Ted, very timely. I took my Saluki out the other day and yesterday my back was screaming. I just turned 72 and my back has been an issue since my 40’s, why I started riding Rivendells. Today I will ride my Hillborne. To make it fair I took the 48mm tires off and put 42’s on like on the Saluki. Maybe the Hillborne geometry is better. Both bikes are set up the same, 2 differences are tires and cranks. I have a Sugino on the Hillborne and a TA Zephyr on the Saluki. I got the Saluki last year to replace a Bleriot which rode great and transferred all of the components. I thought the geometry was similiar if not the same as the Saluki. By tomorrow morning I will know how my back did.
On Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 10:28:17 AM UTC-4 Ted Durant wrote: > On Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 8:41:29 AM UTC-4 rmro...@gmail.com > wrote: > > Garth, of course nothing you say here is wrong, it’s simply not the same > for everyone. And I know you know that. I am a 68 year old lifetime > cyclist. I’ve been through many drop bar bikes and though my last one > (Custom Richard Sachs) was easily the best, I was never truly comfortable. > > > This is a timely topic for me. I'm about to turn 61 and, until last > spring, I thought I had dialed in my perfect bike fit. Doing a fair amount > of yoga starting in my 40's really helped my flexibility and core strength, > so I ride with a pretty low, flat back. I use pretty deep drop bars (mostly > Noodles), set the tops a bit below the saddle, and spend a lot of time on > the drops. My personal cubit is how I check seat-bar distance, and the > backs of my handlebar tops at the stem have always been 2-4cm ahead of my > fingertips. > > When I was spec'ing out my new Sam, I spent a long time on stem length and > finally decided to go shorter. This is also relevant to the previous > thread, as the Sam has a much slacker seat tube angle than my other bikes, > making it a bit more challenging to translate fit from the other bikes. On > the Sam, the bars are just a few mm ahead of my fingers. I was worried this > would be too cramped, so it was a bit of a revelation when I found it was > comfortable and still allowed plenty of breathing space. Thinking about it, > I realized that it was logical that my seat-bar distance would need to > shrink a bit. I have pretty severe osteoporosis and a couple of compressed > vertebrae, so my torso length is shorter than it was 5 years ago. > > So, yeah, everybody ages differently, but we all age and need to be aware > of how our bodies are changing and how that impacts position and fit on the > bike. > > Ted Durant > Milwaukee, WI USA > -- 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-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/24e972c1-b7e2-4c76-b429-a3a881fce087n%40googlegroups.com.