How does my bike fit me?

[laura*]

I second this advise about angling the brakes and shifter more so that your wrists aren't bent back as much.

I'll third that advice, especially after viewing the pictures in #23. Try angling the brake levers so that they squeeze toward your shoulders, not your midsection.

[Biciclista]

well, from my limited expertise, i will say the seat is not too low.

[Cataboo]

Your seat looks fine... In your first set of photos it looks like you might be pointing your toes... that could contribute to foot numbness

I also can't tell if you're clipped in ... but it looks like you're on a pretty small platform if you're not clipped in, so you might want bigger pedals... And in the 2nd set of photos it looks like your foot is a little too far forward on the pedal... You want your ball of your foot taking the pressure of pedaling... so if you're riding clipped, moved your clips back so that they're under the ball of your foot. If you're not riding clipped, just move your feet forward.

You also look like you've got a death grip on those handlebars.... Ease up on them. If you're coming up to a bumpy section of road, get the weight off your wrists in preparation for it & bend your elbows a bit to absorb the shock... Not enough that you don't have control if a bump tries to grab your handlebars, but enough to get the strain off it.

I bought pearl izumi gel gloves once 'cause they claimed it was all ergonomic... but I found it more comfortable to ride without them. So I used a pair of needle nose pliers to yank the gel padding out and they've been great ever since then. They are nice in that they're sort of short and end on my hands, not my wrist... I still buckle them very loosely.

I like the specialized gloves that someone else mentioned... I haven't noticed the padding being a problem in those, but they don't have velcro adjustment at the wrists, so they irk me slightly in that I can't make them looser.

[ZenSojourner]

Sheldon Brown has something to say about potential sources of pain:

http://sheldonbrown.com/pain.html

[Triskeliongirl]

I think the problem may be that a hybrid does not put you in a very effecient riding position. Your position looks much too upright to me, so you are putting more pressure on your butt, and perhaps feet than you should be. Hybrids are not made for long distance riding, just slow jaunts around town. If you are enjoying cycling, maybe its time to upgrade to a road bike, with a professional fit.

Your wrists look too bent, probably the source of hand pain. Drop bars will give you more positions, which will also help, but perhaps some stem/bar adjustments on this bike could help. Have you measured your KOPs position? If you are sitting too far forward on the bike, you will be putting too much weight on your hands? The sandals you are wearing are not as supportive as real cycling shoes. 'Hot foot' can come from not spreading the pressure around correctly, so cycling shoes fitted with good aftermarket insoles may be in order, with some adjustment in cleat position and possibly cleat style (I like speedplay frogs).

[Cataboo]

She's using the keen commuter sandals which are cycling shoes - but they are a bit more flexy than normal cycling shoes.

[tulip]

While you're fiddling with all this very good advice, be sure to start doing (if you are not already) some serious core-strengthening. It will take a few weeks or a month before you will notice a difference, but it will help alot. It did for me. With a weak core, we end up supporting ourselves on the handlebars, which leads to alot of weight and pressure on our hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and neck. With a strong core, we support ourselves with the larger muscles of our mid-sections, allowing our hands and arms to relax and guide the bike instead of supporting all of our weight.

There are lots of different ways to strengthen the core. I like Pilates (but I've been soooo slack on that lately and boy do I feel it!). Other folks have other favorites. Just make sure you do the moves correctly so you don't hurt your back.

By the way, you look great on the bike! I think your seat is fine. Happy riding to you.

[Heifzilla]

I think the problem may be that a hybrid does not put you in a very effecient riding position. Your position looks much too upright to me, so you are putting more pressure on your butt, and perhaps feet than you should be. Hybrids are not made for long distance riding, just slow jaunts around town. If you are enjoying cycling, maybe its time to upgrade to a road bike, with a professional fit.

Your wrists look too bent, probably the source of hand pain. Drop bars will give you more positions, which will also help, but perhaps some stem/bar adjustments on this bike could help. Have you measured your KOPs position? If you are sitting too far forward on the bike, you will be putting too much weight on your hands? The sandals you are wearing are not as supportive as real cycling shoes. 'Hot foot' can come from not spreading the pressure around correctly, so cycling shoes fitted with good aftermarket insoles may be in order, with some adjustment in cleat position and possibly cleat style (I like speedplay frogs).

I am enjoying cycling, but I need to wait to upgrade into anything. I have a tendency to zilla about stuff, spend tons of $$$ and get all new gear, etc., and then never do it again. DH would have a stroke if I did that again with a bike.

The longest distance I plan on right now is a 31 mile leg of a century ride in June. It's a "go at your own pace, stop and pet the cows" kind of thing (seriously, pet the cows...it's called the Udder Century, lmao) and my usual average ride is between 10-12 miles a day. A lot of it is on trails, though, as I live right across from a state park. Also, I live around a ton of lakes, and in BFI, so my road options are somewhat limited because there just aren't that many roads that cross or go around the lakes and everything is super spread out. For example, I'd love to commute to work. It's 10 miles. However, there are only 2 roads that I can take that go around the lakes. One is a semi-truck, state highway route that riding a bike on would pretty much be suicide, and the other is a little better but still a 45 mph highway. My riding options are limited. So I actually need a nice bike that would be able to handle trails as well as the road. I've only been riding this much for the past two and a half weeks. You gotta start somewhere, right? I think for the moment, my little hybrid is the best bet for me. I will get it fine tuned to the most comfortable point I can and see where things go from there. If I stick with this, DH won't have any problems with me looking into getting a new bike...bu t a few weeks of riding doesn't constitute sticking with it yet.

