I was always aware of bikes with a very relaxed geometry / setup, and it wasn't until I started seeing Rivendell bikes and watching youtube videos of people riding them that I really thought about it - is it more comfortable than drop bars, even if I have a more neutral (not aggressive) position on the bike (i.e., bars close to level with saddle)? Would this be a good option for just cruising around, but for 1-2 hours? If I didn't get along well with flat bars on mountain bike, would swept back bars be better?
I'm going to ramble a bit here, my apologies in advance. I haven't thought long enough about this to formulate my question succinctly. Hopefully you get where I'm coming from.
Quick background
- been riding a little over 20 years (closing in on 50!)
- started with mountain biking (hardtail, singletrack); moved to road; tried mountain biking two more times (I love being in nature) but didn't like the thrill/danger, and hated the idea of driving to the trail head; have been mainly on the road for last 15 years, though with 10 years of 'gravel' bikes/riding
- I've had ongoing issues with my cervical spine (nothing serious) and this leads to some problems when riding in any sort of aggressive position on the bike; I see a chiro regularly; stretch a lot; workout / strength training; have had numerous bike fits
- I have a Roadini, Salsa Fargo and a road bike (25mm tires, but custom made and really does fit like a glove, for road)
- I don't care about performance at all, I just love riding bikes, in particular when roads are not busy, or on trails, gravel roads, etc.
On a good day (75% of the time), I can ride any of these bikes and during the ride I feel pretty good (little to no pain), maybe a bit of pain after (could be neck/shoulders, but anywhere else really), and after stretching I feel great in a 1/2 to full day. I ride 4-5x a week, workout 1-2 times spring-fall and more in the winter.
But at least once a week, and maybe twice, I'll be riding, sometimes tired as it's after work, and within an hour I'm running low on energy and probably start to develop a bad posture on the bike, over-using my arms which causes problems in my neck and shoulders, leading to upper body aches/pains (while riding, and after). Takes a lot of stretching and awareness to reset. This is what I'm trying to resolve (move from 75% to 99%)
My guess is that even with a bike like the Roadini or Salsa, with bars about level with the saddle, and even with a professional fitting on each, when I want to ride but I'm lacking energy, it goes poorly. But is that because these bikes are "kind of" aggressive (when compared to say a spine angle closer to 70% and swept back bars)? Or is it simply a combination of age, history of some 'issues', low on energy and thus bad posture kicks in, and would any bike be a joy to ride, or should I just go for a walk on those days!?
I would love to hear from those who ride both drop bars and also swept back (or similar) in a way more relaxed geometry, or those who transitioned to mainly this style, because it almost fully resolved your issues, if they're anyway similar to mine. On a day when you're not feeling it, but you have to commute or just love to ride, do you leave the drop bar bike in the garage and hop on your more relaxed bike, and thus avoid most of the issues you would have had on the other (slightly more aggressive) bike?
