Handlebar Height on Hybrid / MTB

[Hip Priest]

I'm new to cycling. For the first couple of weeks of my commute all my weight was on my rear, giving me a sore backside. But then I learned the correct seating position (slight bend in the knee at pedal's lowest position), raised my seat, and 'hey presto!' no more sore backside and no sore knees. However, I now have sore shoulders and neck, and if I ride for a long enough period (30-45 minutes) without stopping, I get pins and needles in my hands. I understand this might be because my handlebars are too low. The thing is, I don't think it's possible to raise the bars. Short of buying a better-fitting bike, how can I resolve this? Is it easy to replace the stem so I can raise the bars?

 

[Hip Priest]

This is the bike, by the way: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_762351_langId_-1_categoryId_165499

I've looked at stems, steerer extenders...etc I'm a bit lost.

 

[cyberknight]

get some bar ends to give yourself more hand positions , holding the same position will be tiring.

I used to have my bar ends set at an angle and hold them like i was riding a road bike like ...(not me )His position is not right ( i would say ) but you get the idea.

http://www.halfords....0151&langId=-1.

Without seeing a photo of you on the bike it is really hard to judge your position.

 

[Hip Priest]

get some bar ends to give yourself more hand positions , holding the same position will be tiring.

I used to have my bar ends set at an angle and hold them like i was riding a road bike like ...(not me )

http://www.halfords....0151&langId=-1.

Without seeing a photo of you on the bike it is really hard to judge your position.

Cheers mate, I'd not considered bar ends.

Will take a photo of myself in position later and post it up.

 

[henshaw11]

You can get stems built with differing amounts or rise (or drop/fall, if you invert the stem). Likewise bars with different amount of rise/upsweep (in fact, years ago mtb bars were all flat)

When your hands are on the bars, keep the backs of the hands in line with the forearm - don't 'sink' into you wrists, bending them back - and also have a little bit of bend in your elbows so your arms support you, but aren't rigid.

Yup, bar ends may well help - one position I often cycle in (or used to, I've been riding a recumbent for most of the last few years) - is with my hands more over the ends of the bars, as if there's some bar ends there.

 

[henshaw11]

You can get stems built with differing amounts or rise (or drop/fall, if you invert the stem). Likewise bars with different amount of rise/upsweep (in fact, years ago mtb bars were all flat)

When your hands are on the bars, keep the backs of the hands in line with the forearm - don't 'sink' into you wrists, bending them back - and also have a little bit of bend in your elbows so your arms support you, but aren't rigid.

Yup, bar ends may well help - one position I often cycle in (or used to, I've been riding a recumbent for most of the last few years) - is with my hands more over the ends of the bars, as if there's some bar ends there.

 

[Cubist]

I'm new to cycling. For the first couple of weeks of my commute all my weight was on my rear, giving me a sore backside. But then I learned the correct seating position (slight bend in the knee at pedal's lowest position), raised my seat, and 'hey presto!' no more sore backside and no sore knees. However, I now have sore shoulders and neck, and if I ride for a long enough period (30-45 minutes) without stopping, I get pins and needles in my hands. I understand this might be because my handlebars are too low. The thing is, I don't think it's possible to raise the bars. Short of buying a better-fitting bike, how can I resolve this? Is it easy to replace the stem so I can raise the bars?

The quickest answer is, Yes, it's easy to change the stem, but before you do make sure your bar clamp is at the top of the steerer stack. If there are any spacers between the top cap and the stem clamp, then undo the top cap, then loosen the clamp bolts, slide the spacer/s off, then the stem clamp. Replace the spacers first, then the clamp.

You'll need to carefully reset the bearing load with the top bolt. To do this spin the cap bolt in finger tight, then half a turn at a time tighten the bolt with an allen key, feeling how the bearings are running as you do. The head should turn smoothly without being notchy. Then align and tighten the stem clamp, then add a quarter turn to the top cap to make sure it stays in place.

Are they riser bars? Could you rotate them in the bar clamp to give a raised hold position? You'll need to move the brake and gear levers into a hand-friendly position if you do rotate the bars.

Last resort, yes, you can get angled stems, of varying lengths. Check On_One or Planet X websites, they had a sale on their Forged 3D stems which have varying angles and lengths.

 

[cyberknight]

If the handle bars are set up as in the picture from the website they are already flipped .

 

[abo]

Dunno if you're already got this sorted but I have a set of riser bars and stem I was going to use on my old bike, but I'm not going to put on the new one:

Bar: 600mm width, 50mm rise, can't remember what the backsweep is
Stem: 70mm length, 15 degree angle

Unused, yours for a tenner plus a couple of quid postage

 

[Hip Priest]

Dunno if you're already got this sorted but I have a set of riser bars and stem I was going to use on my old bike, but I'm not going to put on the new one:

Bar: 600mm width, 50mm rise, can't remember what the backsweep is
Stem: 70mm length, 15 degree angle

Unused, yours for a tenner plus a couple of quid postage

Thanks for the offer mate (and to everyone for there advice). I ended up getting an adjustable stem which has improved things somewhat. I'm told the bike, at 20", is not ideal for me at 6'2. I'll just have to ensure I get fitted properly when I upgrade.

 

[NormanD]

I have some spare stuff you can have for free HP .. bar ends that I'll never use as well as other stuff, if you want them let me know

 

[abo]

Cool, let me know what the stem is like.

I'm 6' 2 as well and on a 20" frame. From what I read it would be a judgement call on whether to go a size up. I think it looks sportier with the seat up high but if I was doing a long daily commute on a hybrid I think I'd go for a bigger frame and higher bar position.

 

[2Loose]

Conversely, on my last flat bar bike I found that adopting a slightly lower front end position - seat back a little, stem down a spacer - meant that my back took a little more of the weight off my hands and I stopped leaning on the bars as much. This alleviated my numb hand problem.

A change of hand position will also help when things start to get numb so I had some very short bar ends added for when numbness started to set in...which it never did. They did allow me to get into a racier position and out of the wind a little however, so well worth a purchase all the same.

 

[billflat12]

I used an adjustable stem with ergon bar-end grips on a c2c last year . defiantly made long hours in the saddle more comfortable. Would recommend padded shorts for an upright position though.

 

[MacB]

you're going about it the right way, sorting saddle then moving forwards to the bars, but you should be absolutely certain the saddle is right, or very close, first. There are two bits to get right, the height and the setback, that's how far back/forward the saddle is on its rails and is normally measured from the saddle nose to an imaginary vertical line through the centre of the bottom bracket. The easy way to measure it is to have the bike upright with the back wheel touching a vertical surface, wall or door. Then measure from wall to nose of saddle and wall to centre of BB and subtract the first from the second. If you get a friend to help with personal measurements as well and put your stats in here:-

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=FIT_CALCULATOR_INTRO&INTRO_LINK=NOREDIR

I've found that they give a very good starting point, fine tuning may still be needed, close enough to be able to make sure you have the right parts, ie seatpost/saddle combo to get correct setback and stem length. Remember that as you move a saddle back you need to lower it to maintain the same distance to the pedals and vice versa. If you try standing straight and bending forward from the waist, you'll notice your butt moves backward. If your saddle setback isn't right then your upper body will be doing more work to compensate.