6ft tall, 32″ inside leg, fairly broad.

Large mk2 Soul, inline seatpost, 90mm stem (it’s what I had), 740mm bars

Did 12 miles/2hours (ish) off road yesterday, had a bit of lower back ache, and hand cramp on/after long descents. Fine on the uphills, comfortable, actually climbed really well.

Would a shorter stem potentially help with the back/hands? I know most run shorter stems on similar set ups at a similar height.

Cheers,

Sam

Cramp is caused by muscle fatigue.

Ride more.

I’d try a 70mm stem.

For the hand issues – ESI Extra Chunky silicone grips.

Simple answer: YES

(you’ll NEVER be Enduro with a 90mm stem……….. 😉

Nope, but an extra spacer under your stem might have you less crouched over and relieve the back pain, worked for me!

The short stem thing is not a panacea and only works with a frame geometry thats suitable, usually in tandem with a wide bar and a frame that’s not already short in top tube/reach department for your body size. You can make things worse and end up with hectic nervous handling.

Hand cramp could just as easily be an incorrectly adjusted fork or death gripping.

Well, I reckon the forks could maybe do with being a tad softer, but I am on some chunky(ish) ergon grips, and the death grip think could be part of it, first remotely challenging/technical ride for ages.

I had a load of issues with hand pain when on my bike ( spesh enduro 29 medium..im 5’10 ) stem was 60mm, bars 750 10mm rise. I changed to a 35mm stem, 30mm carbon riser bar and added a 5mm spacer under the stem as i had too much weight on the hands. I rode like this for a bit and it was better but not perfect. Tried those Esi extra chunky grips and although chunky not very cushioning by the time youve stretched them over the bars in fact they are quite a solid grip so ill be going back to the Oury grips from OnOne @ about £6. Ive since changed back to the 60mm stem,keeping the 30mm rise carbon bars & the 5mm spacer. This is alot better so i think the bar height is now ok, reach I’ll bring back by 10mm. Moral of the story, trial and error, see what works/imprimproves…borrow various length stems, bars etc. from mates.

If you have big hands get some big grips, lizard skins northshores are good for me, anything else gives me cramps.

try a shorter stem, it might not solve your back problem but you’ll most probably like it.

For the back pain stretching before and after is the answer for me, a physio started me doing lots of stretching to address another issue I had and since I started(the other issue is now long gone) I haven’t had back pain anymore. Just dedicate 20mins a day and make sure you do extra befoe and after riding. It works and it’s free!

Hand cramp could just as easily be an incorrectly adjusted fork or death gripping.

Only if you are weak. Unless I’ve missed something we are talking about a 2hr xc ride here.

Using one of these everyday helps alot too, may seema bit ott but when others are pulling their fingers off the bars and you’re ready to get back on the uplift it’s pretty sweet

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ADJUSTABLE-HAND-POWER-GRIP-EXERCISER-10-40-kg-Wrist-Forearm-STRENGTH-TRAINING-/291156376828?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item43ca45bcfc

At £15 each you could have 2, 3 or 4 of these http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/STOON3D/on-one-hot-box-stem to try things out.

Hand cramp – are your brakes and shifters aligned correctly so that your wrists aren’t bent?

The on one cnc stems are only a tenner at the moment, think I’ll try a 70mm and perhaps some thicker grips as a starting point, I do have big hands, and now I think about it, do recall my gloves bunching up a bit on the palm yesterday, could be due to the grips being on the thin side.

I lie, cnc stems were £10……

Earlier today. Damn their stupid eratic pricing.

I’m on a medium with 140mm forks (which shortens the reach) and a 50mm stem – and I’m only 1.5″ shorter than you, with slightly longer legs and almost certainly longer arms (6’2″ armspan). I doubt you’ll feel a 70mm stem is too short and I’m sure you’ll prefer how it steers, especially with those relatively wide bars.

I presume you’re standing up on the descents? Make sure you’re shifting your hips back into a powerful balanced position with a flat strong back – don’t just bend/hunch over into a (failed) attack position. If your fore-aft position is correct and your core strong enough your hands shouldn’t be doing very much except when you need to load/unload the front wheel.

I have a 60mm Truvativ Holzfeller for sale if your interested!

of course you should try it, try lots of things.

you can pick up stems for a few quid, it doesn’t have to be expensive.

I’m 5’11” tall, 32″ inside leg, broad.

Large mk3 Soul, inline seatpost, 55mm stem, 740mm bars.

Used to run a 70mm stem with 700 bars and the 55/740 is betterer in every way.

As your a midges’ taller than me I’d say try a 60.

So, I attempted to order a stem from on one, got the paypal receipt, but no order confirmation, and an error message on the on one site, great……

fascinating.

meanwhile.. ride your bicycle

I don’t have particularly big hands, but was getting a bit of pain after a couple of hours sometimes. I bought a pair of Superstar Excel grips and not had issues since, in fact I’m on the third set now in five years.
Cheap experiment, maybe worth a shot ?
Similarly I was also getting a little lower back pain , which went when I swapped a 100m stem / 680 bar combo to 70mm / 760. It’s a better, more comfy set up, for me, but when I bough my bike I wasn’t riding anything like as much as I do now and put much of both issues down to time on the bike, or not as case may be.

Just to put a contrary view. I prefer a 80/90mm stem and 680-700mm bars. Tried the short stem wide bars combo when it became fashionable but just wasn’t as comfortable for me. Plus I prefer slower technical stuff rather than jumpy stuff.