Just can't get comfy.. Considering giving up drop bars

[Kathi]

Have any of you decided to give up drop bars because of riding comfort - or lack there of? I've been through 3 bikes and dozen of saddles (and spent thousands of $$$$), but I can't seem to get comfortable in a leaning forward position. The problem always comes back to the saddle area.

If I raise the seat up high enough to get full leg extension and no knee pain, the saddle (ANY saddle!) is doing one of these 3 things depending on how it's adjusted:

A)chafing away at the front of me
B)jammed up into the tops of my thighs
C) nose down in front, but pushing into sit-bones causing my piriformis muscle to cramp and sciatic pain.

If I lower the saddle enough so it doesn't offend anything "up there", my right knee hurts - and I ride flat pedals, so it can't be foot position related.

I have tried stem lengths of 70mm-90mm - my bars are FSA compact wing pro 38cm, my bike is a LHT size 50cm. I am 5'5" 135lb long legs and shorter but not super short arms. Raising the drops so they are higher than the saddle just feels plain weird, and doesn't seem like a long term solution.

DH and I are getting sick of the never ending swapping of saddles, seatposts stems, etc. and the associated $$$! His last comment was "just get rid of the drop bars and ride upright!" My concern is that upright is not an efficient way to travel for 40+ miles and at speeds of 14-15mph.

Have any of you made the switch from drops to say... trekking or butterfly bars? Or from drops to upright? How did it affect your riding style? Distance? Speed?

Are your handlebars currently higher than your saddle now? I have short arms, that was the major stickler to all my fit issues for years until I saw a good bike fitter. On both my custom and stock bikes, including my mtn bike, my handlebars and saddle are the same height. That setting puts me in a perfect neutral position, solved saddle, shoulder and numb hand issues. Before that I was way too low and when I rode in my drops my thighs would hit my ribs.

Due to undiagnosed SI joint issues my fitter raised my handlebars and I absolutely hated it. I couldn't get comfortable, didn't help the SI joint issues and so we went back to my normal position.

Whenever I have an ache on my bike I check my body position. Usually my shoulders have moved up to my ears, my foot is pushed forward in my shoe, etc. I rode past a woman yesterday whose handlebars were very high. She had her shoulders pushed up to her ears, her elbows out away from her body and her back was twisted at an odd angle. The bike was a comfort bike but she definitely was not comfortable. Even on a comfort bike a good fitting would have helped her alot.

I checked the head tube length of the Ruby. It is longer than the LHT head tube. Head tube length was my reason for building a custom frame. None of the stock frames had enough head tube length to accomodate my short arms. Maybe that's why the Ruby felt more comfortable?