went away.

I was just talking to my DH about this, because he got a new road bike yesterday (due to crashing his old one into the garage when it was on the roof rack on the car). He kept saying how twitchy the new bike feels, and he was afraid to stand on hills. I suggested he just take it easy until he gets used to the new geometry, and not even try doing anything that feels iffy, even if he normally does those things with no problem. He's nearing the end of 6 months of chemo, so he's not in his finest physical condition, which doesn't help.