I have to tweak my new grips and bring them up more so I have that nice straight wrist, and the Keens seem to have helped immensely with the foot issues. I am also going to switch out my pedals to one of those big blocked BMX-type so I can have more contact area for my foot, and that should help, too.

You guys really have had some great suggestions

[Biciclista]

I agree that with the distances you are riding now, the hybrid should be fine.
i rode many miles on my hybrid (including a double century) and some people tour the world with them. It looks like you have a decent enough bike for what you're doing.

sounds like you're on your way - i think it's grand!

[badgercat]

I think the problem may be that a hybrid does not put you in a very effecient riding position. Your position looks much too upright to me, so you are putting more pressure on your butt, and perhaps feet than you should be. Hybrids are not made for long distance riding, just slow jaunts around town. If you are enjoying cycling, maybe its time to upgrade to a road bike, with a professional fit.

True, maybe they're not designed for distance riding, but they can definitely work for it. I've done 50-mile rides on my hybrid and felt pretty good (and probably would have felt great if I had ditched the stock Bontrager saddle, which is a process I'm finally working on now ).

Having a road bike and getting it fitted to me would be lovely, but that's not anywhere in my budget right now... and besides, I like riding the bike I have. Perhaps the OP is in a similar boat.

[Cataboo]

(this is response to Heifzilla's comments we had good suggestions, some people posted while I was writing this & context was lost)

That's because we're all divas like you & have had lots of experience with various aches & pains... Wrist pain used to a limiting factor for my riding... Lots of upgrades later, I'm now mostly fine.

My bf & I both basically bought the same bike maybe in 2007? He's done minimal to his bike, while mine's been completely pimped out to suit me Basically the only thing that has been done to his bike is me saying "oh, look, I bought new handlebars that are gonna fix everything! Do you want my old pair of handlebars that were going to fix everything?"

However, it's nice that we don't appear to have the exact same bike anymore. Although, he thinks I'm ridiculous for how much I had to tweak when he's been absolutely fine.

[Heifzilla]

However, it's nice that we don't appear to have the exact same bike anymore. Although, he thinks I'm ridiculous for how much I had to tweak when he's been absolutely fine.

DH is the same exact way He is riding the same bike he bought in high school, a 1985 Schwinn World Sport, and is perfectly comfortable on it. No issues at all. He adds the cool stuff, like new panniers/bags, nifty tail lights...crap like that. And I am spending my money on ergonomic grips and stuff. He says I'm a prima donna, high maintenance as usual, always having to complain about something Well, ok, fine, but I try to explain to him that bikes in general are designed for *men*, not women. My bike is a 1998 model, it certainly is not a WSD, that's for sure. I think most men are lucky and never have issues, or just plain stupid and don't address the issues they have and just "deal with it" because that's the manly thing to do.

[Cataboo]

DH is the same exact way He is riding the same bike he bought in high school, a 1985 Schwinn World Sport, and is perfectly comfortable on it. No issues at all. He adds the cool stuff, like new panniers/bags, nifty tail lights...crap like that. And I am spending my money on ergonomic grips and stuff. He says I'm a prima donna, high maintenance as usual, always having to complain about something Well, ok, fine, but I try to explain to him that bikes in general are designed for *men*, not women. My bike is a 1998 model, it certainly is not a WSD, that's for sure. I think most men are lucky and never have issues, or just plain stupid and don't address the issues they have and just "deal with it" because that's the manly thing to do.

I basically learned to switch parts and do a lot of the maintenance myself so I didn't have to ask him to do it and listen to the spiel about it.

But once he realized that I'm riding more than he does, and that I stopped a lot of the complaining I had early on after getting things right, he mostly has shut up. He still teases me about it, but he does admit when he does get on my bikes that they are a lot more comfortable than his...

He's been ogling my handlebars that I just put on because they're really comfortable and ergonomic, but fully admits that he would never ever pay that much for handlebars. I'll pay it because it makes me happy... if I flare my wrists up cycling, that's a week or two that I'm going around with aching wrists constantly. And while the pain isn't something I can't deal with, it's not something I want to deal with.

I still get a fair amount of teasing from him about how much I've spent on all this stuff and how hard I am to please.

[Heifzilla]

He's been ogling my handlebars that I just put on because they're really comfortable and ergonomic, but fully admits that he would never ever pay that much for handlebars.

What type of handlebars did you get?

[Cataboo]

What type of handlebars did you get?

They're drop bars for my road bike, but they're these:

http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/135...-Handlebar.htm