can i easily adjust the handlebar height?

[hero of valour]

i think i have a threadless system as it appears I have 3 rings under the stem which i am assuming can be completely removed in order to drop the height of the bars?....i use the drops pretty much all the time on my bike and i think it has something to do with the height of the hoods feeling too high and my body too upright....is it as simple as just removing some of the rings???...any advice would be much appreciated as always....

 

[hero of valour]

in addition to this i have a secteur comp and am suffering from a lot of back and neck strain...

 

[MattHB]

Is the stem flipped so its angled upwards? If sorting that out still makes the bars too high, remove the stem clamp and cap/bolt, take off the rings, put the stem back on (don't do it up), replace the rings so they're on the top, then put the cap on and tension the bolt so that you can still turn the bars but there's no slack. THEN do up the stem. I often loosen the cap bolt to finger tight when done to relieve pressure on the star bolt inside the fork.

 

[raindog]

OP, is that your bike in your avatar? If so, it looks as if the saddle is too low compared to your bars. Get your saddle height fixed, and the rest should drop into place - if it doesn't, then you might have the wrong frame size for your height.

 

[hero of valour]

Is the stem flipped so its angled upwards? If sorting that out still makes the bars too high, remove the stem clamp and cap/bolt, take off the rings, put the stem back on (don't do it up), replace the rings so they're on the top, then put the cap on and tension the bolt so that you can still turn the bars but there's no slack. THEN do up the stem. I often loosen the cap bolt to finger tight when done to relieve pressure on the star bolt inside the fork.

ok cheers...i'll take a look and see if i can do it myself...cheers

 

[hero of valour]

OP, is that your bike in your avatar? If so, it looks as if the saddle is too low compared to your bars. Get your saddle height fixed, and the rest should drop into place - if it doesn't, then you might have the wrong frame size for your height.

..oh no dont say that!....since that pic has been taken the saddle has been raised a tad....and I have dropped the bars at a lower angle...which has slightly raised the drops a little but makes the hoods too low and far away...i'm 6 foot and have a 58 inch frame so in theory it should be fine....i used to use a far smaller frame road bike (gift from family member) and remember thinking it was a huge bike when i test rode it but took this normal...i think im going to get a bike fit....

 

[raindog]

...i'm 6 foot and have a 58 inch frame so in theory it should be fine....

Yes, that should be perfect. The standard starting point for saddle height is - sit on the bike leaning against a wall, or a mate holding the bike upright, left pedal at 6.30 position - ie at the bottom of the stroke - and with the heel of your left leg on the pedal your leg should be straight, so that with the ball of your foot on the pedal your leg is slightly bent. Try that before you start moving the bars about.

 

[Cyclist33]

Hey. In your avatar the saddle looks quite far back. It could probably forward a centimetre at a time and see if that helps.

If theres a deeper, semi conical ring at the bottom of the steerer stack, don't remove that, I think it contains part of the head set. When you put the stem/bars back on after switching the rings over, make sure there's no play in the fork where the top of the fork meets the bottom of the head set. I usually lean firmly on the handlebar while putting the top cap back on the steerer. It's often a bit of trial and error.