Skip to main content
clarification on lenght with regard to position
Source Link
gschenk
  • 9.8k
  • 2
  • 41
  • 61

Some observations:

  • Your bars are probably too wide for you. The way your wrist roll inward indicate this. This leads to numbness in your nerves, ulnar squeezing, and shoulder pain as you might hunch your shoulders. The trend is to make gravel bars very wide to help with leverage with big tyres in heavy terrain. Most gravel riders though have lighter tyres (like your panaracers) and ride on easy gravel. Bars should be chosen like on an endurance bike. Never wider than your shoulders.

  • yourYour bike is too long for the relaxed position in your photo (45 degree upright). You have a very short stem, but your arms are still stretched out too much. You can see that very well at your shoulders that are very much hunched. You also seem to have moved your saddle forward. This makes handling worse (too much weight forward) and puts much more force on your hands. This is not easy to fix since you already have a very short stem. Maybe the bike frame is just too long. You could get bars with less reach, yours seem to be quite long (distance hoods to tops). By getting lower you also get more reach. By straightening your shoulders this might even reduce shoulder pain a bit. However, you need more core strength and most likely do not have enough power to lift you up. In effect you'd be in a permanent plank and will get arm fatigue and pain.

  • Most likely people will tell you your saddle is too low. Ignore them, it's an old knee jerk reflex to advise increasing saddle height. Have someone cycle behind you and let them watch for (a) your hips rolling from side to side (b) you sitting slightly askew on the saddle to get your shorter leg closer to the pedal. If any of that happens lower your saddle. Otherwise you are fine. In case you want to increase your saddle height do it in very small increments, have someone do the previous check, ride a bit and check again.

Some observations:

  • Your bars are probably too wide for you. The way your wrist roll inward indicate this. This leads to numbness in your nerves, ulnar squeezing, and shoulder pain as you might hunch your shoulders. The trend is to make gravel bars very wide to help with leverage with big tyres in heavy terrain. Most gravel riders though have lighter tyres (like your panaracers) and ride on easy gravel. Bars should be chosen like on an endurance bike. Never wider than your shoulders.

  • your bike is too long. You have a very short stem, but your arms are still stretched out too much. You can see that very well at your shoulders that are very much hunched. You also seem to have moved your saddle forward. This makes handling worse (too much weight forward) and puts much more force on your hands. This is not easy to fix since you already have a very short stem. Maybe the bike frame is just too long. You could get bars with less reach, yours seem to be quite long (distance hoods to tops). By getting lower you also get more reach. By straightening your shoulders this might even reduce shoulder pain a bit. However, you need more core strength and most likely do not have enough power to lift you up. In effect you'd be in a permanent plank and will get arm fatigue and pain.

  • Most likely people will tell you your saddle is too low. Ignore them, it's an old knee jerk reflex to advise increasing saddle height. Have someone cycle behind you and let them watch for (a) your hips rolling from side to side (b) you sitting slightly askew on the saddle to get your shorter leg closer to the pedal. If any of that happens lower your saddle. Otherwise you are fine. In case you want to increase your saddle height do it in very small increments, have someone do the previous check, ride a bit and check again.

Some observations:

  • Your bars are probably too wide for you. The way your wrist roll inward indicate this. This leads to numbness in your nerves, ulnar squeezing, and shoulder pain as you might hunch your shoulders. The trend is to make gravel bars very wide to help with leverage with big tyres in heavy terrain. Most gravel riders though have lighter tyres (like your panaracers) and ride on easy gravel. Bars should be chosen like on an endurance bike. Never wider than your shoulders.

  • Your bike is too long for the relaxed position in your photo (45 degree upright). You have a very short stem, but your arms are still stretched out too much. You can see that very well at your shoulders that are very much hunched. You also seem to have moved your saddle forward. This makes handling worse (too much weight forward) and puts much more force on your hands. This is not easy to fix since you already have a very short stem. Maybe the bike frame is just too long. You could get bars with less reach, yours seem to be quite long (distance hoods to tops). By getting lower you also get more reach. By straightening your shoulders this might even reduce shoulder pain a bit. However, you need more core strength and most likely do not have enough power to lift you up. In effect you'd be in a permanent plank and will get arm fatigue and pain.

  • Most likely people will tell you your saddle is too low. Ignore them, it's an old knee jerk reflex to advise increasing saddle height. Have someone cycle behind you and let them watch for (a) your hips rolling from side to side (b) you sitting slightly askew on the saddle to get your shorter leg closer to the pedal. If any of that happens lower your saddle. Otherwise you are fine. In case you want to increase your saddle height do it in very small increments, have someone do the previous check, ride a bit and check again.

Source Link
gschenk
  • 9.8k
  • 2
  • 41
  • 61

Some observations:

  • Your bars are probably too wide for you. The way your wrist roll inward indicate this. This leads to numbness in your nerves, ulnar squeezing, and shoulder pain as you might hunch your shoulders. The trend is to make gravel bars very wide to help with leverage with big tyres in heavy terrain. Most gravel riders though have lighter tyres (like your panaracers) and ride on easy gravel. Bars should be chosen like on an endurance bike. Never wider than your shoulders.

  • your bike is too long. You have a very short stem, but your arms are still stretched out too much. You can see that very well at your shoulders that are very much hunched. You also seem to have moved your saddle forward. This makes handling worse (too much weight forward) and puts much more force on your hands. This is not easy to fix since you already have a very short stem. Maybe the bike frame is just too long. You could get bars with less reach, yours seem to be quite long (distance hoods to tops). By getting lower you also get more reach. By straightening your shoulders this might even reduce shoulder pain a bit. However, you need more core strength and most likely do not have enough power to lift you up. In effect you'd be in a permanent plank and will get arm fatigue and pain.

  • Most likely people will tell you your saddle is too low. Ignore them, it's an old knee jerk reflex to advise increasing saddle height. Have someone cycle behind you and let them watch for (a) your hips rolling from side to side (b) you sitting slightly askew on the saddle to get your shorter leg closer to the pedal. If any of that happens lower your saddle. Otherwise you are fine. In case you want to increase your saddle height do it in very small increments, have someone do the previous check, ride a bit and check again.