We’re not underthinking this —
April to 1st May 2023
Zipp Service Course ergo 70 bar, 42 cm, TRP RRL levers.
Rode about 100 km in a weekend. 8 cm stem, turned down. Steering feel is a bit strange. Hint of a sway or wobble downhill (maybe in head. I mean my head). Pushed saddle back as far as possible (only about 5 mm, if that, more than it was) and switched back to 7 cm stem, turned down. Installed a Tecora needle bearing headset in the hope of settling the steering a bit, as the RollerDrive one did for the Alves.
Rode 75 km. Felt saddle could be a little bit higher. Hands not butting up against hoods/only with a slight stretch. However back active and able to push sternum forwards & “straighten” spine (probably less than it feels like). Thumbs, little fingers tingly/numb. Afterwards rotated bars to raise hoods by about 1 cm, raised saddle by 5 mm. Hood position now slightly above saddle top.
May weekend:
4 x 32–36 km rides. Back active. Dropped handlebars so that hoods about level with saddle, tops a bit lower. Concentrating on not locking out elbows while riding, also lifting one hand at a time off bar. Feel for steering getting better, me less nervous. Transition to standing on pedals is easy; I think much better than Alves when I was this unfit before. Back and glute/hamstrings active. Still numbness after about 20 min. in left thumb. Tops and bends of bar are uncomfortable.
There’s a problem with the Zipp handlebar. It has a flattened cross-section along the tops. I thought that sounded like a restful place for my hands. But it turns out that it isn’t. The issue with a flat bit is that you’d have to set it to exactly the right angle. There’s no guarantee this will be the same angle you want the bar at as a whole, e.g. to position the hoods or drops where you want them. And how do you hold the tops? With your fingers, or resting the heel of your hand on them? The latter is just another rather rigid position with my wrists extended. Maybe a round cross-section bar would be better after all …
RRL levers: nice shape for braking from hoods. But too bulky for hands? They are fatter than the DieCompe Evos.
Thoughts, 3 May
Considering using Shimano levers to bring hand-resting-against-hood position closer. 1cm? Test saddle–hood distance with broomstick? Also go back to 40 cm bar. Ramps angled just below horizontal, smooth curve from ramp to hood. (For similar position with RRLs, could take out the wedges).
Cinelli Giro d’Italia bar is 40 cm, with nominal 75 mm reach, could be set with tops slightly above saddle and hoods slightly below. Probably bad reach to levers in drops, but ignore that for now. Would have to use 6 cm Nitto stem.
Alternatively get Specialized Short reach bar, nominal 65 mm. Main advantage round cross-section on tops and go back to 40 cm width. Shoulders are 42 cm. Scott McLean says bars should be definitely not wider, preferably a little bit narrower than shoulders.
Possible overall reach savings: 1 cm by switching from RRL to Shimano hoods; 5 mm by going to Specialized bar, maybe try saddle further forward: 1 cm. Reinvest savings in going to 8 cm stem? Cleat position – Might be another 5mm or even more to gain there (move cleats further back on shoes).
Stay with cheap bar tape for now, upgrade to padded tape when fit seems better, eg Ergon BT Gravel.
Need to do all the back exercises: planks, scarecrow, swimming, swan prep, dart, front support, leg lifts, etc.
Measured bars: current setup (Zipp 42): outside edges of bends = 44 cm. Halfway along hoods 42 cm outside to outside. Front part of hoods 40 cm. Cinelli nominal 40 bar: outside to outside at hood position is still 42 cm. To ensure no position is wider than 40 cm outside to outside, would need 38 cm bar.
Lots of stuff to play with here. Let’s see.
Mid-May
Swapped on the Shimano BL-R400 brake levers which have the shortest and thinnest hoods, on the Zipp handlebar. Added some foam padding just behind the hoods. Distance to the hoods is now about 2.5 cm shorter than with the RRL levers. Width at the hoods is 42 cm outside to outside. Tops and hoods about 1-1.5 cm below saddle. Rode 35 km. Lovely afternoon. Reach seems comfortable, no numbness in hands. Doesn’t seem obviously too short. Keeping elbows bent takes conscious effort, possibly because of stiff thoracic spine. Back feels good afterwards though. Brake levers feel weird (non-ergonomic style). Can’t reach levers from the drops, combination of wrist angle and reach.
Thinking about making a stand to hold the bike by the rear axle so that I can test fit without using new cable and handlebar tape each time. Also check positions while sitting on bike without leaning against a wall, etc. Curious about torso-shoulder angle, pelvis, wrist angle etc., the things that have to be looked at from the side. At present I can’t even see whether any of this is in what the usual rules of thumb call the ballpark.
May 17
Rode back home with a tailwind – very flattering. Some numbness in left hand, thumb and first two fingers. Shimano hoods are a nice shape but even with thumbs hooked in as far forward as they go, the heels of my hands are slightly behind the hoods, on the ramps. The tops and bends of these Zipp bars really don’t suit me at all. I keep wanting to rest on the tops with my hands pointing outwards. Probably a terrible position for my wrists.
My feel for the steering of the bike is getting better and reaching down to change gear is getting much easier. Something is coming along in my brain, apparently – quite apart from all the conscious fretting.
Feet feel fine. No rubbing of heels on the cranks. Maybe because the cranks are flatter towards the middle. Is the stance of the pedals the same as before? <heads to cellar> Can’t find more than a few mm difference in the pedals; it’s hard to measure because hard to determine the midline of the pedals. Maybe my feet are also better thanks to all the foot exercises I’ve been doing 🙂
Stood in front of mirror holding my hands out straight with a tape measure and then with the 42 cm Nitto Dream /176 bar and the 40 cm Cinelli Giro d’Italia bar (which is really a bit wider). I definitely think a 38 cm bar is worth a try. It’d be the first one ever that was (same link as above) within the width of my shoulders.
Then again, probably I can also make progress by doing some wrist exercises. As a classic keyboard warrior.
May 20/21
Raised bars to just about level with saddle. Rode 35 km. Noticed that as far as I can tell sitting on the bike, my knees are well behind KOPS. Moved saddle forward a bit for yesterday’s ride back. Now it definitely feels like the reach could be longer. Hands/wrists still getting uncomfortable after about an hour.
Ok, now I have to work through the whole fit from beginning (foot/saddle position) to end, and it has to be done on a stand so I can do things like the ski jumper test and the mummy test (McClean) and set everything up fairly plausibly without going through the rigmarole of re-doing brake cables and handlebar tape for every small adjustment. Grr.
In other news, on Friday I picked up a pair of 1989 Deore XT M732 derailleurs in excellent condition. I also have a pair of 1990 DXs. It’s not urgent to get these on but I expect they’ll be a bit better than the SunTours. More relevant to the fit, I ordered a 38 cm Specialized Short Reach handlebar. This will definitely put the width at the hoods a tiny bit inside my shoulder width.
23 May
New handlebars day. Yeah they seem good 🙂
We continue with the Big DIY Bike Fit >>
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