Today I did my first 20 mile (33km) ride on my hardtail XC bike. I learned how to ride a bike about 1.5 months ago, but I’ve been riding pretty consistently since I learned. I ride exclusively in the city, it’s a very walkable city, but the paths aren’t always the best. I did 33km in 2 hours 53 minutes, not including breaks for water or to eat.
I see people saying that 10MP/H (16KM/H) average is a good average to shoot for, but i can’t even get my average above 7.1MPH (11.5KM/H), even on shorter rides. What am I doing wrong here? How are people going so freaking fast on bikes in cities?
My position is generally 45° or even more bent over - I was considering getting a fork extension so my sitting position would be more comfortable, is this recommended or should I just keep riding the way it is?
I set my saddle height using the following method - when pedaling with your heels, your knee should be pretty much locked out. Is this a decent method for finding the correct saddle height?
The frame size is correct for my height.
OK great, that sounds pretty good for your saddle height then! Easiest way to change your riding position from there is with your stem and handlebars, I wouldn’t mess with the fork itself.
If you want to be more upright you can try a stem that’s shorter and has some rise to it, to bring the bars higher and closer to you. There’s all kinds of different handlebars that have rise to raise your riding position as well. Bike shop can advise on that if it’s something you aren’t comfortable doing yourself.
But to be honest 45° is a fine angle, so unless you’re finding it really uncomfortable or it’s hurting your hands or wrists, I’d say your bike fit is probably OK!
The first few rides my wrists hurt, but that seems to have gone away.
I’ll just leave it the way it is then! More money saved :D
I have no idea what you mean by fork extension but I presume you mean raising the front end up a bit. In the picture you posted in another reply it looks like your handlebars are on upside down to me. You have a load of stem spaces increasing the height but then your handle bars appear to point downwards.
I may be wrong because of the angle of the photo or maybe they were intended to be like that (no idea why but still) but I’d be interested in seeing a few pictures from a few other angles. If they are upsidedown then it is a fairly easy fix and may improve you riding position considerably without buying anything else.
I meant a stem extension, didn’t know how it was called :D
In terms of the handlebars, should they be angled down on the ends, or up?
Here’s a picture
I put the bike together myself after I ordered it, so it’s certainly possible I put them on upside down 😅😂
No worries man, i know you are new and there is a shit ton of different terminology to deal with with bikes, a longer stem makes more sense to me now :D
Generally speaking handle bars are made with different amounts of rise to lift the bars upwards as you can see here on my bike which has a lot more rise than you -
It isn’t unsafe or anything like that to mount them the other way up I just can’t say I have seen it done before and obviously this will change your position on the bike and comfort levels more than you would think, even mm in difference in all things like handle bars, stems, seat position etc can make drastic differences to comfort, especially over long distances.
Are the bars entirely straight across from left to right? Most bars usually also have different amounts of sweep which is the degrees that the bars go back and up as you can see here on mine -
They aren’t entirely straight and that sweep should be towards you rather than away.
One post you said your hands / wrists ached for a bit. Whilst this is normal as you aren’t used to riding a bike it can also be due to bar positioning as you could be adding extra force at points where you don’t want it due to a combination of how your bars are positioned and how you use them, beyond this sometimes this can result in numbness in the hands too which obviously you don’t want.
“Bike fit” which incorporates everything from handle bars to stem length to seat position, tilt and height can all have a lot more drastic impacts on your body than you’d think even through small adjustments and is something you should tinker with to try and find the best position for you. You can pay to have one done professionally but it would probably cost more than your bike is worth to begin with so at this point I’d avoid that.
I would be inclined to adjust your handlebars so that the rise is facing upwards, if you have any sweep have it so the ends of the bars are closer to you than the center rather than further away before you start buying new stems and things like that as they are all things you can do for free.
If you change it and don’t like it you can always switch it back to how you have it now, it looks weird to me but it isn’t like it is dangerous and your comfort is more important than how it looks.
I have spent the last year tweaking my current bike trying to get it in the perfect place so it definitely takes some time. Make small adjustments, go for a longer ride and then assess how you feel. I realise it will be harder for you not know bikes in general as well due to being new but you can still tell what is and isn’t comfortable and if you are getting any pain in places like knees and wrists.
Good luck with this new journey and enjoy it!
Thank you so much for all the advice! You were absolutely right about my bars being upside down -_- my sweep was facing downwards because for some reason, I thought that was correct. I adjusted them so that the sweep is sort of at a 45° angle facing me, so it’s equal parts up and forward. I can’t wait to try it out and see if this improves everything!
In terms of bike fitting: I don’t even know where I would find one or how much they cost here, but I feel like the bike fits me pretty well (or I’m too young, 28, to realize that it doesn’t fit me and I’m just adapting in a bad way). I do have some back problems, but the bike isn’t agitating them at all, so it might be okay.
No worries dude! Don’t beat yourself up over thinking that should be right because how could you know. If you have been cycling for less than two weeks the fact that you are willing to build the bike yourself and having a go at adjusting things as well as being willing to come here and expand your knowledge puts you way above most people I see who can’t even do basic maintenance on their bikes and ride around with rusted out chains and the like.
Some jobs on bikes can seem daunting at first but there is so much info out on the internet that if you possess common sense and just an ability to use tools correctly you can do most jobs yourself with a bit of research and trial and error. Generally speaking bikes are fairly simple machines and if you can maintain, adjust and fix the things yourself not only do you save a lot of money, you gain the satisfaction of knowing you did it along with actually knowing your bike well. If you have an issue out in the field you know how a part works and so can better diagnose and fix or at least bodge it together to get yourself home.
Each upgrade you add or problem you fix will add to your overall knowledge of the bike and bikes in general!
Like I said I probably wouldn’t bother paying for a bike fit at your stage, I just thought I’d mention it. Local bike shops might offer a cheap version but I wouldn’t trust that to be perfectly honest. There are plenty of YouTube videos out there that explain the adjustments and what effects they can have on different parts of your body, if you are having any discomfort in the future then I recommend watching a few, get some ideas of what to change then just get out riding and try out adjustments. Again it is free and you also get to learn your bike more.
For example recently I was getting a bit of knee pain when I cycled 30km plus, so I researched what could be the likely causes and adjusted back and forth over time to get to a better place. In the end I lowered my seat probably around 5mm, moved the seat backwards about the same and adjusted the angle of the seat by a few degrees. All these tiny movements seem inconsequential but I now feel even better on the bike even though I wasn’t uncomfortable before then and since I have done many long rides with no knee issues what so ever!
Let us know how it is, I’d be interested how you feel with the difference seen as you don’t have a lot of experience. Also feel free to ask any other questions you may have :D
I actually have a 30 year old bike that I’ve already done some stuff to, but I had to adjust the front and rear derailleurs when I put this bike together - it took me around an hour or so, but the rear cassette shifts now as opposed to getting stuck between two gears. I also adjusted my breaks (the pads would rub on the disks at a stop, but I managed to fix that)
I desperately wanted a car to work on and fix up, but I guess a bike will work too! 😁