Forum menu
Not sure if I'm just trying to convince myself of N+1 here, but bear with me for a second...
I bought a Giant TCX 18 months ago as a treat to myself for packing in the fags and ended up with a medium (I'm 6'1") to give myself room to move over the bike. Over the past year I've added a spare set of lightweight wheels with 23's and a tighter cassette to use for pure road rides (cross tyres are expensive!).
As I've ridden longer durations on road, I've noticed a fair amount of pain in my elbows.
Since buying the bike, I've definitely got a lot more flexible and I noticed yesterday that my head is much further forward than it used to be. My saddle position hasn't been changed and is still spot on for my usual measurements and I have no issues with leg pains. I bear almost no weight on my arms and don't get any issues with numb hands etc.
Would it make sense that additional bend in my arm and gentle jiggling of the bars could cause discomfort which wouldn't occur if my arm was straighter?
I'm not entirely convinced myself but I don't get any issues when moving around the bike off road, yet today I was nearly crippled holding a laptop for 20mins...
Will a larger road bike cure this issue? Planet-x pro carbon ultegra is looking very tempting at the minute!
Longer stem, maybe, or even lower it. A cm lower will be about 0.5 cm further away. But probably not a larger frame needed. When I ride on the hoods, my body and arms are almost an equilateral triangle. I like a very small bend in the elbow to counter jarring. If I lean right over as if into the wind, my elbow will be 90-100 degrees.
A road bike will offer a little quicker steering (depending on head angle), a longer wheelbase (about 1.5cm), the opportunity to lower the bars (if you don't have spacers already) and, if a bigger frame, less weight over the front wheel.
Try lowering the stem first.
Check the width of the bars lerk.
You may need wider or more narrow bars to put less strain on your elbows whilst riding on the hoods.
Leave your laptop at home 🙄