Bad Neck & Bike Set-up

[JPBoothy]

I have tried many off the peg drop-bar bikes over the years but had always ended up returning to my trusty flat-bar road bike as result of the neck pain I was experiencing. However, as my annual mileage increased the advantages of a drop-bar bike still seemed to be the way to go. After discussing my past problems with different cyclists and retailers the consensus of opinion was that I was simply not giving myself enough time to adjust to riding a drop-bar before reverting back to my old flat-bar. It was also suggested that a more upright Cross/Sportif bike may be more suitable rathet than an aggressive Race bike. Taking this advice on board I purchased a Cannondale CAADX from Evans and have ridden it regularly for the past two years in an attempt to allow myself to'adjust'.. The pain is now worse, despite changing my stem, seat position etc. This time I feel as if I am over reaching, and so it has been suggested that rather than continuing with the expensive trial and error process that it may be better to get a proper bike fitting by somebody other than the salesman eager to shift his particular brand of bikes. Sorry to waffle on folks, but your experience and knowledge would be much appreciated.

 

[mickle]

Anywhere near York? I'll fix you.

 

[Sharky]

Hi,
If you are comfortable on the flat bar bike, then there is no reason why you can't achieve a very similar position on the road bike. Get a good metre rule and start measuring.
The saddle should be at exactly the same height and position to the bottom bracket, assuming the cranks are the same length.
The "tops" of the drops again should be very close to where the flat bars are relative to the saddle and bottom bracket. So riding on the tops or on the brake hoods should give you a very similar riding position as your flat bike and this should reassure you and you should be as comfortable as your flat bike.

Now riding on the drops will be different and could cause discomfort and would for me, but I ride for most of the time on the hoods. I use the drops for controllability when descending or cornering and is not a regular position.

If your drops are standard drops, then consider "compact" drops. these are very much more comfortable and what I now have on my bikes.

Good luck
Keith

 

[screenman]

Do you stretch daily? But I would certainly advise a bike fit.

 

[Katherine]

Neck stretching and strengthening exercises have helped me stay down in the drops. I do them in my Pilates class. I can't recommend Pilates enough. When your core is stronger, you put less pressure and weight on your hands and your shoulders are more relaxed. If your arms are tense and around your shoulders, you will get neck pain.
Good luck.

 

[JPBoothy]

Anywhere near York? I'll fix you.

Unfortunately not, I'm a few miles from your Roman friends in Chester. Another hinderance is that I wear Glasses which tend to make you crane your neck even more. Thanks for your offer.

 

[vickster]

I think there's a well regarded bike fitting service at the Manchester Velodrome if you Google. Probably around £150 so definitely worth trying before getting a new bike, and you can use the data to inform any future bike purchases

Have you tried shortening and/or flipping the stem, getting a more angled stem, adding some spacers to raise the headset? All assuming the bike is the right side to start with - if over reaching that could be your issue - too big and too low, wrong width bars too

Have you seen a physiotherapist to check all the biomechanics are in order as a first step (after stretching etc). Do only get neck pain while cycling? If not, I'd see a physio before a bike fitter. There are also physios who specialise in fixing broken cyclists and will look at fit, posture on the bike etc so could kill two birds with one stone (the velodrome fitters may also have a physio background rather than having done a bike fitting course)

 

[JPBoothy]

Thanks for your advice, it really is appreciated. I would say that my current Cannondale CAADX is definitely too big for me as I have almost no seat post showing, the TT is touching my bits when standing over it, and I have had to push the seat so far forward that it looks ridiculous. I have also changed to a shorter stem but the hoods are still a bit of a stretch. I am annoyed that Evans (Liverpool) just gave me what I 'thought' was the right size without offering any advice at all. I like drop bar bikes and want to find a suitable one but I just don't trust the advice on offer from some of the larger bike shops that employ staff that don't even ride themselves. I have seen a Physio and an Osteopath but as they weren't cyclists themselves perhaps they were not the right people for the job.. I have seen a second-hand Ridley cross bike for sale which I am told will have a much shorter TT than the Cannondale. Have you any experience with Ridleys?

