@Jay, I have been a roadie for 53 years. I retired my road bike sixteen years ago. I was growing old. I became tired of riding in the drops. I wanted to ride upright. My posture in my neck and shoulders were hunched over.
Over the many years, it became a struggle with me trying to find a bicycle that I could fall in love with again. I went through about four different bicycles. In the fall of 2022, I purchased my first Rivendell Clem Smith Jr. "L" bicycle. It was a 59cm. Over the course of a little over a year, I concluded that the 59cm size was not working for me. It was too large. I sold it. I found and bought a 52cm Clem as a "Demo" at RBW headquarters last November. Since then, I have adapted very well in riding the 52cm Clem. It fits me a lot better than the 59cm. I am very happy with it. I have the Nitto Bosco 58cm handlebars. These bars I really love for an upright riding position. I have zero weight bearing down on them. All my weight is on the seat and back tire. When I come home from my rides, I feel my posture is a lot straighter, than before. I ride mostly pavement on the nearby trails near where I live. Occasionally, I will go off road, when the feeling for adventure strikes me. The only problem I have is a personal issue in discomfort with the loss of subcutaneous fat on my bum riding my saddle at 69 years old. I am nearing a resolution with optimism. Kim Hetzel. As one grows older, the handlebars get higher and the gears get lower. On Wednesday, May 8, 2024 at 8:15:45 PM UTC-7 Richard Rose wrote: > What Doug said, almost exactly x2. > Long time Roadie here but transitioned to MTB about 15 years ago - now 69. > Never had serious issues with properly fit road bike. But after a lot of > MTB riding it never felt right again. However, I started having pretty > serious hand/wrist issues with straight MTB bars. Bought my Clem to have > something comfortable to ride when not mountain biking. Instantly > comfortable for all rides/surfaces and for up to six+ hours. So I got a Gus > to have a swept back MTB. Both are superbly comfortable. Now I am back > riding road/gravel when I do not want to drive to the trail. But when I do > drive to the trail it’s more fun than ever. > Sent from my iPhone > > On May 8, 2024, at 9:45 PM, Doug H. <dhansf...@gmail.com> wrote: > > When I bought my Clem Smith Jr it was a revelation in riding. I had > ridden mostly drop bars for many years and like you I would have shoulder > and neck pain after long rides. The Clem with Tosco bars and an upright > riding position solved my aches and pains immediately. I also discovered I > could ride for 3 hours without pain and my mileage wasn't much less than > with a "road bike". I recently bought a Roadini with drop bars. The bars > were up nice and high so I don't think I would have experienced neck or > shoulder pain. But, I decided to swap the drop bars for Albatross bars. > Swept back bars are my preferred and only bars now. This is what works for > me but I don't recommend it to people necessarily. I just share my > experience and preferences if asked. Another thing about an upright posture > is being able to take in the scenery better as I ride. Like I said, it was > a revelation for me and has transformed my riding experience. > > Doug > > On Wednesday, May 8, 2024 at 9:28:41 PM UTC-4 Jay wrote: > >> 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?* >> > -- > 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 rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/9f5b5e22-f9ba-4882-8a5e-14f51aead408n%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/9f5b5e22-f9ba-4882-8a5e-14f51aead408n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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