I've never had serious back pain or back issues, but I have gone from more traditional setups (drop bars level with the seat prior to Rivendell enlightenment) to a "weird" and supremely comfortable setup (relaxed Jones geometry with H-bar). I had always had issues with numbness/discomfort in the hands and a stiff lower back on long rides until switching to a Jones H-bar last year. My setup before that was a Sam Hillborne with an albastache bar-- still very comfortable for the most part, but an 8/10 on the comfort scale whereas the Jones is a 9.5-10/10. I think the main reasons for my preference for the latter are 1) a much greater ability to change hand/body positions, thus avoiding repetitive stress and being able to stretch more and 2) what seems like better maintenance of the "J-spine" posture us humans are supposed to have.
This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1luKAS_Xcg) explains what a "J-spine" is and the benefits of sitting "upright and relaxed". It seems to me that any bike with a relaxed geometry (e.g. Rivendells) and an H-bar (or one of the bars modeled after it) allow for this ideal pelvis/spine positioning. Disclaimer: I am most certainly not a medical authority nor have I ever had serious back issues. I've just never been more comfortable than on a rig with an upright position and ability to change positions often. - Mike -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
