What to adjust after raising handlebar height?

[Chibbie]

Hi all,

I recently had the handlebars raised on my bike in order to have a somewhat more upright riding position (the bike is a Vintage Electric Cafe, if that matters). That’s working great in and of itself; but I noticed on my first ride with the new handlebar height that my position on the seat (a Brooks B17) doesn’t feel quite as comfortable anymore. It’s not terrible, but not as comfortable as it was previously. I assume that’s due to the change in my seating position on the bike, either in itself or because my “sit bones” are now in a somewhat different position on the saddle and/or I have more weight on the seat and less on my arms because I’m somewhat more upright. (To be clear: I’m not fully upright like I am when riding my Dutch style bike, just somewhat more upright than before.)

I’m wondering what variables are most directly affected by handlebar height/what I should try adjusting. I don’t want to start just randomly adjusting things, because then I’d end up conflating too many variables. Could it be that I need to adjust the seat tilt a bit to compensate for the more upright position? (Right now, I have the seat noticeably tilted upwards a bit because that’s how it was most comfortable before.) Adjust the fore/aft position of the seat? (I wouldn’t think that that would be the most likely thing to be affected by the handlebar height, but I don’t really know.). Or could it be that the seat just needs to be broken in again to account for the new seating position?

For what it’s worth, I do already have a suspension seatpost.

Any thoughts appreciated!

 

[PedalUma]

When one variable changes, it changes the others because the lengths of the rider's bones have not changed. Or their relation to joints. But it really could be just that you have more weight on your saddle. It will also change weight distribution on the bike. Raising a flat bar aslo raises your elbows and brings your shoulder blades closer together.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I concur with Uma. Your body weight has shifted onto your butt. That's how the intervention in the bike geometry ends.

 

[Chibbie]

Thanks for your responses thus far. Any thoughts on what I should try adjusting to compensate?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Thanks for your responses thus far. Any thoughts on what I should try adjusting to compensate?

Lower the bars.

 

[PCeBiker]

Thanks for your responses thus far. Any thoughts on what I should try adjusting to compensate?

Try adjusting your seat angle to see if it's more comfortable.
When I raised my handlebars, my butt was kinda sliding backwards, so I tipped my seat forward a bit.

Check the angle of your brake levers and other components on your handlebars to make sure they line up with your new seating position.
I had to rotate my brake levers to straighten out my wrist.

Lower the bars.

I'd remove my handlebars entirely before I'd ever lower them.
I ride no hands half the time I'm riding.
I sit up perfectly straight whether my hands are on the handlebars or not.

 

[Chibbie]

Lower the bars.

I may consider that at some point, but at least so far, the raised handlebars are accomplishing what I wanted to achieve in terms of significantly reducing lower back pain and discomfort. I’m not yet prepared to give that up. So, I’m looking for a way to keep those benefits while adjusting other factors.

 

[Chibbie]

Try adjusting your seat angle to see if it's more comfortable.
When I raised my handlebars, my butt was kinda sliding backwards, so I tipped my seat forward a bit.

Check the angle of your brake levers and other components on your handlebars to make sure they line up with your new seating position.
I had to rotate my brake levers to straighten out my wrist.

View attachment 156419




I'd remove my handlebars entirely before I'd ever lower them.
I ride no hands half the time I'm riding.
I sit up perfectly straight whether my hands are on the handlebars or not.

Thanks! I’ll try adjusting the seat angle and will also take another look at the angle of the break levels.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

what I wanted to achieve in terms of significantly reducing lower back pain

You now have made most of your body weight compress your spine and its nerves...

Chibbie, I went through all this. Ruined butt, aches in the neck, shoulders, lower back, numb hands. Then I understood what I was doing wrong and reversed everything. That is, now I lean forward as much as I can (my e-bikes were too small and I rode them in the "relaxed" position; I even raised the bars in the Vado before). Additionally, SQlab Innerbarends help me rest part of my hands as it were road bike hoods.

People think the relaxed position will cure their aches. Not. It causes them. Are you aware now I can ride for 150-200 km a day without pain? (Photos from the recent ultramarathon show my athletic riding position). It took me a long time to understand what I was doing wrong...

 

[Chibbie]

You now have made most of your body weight compress your spine and its nerves...

