Cycle to work newbie - neck pain

[snavron]

Hello,

After not riding a bike since I was a kid -25 years ago. I joined my employers cycle to work scheme and I got myself a lovely cdf20. However in the five weeks since I've had pretty much constant neck discomfort. I was wondering if this is poor posture on my part or issues with the bike? I am 5.11 (and a half...) with a 31 leg and I and was told by the bike shop I was a 58 frame. This looks and feels big but I assumed they knew what they were doing.
Might I be better getting a flat bar hybrid in a smaller size to alleviate the strain on my upper body? So far the bike shop have fitted narrower handlebars and changed the stem.

Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated as I enjoying the cycling but at the moment it's literally a pain in the neck.

Cheers,

Angus


I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my C6903 using hovercraft full of eels.

[mjr]

There's plenty of fit calculators online which you can use to check that your bike is somewhere close to the right size. I've used http://www.competitivecyclist.com/Store ... orBike.jsp but don't take it as gospel and I'm somewhere between French and Eddy fits.

There's also www.SheldonBrown.com/pain.html which I often refer people to.

I will whisper this: my neck pain stopped after I switched to a lighter cotton cap and I don't believe that we're really designed to balance much extra weight on top of our head at the furthest point from our neck for hours a day, although some people can do it.

[Manc33]

I am 5'10" and the 57 I had was too reachy for me with drop bars on.

That bike with flat bars was a perfect fit, but road bikes have a +13cm addition with road shifter hoods, over where you'd be sat on flat bars.

Conversely I had a 48cm bike that on drops was perfect, but on flat bars, I was scrunched up.

So I think the biggest thing to consider is those 13cm longer hoods, thats what causes it IMO.

Those hoods used to be 3cm long and now they are 13cm long, go figure, thats 10cm added, which is a great deal, most saddles won't move that far, most stems aren't 100mm longer than another stem (perhaps, just about?)

I am pretty sure not one road frame manufacturer takes into account the fact that brake hoods are far longer these days, why would they?

So when everyone says China carbon road frames always have a short top tube perhaps the Chinese are doing it for a reason - road bikes have brake hoods three times longer and yes, frames have to compensate for that, but I think don't.

This is why I got on a bike the "perfect size" and was reaching to the hoods too much. Yep, it was the perfect fit - if it had flat bars.

[531colin]

CDF 58....as in the biggest? http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/adventure/multisport/croix-de-fer-20
If somebody under six foot is riding the biggest size, what are the six foot four guys going to ride?
In reality, the "size" doesn't matter too much, you just need to mess around a bit to get the contact points in the right places.
Go here http://wheel-easy.org.uk/ and download "bike set up" for my simple guide.
Post a photo like this for us to look at

[whoof]

You could be set up quite low with a flattish back and therefore angling your head up.
If your stem is set up so it's flat it can be turned over which will give you a slightly higher position and also be less stretched. Please see link to pic below.

http://i49.tinypic.com/2it23xd.jpg

There are also spacers on the fork if your bike has been set up with some spacers above the stem these can be moved under it again raising your height.

https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspire ... dset-2.jpg

If the bike is new ask if these changes can be done by the bike shop if you get a first free service.

It is relatively easy to do yourself with a couple of allen key please see video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD_EJjQCLoY

[Heltor Chasca]

Years ago I switched to an 'aggressively' fitted MTB and experienced neck pain. This is talked about upthread. It went in a couple of weeks. I was happy with the rest of the fit for my intended use.

You could 'train' your neck muscles by taking up another hobby to run alongside cycling. Bird watching is the recommended one. Neck craned up into the sky and all that...you get what I mean. [emoji6]

[meic]

It is a new posture for your body, there is a good chance that you will just "grow out of it".
I seem to recall having such neck problems and I dont anymore, I did replace my dropped stem with a raised one (old fashioned bikes were different) and I rode the bike a lot of miles, I dont know which one of those factors did the most to banish the neck pains to rides of over 400k.
At the time there was also advice from other more experienced Audax riders to do core strength exercises, which I didnt follow because i am not that dedicated.

[snavron]

Hello folks. Thanks very much for the replies. I've only probably ridden 150 miles since I got the bike so it's early days. I do find it better when I use the flat bars - I.e less painful. As requested these are some photos of me on said bike. The stem is pretty flat and is 0.3 so I was thinking of getting that raised and shortened.





I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my C6903 using hovercraft full of eels.

[meic]

Do you wear that hat while riding?

[Heltor Chasca]

Do you wear that hat while riding?

I think I know what you are getting at. Clever and observant [emoji106]

[snavron]

Hah. The cap is part of my Web disguise. I now await your wisdom....

I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my C6903 using hovercraft full of eels.

[531colin]

Can I suggest you follow Peter's thread here http://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=104532&hilit=peter&start=30

[scoot]

Hi Angus,

I get discomfort from my neck. A friend does deep massage and said:
a, possibly stress related
b, Bike posture - worse on my roadie than MTB
c, wearing a helmet made worse by a peak.

Initial deep massage helped and now neck stretches ease it.
a, Riding helps reduce my work stress
b, I changed the stem (shorter and higher) and seat position (further back) and adjusted seat height accordingly on my roadie to make more comfy i.e. upright. MTB is far more comfy and set up over the years.
c, I still wear the helmet with peak: Helmet for wife's peace of mind and peak to keep sun and rain out of my eyes. determinately not as bad without helmet because of extra weight and lifting head to look under peak
Posture when walking / working - try not to slouch, stand tall and shoulders back when working.

All of this helps but I think leaning forwards on a bike for long periods of time will always result in some strain. Think weight of head bobbing around with leverage of length of neck and lots of road vibration / poor surface. Inevitable really.

HTH,

Paul

[hamster]

I typically get it on the road bike in the spring when I up my mileage. I'm pretty sure it's muscle fatigue from holding the head forward for longer. Later in the year I get it after long cycling days. I'd give it a month, but by all means adjust your bars up in the meantime.

[iainb]

Hi Angus

I've got similar issues due to neck / back problem, I got one of these http://www.specializedconceptstore.co.u ... sroadstems which comes with shims of different angles, not cheap but worked for me.

Regards

Iain