 

[Erudin]

If your steerer is not carbon try experimenting with a steerer extender and a poker chip stack of headset spacers to raise your bar height. Raising the bars should also lessen the reach.

I like raising the drops high monstercross-style on the bikes I ride off-road, setting the drops height to where the hoods height is on my road only bikes. The BBB BHP-20/21 Stem Extender is good as it's hidden and can be adjusted by removing some of the shims.

 

[vickster]

How tall and what size bike. It sounds like cutting your losses and selling the caad and then heading off to a local independent shop is the way to go. Before do plenty of reading around how to choose the right size bike and get a test ride. I'm surprised you didn't pick up any discomfort when you took the Evans bike out. I assume you did as that's their key usp

 

[JPBoothy]

You're right mate, and as they say - hindsight is a wonderful thing.. I have read about shops letting you have test rides but have never found one yet. I have thought of selling my bike but despite it being immaculate it gauls me to know that you just get next to nothing for them.

 

[vickster]

You're right mate, and as they say - hindsight is a wonderful thing.. I have read about shops letting you have test rides but have never found one yet. I have thought of selling my bike but despite it being immaculate it gauls me to know that you just get next to nothing for them.

Evans offer testrides - 1p on a bank card and photo ID, take it away for as long as you want in my experience. Hence my asking the question

You should get 50-60% back at least on the bike if it's in good condition (assuming it's not now available for a similar price new which if it's a year or two old it may unfortunately be). Losing on selling the bike will potentially cost you less in bike fits and physio in the long run and you'll have comfortable, enjoyable cycle rides You'll do better selling on eBay probably but their fees are high (Gumtree, or the classifieds on here are free but your audience is more restricted)

I've seen this shop mentioned on here http://www.pictoncycles.co.uk/ , also http://quinncycles.co.uk/

How short a stem have you tried - you can go too short/ Also, CX have high bottom brackets so it seems to be likely that TT clearance

Be really careful have a saddle to far forwards, keep within the limit marking on the rails or it could go horribly wrong if they snap!

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Maybe fit a shorter BMX style stem or a hybrid type adjustable riser one to enable you to be more sat up, also consider fitting some cross top (aka frog leg) brake levers to enable you to manage more manouvres without having to resort to the drops.

 

[Arrowfoot]

Thanks for your advice, it really is appreciated. I would say that my current Cannondale CAADX is definitely too big for me as I have almost no seat post showing, the TT is touching my bits when standing over it, and I have had to push the seat so far forward that it looks ridiculous. I have also changed to a shorter stem but the hoods are still a bit of a stretch. I am annoyed that Evans (Liverpool) just gave me what I 'thought' was the right size without offering any advice at all. I like drop bar bikes and want to find a suitable one but I just don't trust the advice on offer from some of the larger bike shops that employ staff that don't even ride themselves. I have seen a Physio and an Osteopath but as they weren't cyclists themselves perhaps they were not the right people for the job.. I have seen a second-hand Ridley cross bike for sale which I am told will have a much shorter TT than the Cannondale. Have you any experience with Ridleys?

This post does help isolate the problem. Sell the bike. If you pick a bike you like, come back here and tell us your height, inseam, tall body or short body etc and we can sort of give you a size indication. You can then go back and try a bike with the right frame size. I don't there is anything wrong with you, just got the wrong bike size.

 

[vickster]

I have seen a second-hand Ridley cross bike for sale which I am told will have a much shorter TT than the Cannondale. Have you any experience with Ridleys?

Presumably because it's a smaller bike? Ridley come up on the larger side, a bit like Cannondale in terms of how they are measured, so make sure you ride or at least sit on it after adjustment

@Elybazza61 is a Ridley fan (albeit roadbikes rather than CX I think)