Chibbie, I went through all this. Ruined butt, aches in the neck, shoulders, lower back, numb hands. Then I understood what I was doing wrong and reversed everything. That is, now I lean forward as much as I can (my e-bikes were too small and I rode them in the "relaxed" position; I even raised the bars in the Vado before). Additionally, SQlab Innerbarends help me rest part of my hands as it were road bike hoods.

People think the relaxed position will cure their aches. Not. It causes them. Are you aware now I can ride for 150-200 km a day without pain? (Photos from the recent ultramarathon show my athletic riding position). It took me a long time to understand what I was doing wrong...

Thanks. I will definitely keep this advice in mind. But again, so far, my experience has been the opposite: raising the handlebars even by a relatively small amount has noticeably decreased the particular back pain I was experiencing on this bike. In my case, I have chronic sciatic pain on my lower left back, which at least for me is exacerbated by leaning forward on the bike much more than from compression due to being slightly more upright. (Which seems counter-intuitive because, off the bike, stretching relieves it whereas sitting in a chair exacerbates it. But I’m not a doctor or physical therapist, so I don’t know the anatomy of it. All I know is that I’ve had far less of that issue with the handlebars raised slightly, at least so far; and that I don’t have it at all on my other Dutch-style bike where I sit completely upright.)

(Time may end up proving me wrong, of course; so I’m definitely keeping an open mind about changing everything back.)

 

[sanyata]

When you raise the bars, you shorten the reach due to the headtube angle. You could get a longer stem to increase the reach and keep your raised bars were you like them.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

When you raise the bars, you shorten the reach due to the headtube angle. You could get a longer stem to increase the reach and keep your raised bars were you like them.

Then he will lean forward again.

 

[Chibbie]

When you raise the bars, you shorten the reach due to the headtube angle. You could get a longer stem to increase the reach and keep your raised bars were you like them.

Interesting, thanks. When the handlebars were raised, I also replaced the stem with a Cane Creek suspension stem that was around the same length as the original stem (80mm, I believe). So, I could try swapping it out for a longer version of the Cane Creek since they come in various lengths.

But: could I instead approximate the same thing by sliding the seat back a bit? Something tells me that while that might work in some sense, it would also introduce a new variable because it would also change my leg position in relation to the pedals. But this is all pretty new to me, so I don’t know for sure.

(Also: wouldn’t lengthening the reach kinda cancel out the original goal of getting into a more upright position?)

 

[sanyata]

Maybe there is a happy medium between your original position and the new raised position. It does take some trial and error. I went through this on my Levo and bought two different length stems and one set of bars with a different sweep angle and rise before it felt comfortable.

 

[sanyata]

Then he will lean forward again.

Because the bars are raised, his lean will be less of an angle than before.

 

[Chibbie]

Maybe there is a happy medium between your original position and the new raised position. It does take some trial and error. I went through this on my Levo and bought two different length stems and one set of bars with a different sweep angle and rise before it felt comfortable.

Thanks. Yeah, this is the way I’m leaning (no pun intended!). I think I’ll try very small incremental changes to try to get to a happy medium. I’ll first try lowering the handlebars just a little bit below the current height (but still well above the original height) by removing 1-2 spacer rings. I’ll then see how that feels; if it’s still not quite right, I’ll try a somewhat longer stem. Etc.

 

[PCeBiker]

,... I don’t have it at all on my other Dutch-style bike where I sit completely upright.)

I think that you should aim for that seating position.
You know it works for you.

Other people found that Jones Handlebars with a stem riser gets them in an upright riding position.

I did my own thing to get sat up straight.
It looks kinda stupid but it works for me.

 

[sanyata]

Also, being as your handlebars have a bit of rise, you can rotate them forward or aft to find the most comfortable position.
Cool looking bike, by the way!

 

[PedalUma]

Referencing #2, just after the opening paragraph, you can't just raise a flat bar. But Why?

A couple of hundred years ago a Dutch anatomist did an experiment: He held his hands in out front of him with palms down. Then he tried to bend his elbows up. He could not do it. He could only bend his elbows out. When he bent his elbows out his hands came in slightly. To correct for this he moved his thumbs pointing forward and to correct for that he moved his pinkies slightly down. That is how we got the Dutch handlebar. Ah, comfort.

 

[PCeBiker]

I'm thinking of getting one of these next.
You can adjust the backrest up and down.