New to cycling - Questions

[ZenSojourner]

Too many new bike riders start tweaking their bikes immediately after their first one or two rides, for every little achey muscle, and then later they wind up having to tweak all over again undoing what they did...only by that time they can't remember half the gazillion changes they made to their bike.

There's an element of truth to this, but I myself have left a bike shop with a bike that wasn't properly adjusted and no amount of waiting to get used to it will solve that problem.

So not so much tweaking, but checking to make sure things are positioned properly is an important thing to do with a new bike. If you check

seat level
seat fore-aft position
seat height (may have forgot to mention that in my other post)
handlebar height
(last resort) stem length

You should ride for awhile with all those things properly adjusted before trying any actual tweaking or replacement of parts (such as the stem or the saddle).

Varying from the standard positions is tweaking (I guess I used the term tweaking in my other post when I shouldn't have), but you need to make sure things are IN standard positions before you decide where they OUGHT to be.

[seychelle]

Just wanted to say thanks to you both for your responses. I'm going to read and digest what you've posted before asking any more questions. Anyone else that wants to chime in, please do!

And to answer BleeckerSt_Girl's question, it was a mix of procrastination, health issues. I had forgotten I had this account (not that that stopped me from getting a bike).

Addendum: I'm 45 and I used to run. I randomly run now on account of foot injuries and when I do it has to be on a TM. That bores me to death, so I am not very consistent with it.

Regarding the seat, I questioned it at the bike shop because it looks very "male like" to me and the guy said to give it a try first and see how it felt after a while. I could change it out later if needed. I'm just sore in the boney area in spite of my ample natural padding.


Yet another question (without having read all the links, etc). Shouldn't the bike shop guy have done all the measuring/adjusting ZenSojourner mentioned? Hmmm.

[canonsue]

I am also a new rider so my take and experience with the saddle is that it takes some seat-time to toughen things up. I figure a little soreness near the seat bones is normal.

-Sue

[tctrek]

It's normal to be a little sore between the shoulders or on your butt or other areas after a long ride or a hard ride, but it's really not good for the bike to feel uncomfortable during the entire ride or on shorter, less strenuous rides. Saddles are a crazy thing.. what works for one person might not for someone else and we each need to find what works for our anatomy. So listen to your body and if something hurts from the git-go, it probably needs some sort of adjustment.

[ZenSojourner]

Yet another question (without having read all the links, etc). Shouldn't the bike shop guy have done all the measuring/adjusting ZenSojourner mentioned? Hmmm.

Yes, they should have, but they almost never do, especially for women. They should have put the bike on the trainer and you on the bike at the very least, and done all this adjusting with levels and plumb bobs calipers and what not.

There are actually special not-bikes that are just for fitting (do they still have the Fit Kit?), someone specially trained in their use puts you on this thing that isn't really a bike, but IS set up to take all sorts of measurements and angles and what-not so you can figure out what kind of bike geometry fits you best (as opposed to trying to make you fit the bike they have on the floor to sell to you).

This usually costs money, on the order of $150 10 or 15 years ago, it may be more now.

But at the least, bike on the trainer, you on the bike, bike tech with a level and a plumb bob adjusting everything to standard if not optimal settings/positions. That's why I say you need to check this because in my experience, noobs buying a bike almost never get this done because they don't know to ask for it and most sales guys either don't care or they don't know how to do it. Or both. Especially with that steep seat tube angle, seat height and position (and level) is really important.

The last time I went through this with a new bike, I ended up having to take the bike to a different store than where I bought it to get it fitted. NOTHING was in the right place because the first shop had just eyeballed it and called it good. Heck, they hadn't even installed my brakes properly! They came loose and were flopping around 2 miles into my first ride.

Once things were adjusted to "standard", I could ride around on it and see where changes might be needed, it only had to be "tweaked" once, then I had to go back when I replaced the seat. But that was it, just get it into "standard" shape and you probably won't have to tweak much.

Well, dang, you won't have to tweak much if the bike fits you pretty well. If it doesn't you could be tweaking for awhile, but you won't know that until you get all the adjustments set up properly.

You said you didn't get what you expected - what did you go into the bike shop looking for, and why did you not end up with that?

Just wondering, not to pry.

[aicabsolut]

They should have done a basic fit, but for someone new to the sport, it is common to just have things set up how you generally feel comfortable tooling around the parking lot. This is because where you feel safe or confident may be an awkward (physically) position. There are also plenty of things you won't realize about your fit needs until you've been riding for a while. So, I would expect that you may want to adapt your fit quite a bit over the next few months.

When I was new, I was set up with a very relaxed fit. Raised stem, which put my saddle a bit far back and low.

I got a lot of stiffness in my neck and shoulders, even though I naturally have a relaxed posture with a fair amount of elbow bend. Turns out that my reach was too short for my proportions and flexibility, and by lowering the stem a ton (thereby increasing my reach), the neck issue went away. I also enjoyed better handling and was able to move my saddle into a position where i could generate more power overall...at least eventually.

Over the years, I've dropped the stem even more, and I've moved to a more aggressive bike. I got some neck tension with my last change (indicating I may have gone too far), but I adapted. It wasn't that big of a change. Now riding the older bike, the reach feels so short (with less than 2cm difference).

I would go ask them to do a basic fit for you. Keep in mind that this will very likely not be your last fit for very long. Before you play around too much, though, spend some time on the bike, pay attention to your body, and read up on various bike fit theories.

[cylegoddess]

A lady asked Lance Armstrong , Mr Armstrong I just bought a bike and gee, my rear end really hurts! When does it stop?
Lance, being Lance said - Lady my a@@ hurts all the time!!

I love that!