Handlebar adjustment

[mimitabby]

Hey CAS, where do you live? I have a girlfriend in Piacenza who also rides.

You have a very common problem for women. We have long legs compared to our arms and torsos, so we are given bikes that are too big for us. We have the same problem here and if you keep reading, you will find dozens of us here on TE who are experiencing exactly what you are experiencing.

What i found that might help you in Italy is that they do have some smaller bikes that fit women, you just have to look for them. While it's true that you can adjust your own bike somewhat, if you go too far, your bike will not handle as well for you.

Good luck and welcome to TE?

[CAS29]

I live about an hour north of Piacenza - much closer to Milan....
Is your friend American or Italian (just curious.. I'm Canadian myself).

I do have long legs -but I am also quite long waisted... I think my arms are a normal length, but I'm definitely on generic-more-suited-to-a-man bike. My husband has exactly the same model but if you put them side by side mine actually looks quite a bit taller. (I'm just shy of 5'8" and he is just a little shorter).
At first I thought my problem was simply that I wasn't used to leaning forward - and that is true - I wasn't... but even though I am inconsistent with my riding and am now used to how the bike feels I still have what I consider far too much pain when I ride. I'm hoping this new bar helps and if it does I may look into switching bikes in the future... not this year though.

I am going to start doing more looking around to get an idea of which shops are more helpful and who in my area really knows what they are talking about.

Thanks for the welcome!