scary wobbly ride on new bike!

[Zippy]

I've been looking forward to and dreading this maiden voyage to work on my new road bike, having cycled to work on a MTB for many years.

First thing, although I have drops, the bike felt a bit sit-up-and-beg. Looking at the bike, the saddle is lower than the handlebar tops by a couple of inches. The LBS did swap the handlebar centre piece over (sorry I dont know the tecnical term) because he felt I would have problems leaning over the frame at first; swapping it back may solve the discomfort.

Also, I am having no problem placing the ball of my foot on the floor so the saddle may be too low.

Hand signals were interesting. The MTB being lower and shorter meant signalling on the road bike felt like the bike was waving all over th place and I was cycling a lot slower than normal while I get used to the new balance.

I feel I am going to enjoy it as soon as I grow into this new machine!

 

[Davidc]

It does sound as if the seat is far too low. There's all sorts of advice on riding positions, Sheldon Brown is a good start, and personal comfort and taste is a good end point.

I ride an adapted mtb for local journeys and a tourer which has road bike geometry for everything else and they're completely different. After a while it's just a case of getting on and the brain switches over - you'll get used to it!

 

[BrumJim]

It's amazing how much of cycling can be intuition rather than reacting to the environment when you only ride only one bike. Same with driving. When I changed from an old to a new road bike I found it very difficult to control for a day or two. It reacted differently when I stuck my arm out to indicate, and my turn-in points, particularly where the preferred route was very tight, were completely different. Situation is worse where you are cycling well-known routes on a new bike, and less so on unfamiliar routes.

Got used to the change quickly, though.

 

[PeterD]

Hi Zippy
If its a road bike with drops then the most common saddle position method used is the ''heel method'' by sitting on the saddle and your heel flat on the pedal and leg extended. Here's a link which should help you. My link

 

[Dilbert]

I got a road bike for the first time last year and was very wobbly to start with.  Getting the hang of it now, although I have just bought some rollers so I think I may be back down the learning curve for a bit.  I can't touch the ground from the saddle, I have to slide forward  of the saddle as I come to a stop, and the get back onto the saddle as I set off, which is easier than it sounds once you get the hang of it.  Mine is set up as PeterD describes.  Keep at it, you will pick it up in no time once you get the setup sorted.

 

[Zippy]

I have swapped the handlebar stem back over, makes the bars slightly lower and further forward by a bit. It may be I need to remove a spacer on the handlebar stem to lower the bars a bit more.

Saddle is where I can just get my big toe on the road with my crutch still on the saddle nose; that is what my confidence will allow at the moment and work on leaving the saddle when stationary a bit later on I think.

 

[Peter10]

Don't feel to worried about getting the seat perfect straight away. I tried this when I made the move to a road bike also. You will start to gain confidence on the bike so your style will change. I have been riding my bike close to 3 months and I am still messing around wit the saddle height. It is starting to feel a bit low so I will raise it a little (about 1/2" at a time).

 

[Zippy]

I turned the handlebar stem over last night, extending the reach and lowering the bar height a little and raised the saddle by ½”. When I signalled this morning the wobbling had stopped so I reckon the handlebars were too high compared to the saddle height.



Now I am looking at slipping out one of the handlebar stem spacers as the handlebars are still high of the saddle. The whole experience was much better this morning though; looking forward to building speed and confidence.



Also the drops feel like they are facing up when I sit my hands in them (wrists feel bent upward) but not visibly. May try turning them down a bit.

Are wrists supposed to be straight when in the drops?

 

[Browser]

It all depends where you put your hands on the curve of the drops, what type/make/model of drops you've got etc (they do differ). I aks ed for advice when I got my roadie earlier this year and the concensus seems to be that it's a personal thing, there's no hard-and-fast you will do it this way-type ruling. Experimentation is the only way to go I'm afraid, have a play and see what suits you

 

[Crankarm]

Seat height is correct when you place your heal, either leg, on pedal at the bottom of it's stroke with your knee very slightly bent, ie NOT locked dead straight or unable to reach pedal at the bottom of the stroke or bent up like a jockey or CHAV on a BSO. Handle bars should be a little in front of your knees when you stand on the pedals ie riding out of the saddle - climbing. STi levers should be comfortably placed when riding on the hoods covering the brakes ie not too much of a stretch forward or too close meaning your knees bang the handle bars as you pedal. There might be some trial error in adjusting saddle height, fore and aft, angle, angle of handle bars, stem length, position of STi levers.
HTH.

 

[Zippy]

Thank you Crankarm.

I noticed the road bike has a wider turning circle than my MTB this morning when I did a tight turn on a Toucan crossing and clipped the front wheel with my toe - did a kind of Buster Keaton, legs out like a bicycle going through a puddle type thing; much to the amusement of cars waiting at the traffic lights. "All that bike and a no-brainer riding it!"

 

[MartinC]

Oh no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another toe overlap argument on the way.

 

[Zippy]

Well my toe overlap was caused by me wearing Hi-Tec Squash shoes at the moment 'cos I'm too scared to commit to the SPDs on this new set up yet. when I go over to proper shoes and cycling on the ball of my foot I'll be ok.