Questions of bicycle pain/comfort and perhaps where to buy a new-old one in Perth. Lots of text & occasional squeamish details, sorry.
While in California in 2001 I bought a Cannondale Bad Boy Rigid that it turns out is probably too small for me. I used it heavily in Ca (3 months) but only very lightly since I moved back to Australia. I've now moved to Perth where there are excellent bike tracks everywhere so I've taken up riding again in a big(ger) way and done about 300km in two weeks. The problem is that that 300km (mostly 55-75km rides from Northbridge to Fremantle and back) has hurt me pretty badly in a couple of ways, all in the last 100km.
First problem is that I seem to have gotten carpal-tunnel syndrome overnight: the bike has straight handlebars that I would typically rest my palms on, so my wrists are bent back and the pressure goes right on the heel of my palm. In hindsight: not cool, even though I have gloves. I read
Sheldon Brown's whole website yesterday, starting with that article.
I had bar-ends on a previous bike that would give me one more hand position - is it worth getting something like that again or should I try something more like drop-bars? The handlebars are already about 12cm lower than the seat so I'm not sure I want to go much/any lower as it will mean more weight on the hands, even if the wrists are not bent and pronated. Can my trigger-style gear levers be transferred to drop-bars? Brake levers too? What are those things you rest your forearms on called and could I put them on my current handlebars?
Second problem is that when coming back from my previous ride, my right knee gave out: significant what-felt-like-tendons pain in the outside-front corner of my knee as I was climbing a hill, so I did the last 15km mostly one-legged. Putting load on the knee while bent (e.g. getting out of a chair) when I got home hurt. A bit of Nurofen and a rest and the knee feels fine 2 days later but it scared the hell out of me and I don't want a repeat! Yes, my seat is at the right height.
The pedals are platform things with toeclips/straps on the front. I'm very conscious of keeping my feet straight in them and using good pedaling form and have never had knee pains even on previous 100km rides through the Adelaide Hills. Would cleat/clipless pedals help me here? I hear conflicting guidance from "it's the only way to go because they keep your feet straight" through "get (this brand) because they have 15 degrees of float for natural ankle angles" to "cleats are crap, you should just use platform pedals and let the feet fall where they naturally do". Does this sort of pain sound like a technique thing or a doing-too-much-too-fast/overuse injury? Background: I do a fair amount of weightlifting including squats so high loads are not a problem, but pedalling for 6-8 hrs/week (~20,000 reps!) every week is quite new to me.
Third thing is the seat. It's a big padded "comfy" thing (probably designed for women, given that the back of it seems too wide) which my reading now tells me is a bad, bad thing. I invested in some padded bike shorts that helped a LOT, but there's still some, uh, folding & pinching of the perineum that becomes painful after about an hour that I'd very much like to avoid. Any recommendations on seats? Are the leather ones that Sheldon raves about reasonably available here in AU? Is there any particular trick to wearing the bike shorts, i.e. does one wedge the padding right in (to make sure nothing in one's undercarriage is creased) before sitting down?
So: I can get new pedals (if the collective cycling wisdom of mefi says that's a good move) and a seat easily but I suspect the major problem is the handlebars and that's probably the most expensive bit to do, particularly if it results in a very uncomfortable geometry. I'm not unfit but nowhere near bike-racing fitness, am heavy (lots of fat and lots of muscle) and I suspect that a very low aggressive racing posture won't really agree very well with me.
However, I would like to go faster, of course. If that means I should be on a more road-racing style bike then that's OK as long as it's not uncomfortable but I don't really want to make a huge loss in selling the bike I've got. So the final part of my question is: do I cut my losses on a bunch of stop-gap mods (pedal, seat, handlebar) to my existing bike and just changeover to a different, better-sized bike? I think that is probably the right answer but of course money is the problem. If I were to change bikes, it'd have to be to a good second-hand one as I'm not prepared to drop $2-5k on the newest carbon hotness. And I don't want to move to a new bike and then have to make a similar level of modification that I would to my existing one. I don't want to move down a level of quality, which means I guess I want something like a 5-10 year old Al bike with 8- or 9-ring ultegra on the back and perhaps a 105 triple front - but please feel free to make better or more appropriate suggestions. What does such a thing cost and what can I expect to get for mine (excellent condition)?
As I've only recently moved, I have no idea where the GOOD bike stores are in Perth. I bought a bunch of needed componentry from Fleet in the CBD and they seemed reasonable if not particularly enthusiastic... but I would like to know if there are any good second-hand bike places with keen staff who ride regularly. Likewise bicycle swap-meets - know of any in Perth?
your thoughts and detailed suggestions appreciated...
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Regarding handlebars and bike size and seat, I'd recommend finding a bike shop that caters to riders who are doing similar rides (ideally, a store staffed by riders like you) and ask them about the fit and setup of your bike.
And as my local store says, the only way you can tell if a seat is going to work for you is to try it for a few weeks, so see if you have a store with a reasonable return policy for bike seats and try some out until you're more comfortable.
posted by zippy at 6:35 PM on February 16, 2009