bikes with short top tubes

I have been reading the bikefit series by velofitter. http://www.velofitter.com/blog/2011/5/2 ... ry-ma.html.

My bike, a genesis equilibrium runs a compact geometry, which to be honest I am not sure what it exactly means. However, what I do know is that I am not terribly comfortable on it (its my first road bike). I have changed stems from a 110mm. 6 deg rise, to a 100mm, 16 degree and am now on a 90mm, 40ish degree rise.

Oddly I am still not comfortable as which the latest stem has meant that I can actually fully grasp the hoods I have a minor lower back pain.

Essentially though, I probably need a higher head tube and a shorter top tube, but most of the modern bikes have quite the opposite.

Does anyone not make bikes that are more err, comfort orientated?

thanks

Colnago make more frame combination that you can shake a stick at. However, you do pay for that privilege.

Were you fitted properly when you bought your current bike? Something sounds badly wrong. There are some assumptions made by bike shops that are not always right for every customer.

As far as convention is concerned, I ride a frame that is too small for me (a 56), but as I have come to road bikes from mtb's, and also as I have a roadie fanatic for a son (who is the same build as me), when I bought my bike unseen from a forum member, I was pretty sure it would fit.

I have had a few shoulder, neck pains since I started riding it, but those are more down to me being unused to the riding position, rather than the bike being the wrong size.

How tall are you and what size is your bike?

sizing

I am just under 6ft and bought a 56. I went to 2 shops to get the size right, sigh

Doesn't sound like you're a million miles away, as I'm just over 6'1" and use a 110mm stem. The top tube on my Raleigh (and my sons Boardman ProC) is around 5650mm.

Have you visited Rivendell? They are fairly evangelical about poor bike fit and there is loads of good advice:


https://www.rivbike.com/kb_results.asp?cat=23

Check out their Roadeo bike.

hi there , the debate on lower back pain and cycling is an interesting one. Before i started cycling i had lower back pain which became chronic . Advice was given to do lots of swimming and to put a piece of plywood under my mattress and to visit osteopaths and such like . I had arthritis in my facet joints and swimming compress/s these but in cycling the opposit occurs, also i believe that most of the weight of the torso is taken by your arms hands on the bars. However in some cases even with correct fitting, forward flex will put stretch of muscle and ligaments and these may need time to grow, yes actually grow longer ,in a molecular form , which is what happens when you stretch your hamstrings regularly. After i got used to cycling for a while i got a " bio-racer" fit at evans Woking and adjusted all the heights of my bike accordingly , but i wasnt that far off anyway and the more i cycled the more forward i wanted to go! good luck and safe ones !

matthew71":1otdd3mc said:

NeilM":1otdd3mc said:

Doesn't sound like you're a million miles away, as I'm just over 6'1" and use a 110mm stem. The top tube on my Raleigh (and my sons Boardman ProC) is around 5650mm.[/quote


thats a big boardman at 5.65 meters, in old money thats 18ft 6 inches. you will never get a frame fitting pump for that neil

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Well, he's a tall lad.


Or possibly that was a senior typo moment (too used to site measurements, 565 does not look like a big enough number!)

Lower back can be caused by too higher seatpost.

If it is too high everytime you pedal you rock your hips on the seat (can also cause saddle soreness too), which in turn bends the lower back in to an S shape which alternates everytime you pedal = sore lower back?

If you can, get someone to ride behind and see how your back is behaving with regard to what I have mentioned it may shed a bit of light.

Also, to back up what has been said, riding more often = more flexibility to go lower and longer.
I currently think after a year on my daily bike I need to go 10mm longer in the stem and another 5mm down. Sounds nothing but makes a massive difference.

Much depends on the degree of flexibility and age of the rider. I too am just over 6' and ride a 56 cm C/C frame, but I can also comfortably ride up to 60 cm C/C frame and on my bikes that are 56 cm C/C, I generally only use teh drops in descents. Most of my other middle-aged friends of the same height do prefer to ride slightly taller bikes, even if they may have previously preferred smaller frames. Perhaps you might want to post a picture of your bike so that we can see the set-up and make some comments.