I’m the other way round. 31in leg which suggests a longer reach. We all rode ‘short’ bikes for years tho and I don’t remember getting neck ache!

It’s a little odd. I got the tape measure out at the weekend and measured everything against my On-One HT, which I never have any issues with and have ridden 200 miles in one sitting, with no neck ache.

To my surprise, the measurements are not too different at all. Half a cm here and there, but nothing that would be obviously noticeable. I looked at bar height, stem height, seat height, frame stack, seat to grips distance.

I’ll have another ride with it with the current set up just to see if I was still carrying the neck ache from Wednesday into Friday’s ride (so even with the last set of adjustments, I was aching already without realising)

I’m 5’11 with 32″legs! Properly average proportions…

@mccraque Sorry to hear you’re having trouble. From reading all this I can’t think of any red flags in terms of what you’re doing and how you’re setting up the bike. Definitely try more height at the front though. Longer bikes can allow you to use a much higher bar that you might be used to on a shorter bike, because you don’t need the low bar to drag your weight onto the front on a properly proportioned bike. Maybe ask around your mates to see if someone has an older pair of high rise bars? Even if they’re narrower they’ll give you an idea. We used to sell 740 bars with 38mm rise when we did 26″ bikes, and it was a popular size/shape for quite a while. For reference, despite preferring 120mm forks on the Solaris, I do run 38mm rise bars with 10mm spacer under the stem, whereas I run 25mm Cotic bars with 5mm spacer under the stem on my RocketMAX. I post my perferences on here sometimes to give some guidance, but ultimately they are just preferences, and they suit my shape. One of the main things I like about having my Solaris setup with 120mm forks is because I have the fortunate situation of having a RocketMAX too, so that does the high speed rock smashing thing, and I like my Solaris to be a little different. It’s an absolute hoot with 140 forks, and if having longer forks help you get a better position, I guarantee you’ll not notice the extra travel for longer rides once you have them setup properly.

If its any consolation I have suffered from this as well. Upper back and neck pain 24hrs or so after a harder ride which often triggers a headache as well.

What has helped me is reducing the width of my bar, I used this guide https://www.pinkbike.com/news/finding-your-sweet-spot-handlebar-width.html   I am puzzled by the use of wide bars without any consideration to your body proportions, which seems a bit like saying everyone ride a Large frame regardless of your height – in fact I went as far as to get his book ‘Dialed’ and set my bike up based on his advice. This seems to go against current “trends” but for me it has made the bake ride much better and reduced the neck pain.

The other things that have helped (though I am not sure if its anything in particular or in combination) are: Increased the fork spring rate, use less travel but seem much better for the shoulders (Tip from Darren Murphy at PUSH in this Podcast  http://www.buzzsprout.com/78237/1452781 ) , Started going to a Osteopath reasonably often , Do Daily exercises for the neck and shoulders.

And currently things are a lot better for me.

Thanks @cy @petercook80 – I’ll get fiddling

I’ve got the stem as high and the bars S high as possible now. I’ll get the forks upped…

I ended up around 15psi more than I was running – based on the usual SAG measuring.

The Podcast is interesting to listen to and has lots of info and tips…

My Stem and Bars are now Lower than they were – just to confuse your thinking

I would agree with @petercook80 about bar width and forks. I run 770mm measured over the ends of the bars, so they’re actually about 755mm measured across the bare handlebar. I did a whole bunch of testing with this a couple of years ago, if you want to have a read:

https://conta.cc/2V0RZ2a

Also agreed on forks. I put an extra 6 psi in my forks after a couple of runs at Revs last week and got LESS arm pump because the fork was staying in the mid-stroke better and holding up more on the steep stuff. Sometimes these things are counter-intuitive, so you just have to try them.

@petercook80 “What has helped me is reducing the width of my bar, I used this guide https://www.pinkbike.com/news/finding-your-sweet-spot-handlebar-width.html ”

That’s pretty interesting – it suggests i should be running 805mm. I’d barely fit through any of my favourite local rides without serious issues.

For the record i’m bang on 6ft, riding a L frame with the 35mm stem, 780mm Cotic bars, 140mm forks.

I love the long reach, find it really comfortable.

