How does my bike fit me?

[Heifzilla]

Here are some pictures of me riding my bike. Can you guys take a look and see any issues that I need to work on (other than my weight ). I am having the following issues: hand numbness and foot numbness. I just switched out my grips to Ergons but having had a chance to do a ride with them yet.

Anyway, this is an 18" sport comfort bike. Top tube is 20". I am 5' 5" and I have a 29.5" inseam.

This picture was with a nice tailwind:


The rest of these were with a stiff headwind. I included so many so you guys could see how my feet were when I pedal.






Thanks for any suggestions or comments. I am really trying to figure out how to make riding more comfortable, and my LBS is pretty useless (I live in BFI so not much to choose from around here).

[Biciclista]

i'm no expert, but you look really comfortable and happy!

perhaps you are gripping too hard? Do you move your hands around (you should) or are they always in exactly the same place?

relax. Take one hand off the handlebars. put it back. now try the other.
more wise people will follow me, but i think you look great!

[grey]

I also think you look happy! I'll second the advice of changing your grip, shake out your hands once in a while, ride with one hand for a while, then the other, then both, etc.
Enjoy! Pretty bike!

[NbyNW]

Are you putting a lot of weight on your hands/gripping tightly?

I'm no expert either, but I do have experiences to share: Way back when I used to borrow bikes that were always too big for me, I found that it would help take a lot of strain off of my hands and shoulders if I thought about keeping the weight off my hands. You want just enough weight on your hands to balance and steer. The rest of your upper body should be supported by your core -- your abs and your back muscles. So I would kind of pull in my stomach, like trying to get on a tight pair of pants, but not so much that I couldn't still breathe comfortably.

Maybe try doing a search about foot numbness -- I think there have been other threads about that.

[Becky]

Overall, your fit looks good to me, and you look happy- those most important part

I will offer one cautionary bit of advice on the Ergon grips. They take a while to get lined up right with the meaty part of your palm (where the ulnar nerve is). Be patient with them, make lots of tiny adjustments, and mark their position on the handlebar when you find the perfect set up!

I have them on my MTB and love them! It just took a good while to get them figured out. Once I got them set, I actually painted a small line from the handlebar, across the shifter and brake clamps, and onto the grip clamp so that I can re-align things if I ever need to.

[txred9876]

I was having numb toes and my coach suggested a few things, which helped: I made sure my shoes were not to tight around (just beind my toes), reminded me to make sure I didn't point my toes and also reminded me to wiggle my toes while I was riding.

I am just a newby but these things fixed my toe issues!

Tina

[Cataboo]

I try to make sure my wrists don't bend back towards me when I'm riding - so I move the shifters kinda so that they are pointing down towards the front bike wheel... it keeps my wrists in sort of a neutral straight position... If you're bending your wrists you can aggravate things and make things go numb. Move your hands around, and keep the weight off your wrists as much as possible.

You already look pretty upright.

[indysteel]

Are you wearing gloves? That might help with your hands.

I really don't otherwise feel qualified to weigh in on your fit. I'm much more familiar with how a road bike is supposed to fit; not a hybrid or MTB.

[Nokomis]

Foot numbness doesn't look likely with those shoes, unless they're pinching & tight by the end of your ride.

I'd suggest a pair of fingerless gloves and exploring a different saddle ~ the numbing could be a bloodflow symptom from an ill fitting saddle. (too narrow, too soft, too rounded...)

[canonsue]

I also have a problem with foot numbness. It does not matter which bike I ride. I have taken the advice I found here about wiggling toes, etc.

-Sue

[Cataboo]

If you're using gloves & they've got gel padding in the palm... sometimes that can exacerbate hand numbness. I had to rip the padding out of mine, because they were making hand numbness worse.

You can swap your handlebars for ones that curve back towards you and have more hand positions... Look at maybe the mustache handlebars or the cruiser ones... Make sure they're ones that say they will take mountain bike shifters (the bar end shifter only ones are too thick for your mountain shifters to slide on to) ... they'll give you more hand positions to use. Soma makes some nice ones, or you can look on velo orange. then there's the nitto bars as well.

[indysteel]

If you're using gloves & they've got gel padding in the palm... sometimes that can exacerbate hand numbness. I had to rip the padding out of mine, because they were making hand numbness worse.

You can swap your handlebars for ones that curve back towards you and have more hand positions... Look at maybe the mustache handlebars or the cruiser ones... Make sure they're ones that say they will take mountain bike shifters (the bar end shifter only ones are too thick for your mountain shifters to slide on to) ... they'll give you more hand positions to use. Soma makes some nice ones, or you can look on velo orange. then there's the nitto bars as well.

True, about padded gloves. It helps to just try different things.

[spokewench]

You could try a few different things. You have a really short reach on your bike right now, which is probably fine for your weight, the time you have been riding, etc. For hand numbness, you can try different gloves, add bar ends to the end of your bars which will give you a different hand position so that you can switch out your hand positions when you are riding and that will help your hands. Usually, foot numbness is caused by shoes that are too tight. If you are wearing a heavy sock, try a thinner sock and see how that works for you. Try Loosening the fasteners on your shoes whether they are velcro or shoe strings. I could not tell what kind of pedals you have, but foot numbness can also be helped by using a pedal with more of a platform vs. a small platform for your foot to sit on. That is something you can change out if you find nothing else works.

spoke

[VeloVT]

Are you wearing gloves? That might help with your hands.

I really don't otherwise feel qualified to weigh in on your fit. I'm much more familiar with how a road bike is supposed to fit; not a hybrid or MTB.

I'm basically with Indy, I don't have much knowledge about how hybrids are supposed to look.

But, two things that occur to me (and others can feel free to jump in and tell me I'm wrong ):

1-- looks like you could maybe raise your seat a hair? if I'm right about that, it will feel more efficient and who knows, maybe it could help with the foot numbness. also to my eye (which is not highly trained), you look a bit far forward from a KOPS perspective, so moving the seat back might not hurt either. (remember that height and setback offset each other though, so if you move up, move forward a little, or back less than you would have. maybe a clearer way of explaining it: if your seat is at the correct height for your position and you decide to move it back, you will also want to lower it a hair. if your seat is a little low already, and you move it back, you might still want to raise it, but less than you would have).

2 -- In another thread Oakleaf said something about longer stems sometimes helping to relieve wrist pain... again, I don't know anything about hybrid fit really, but just at a glance it looks like your wrists are bent a bit. I wonder if a stem with less rise that put you out a bit further might not put your wrists in a more neutral position. It's a toss-up, because that will also tend to put a bit more weight on your hands, which could exacerbate the problem... but it might be worth a try. This may be because I'm used to looking at road bikes, but the cockpit looks a bit cramped, and more space might actually increase your comfort.

A related question I had looking at your picture is the following: how does it feel when you stand to pedal? Do you feel unstable or like you're hanging out too far over your front axle? If so, a longer stem might help.

[Biciclista]

re Liza's post, how about a photo of you with your close leg fully extended?