@reeksy  But what you have done is worked out your “Maximum” biomechanical width – in the article he then goes on to discuss the advantages of making bars narrower than the maximum, by up to 5% , so your range would be 765mm – 805mm

He gives many reasons for reducing the width so consider them all. I ended up 15mm less than my maximum. It’s not about seeing a maximum and going with that…

I was running 780 bars and am 5ft 7  now running 740 and much much better for the shoulders , wider bars are better that the narrow bars of old, but to me your body dimensions and other factors must be considered when deciding how wide.

@petercook80 Oh crap … I thought when he said “simple” and put a big photo underneath, that marked the end of the article.

Makes a bit more sense, now. (Though I do love the 740mm and short wheelbase on my other bike for the really twisty forest stuff.)

“If you ride in trees, make sure your bars fit. Duh.”

🙂

I have still not resolved this. Really is bizarre. Have now tried every stem and bar combination that I have. Ranging from a 740mm (10 rise), 750 (25 rise) to 800 (20 rise) and with a 35mm and 50mm stem. I’ve tried the seat forward on the rails. And back on the rails. No change. So frustrating.

I’ve also changed one thing at a time to try and pinpoint. The biggest difference for the better was the move from the 35mm to the 50mm stem.

Actually feels less of an issue with the longer stem. and the ride position feels natural. Just like on my other bikes. Yet after about an hour of riding, bang…there it is.

Same route on the other hardtail. No such issues. On the road bike. No issues.

I feel I am down to two options now…up the fork travel or try a larger one. The latter being expensive!

I’ve been off the bike since early January with tennis elbow after an especially pumpy jumpy heavy-duty day on my relatively new long hardtail.

In 20 years of mtbb this is never happened to me the only change is cockpit position on my new bike.

I’ve had an awful lot of time to reflect on possible reasons and Si’s tech post has really resonated with me, especially the stuff about higher bars with longer cockpits. I’m going to be making some alterations in the very near future I think.

@mccraque  I feel for you. As you only seem to get this on the one bike try some measurements from the other hardtail that you dont get issues with.

Measure and compare the following… (do it the same on both bikes)

Put some string from the end of one grip to the end of the other and measure from the Centre of BB to the centre of that string (which will probably be somewhere above the stem)

Measure the angle of that line from BB to bar string that you measured above.

Measure from the centre of the saddle to the centre of the bar string

Measure the distance of the saddle above or below the bar string

Measure the width of both bars

Compare the two bikes on the above measurements and see where any differences are and see what you could do to get the Solaris roughly the same as the hardtail.  Probably not an exact science but might help you get more comfort.

Really sorry to hear this. Only thing I can think of is going even higher with the position as your bars are all at or around the same height. Maybe your mates have some higher rise bars you could try? It is super weird because the demo has Calver bars on it with a 780 x 25 rise. Drop me an email (cy@cotic) and I’ll see if we have anything we could lend you.

Yet after about an hour of riding, bang…there it is.

Are you giving yourself time to recover between rides ? Could be your aggravating your neck before it’s had chance to recover.

@cheesybeanZ – I wondered that but rode my other bike on Sunday, Same loop. No issues.

@cy – that’s a really kind offer. Thanks. I may well be in touch. My bike’s with my LBS at the moment having the fork upped by 20mm…. so I will give that a go and see how I get on first. Am also lopping 30mm off the 800mm bar…which I need to do where I live anyway, or face a summer of bruised knuckles.

When I test rode, I did back to back Medium and Large (half day on each) – both at 140mm and with the 25mm rise bar. Both felt pretty comfortable!

I have a M Solaris Longshot, 800mm Cotic bars (needed wider ones when I was buying the frameset) and 35mm stem, 130mm forks though .. I noticed neck pain from my rucksack – I was usually riding with my boys and needed luggage space for discarded stuff and lunch, couldn’t be arsed to move the tools about. When I finally could be arsed, and went back to my Camelbak with a a kidney hugging bladder (i.e. all the weight shifted down to my core) it went away. Might be the change in position exacerbating something? I’d come from a Whyte 29C so it was a very different position, but once that was sorted the Cotic is a far more comfy all day ride.