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Bought a Sonder Camino in Ti just under a year ago but I fear I've bought the wrong frame size.
On their recommendation I bought a large; but at 5'11" I am terminally in between sizes for all bike brands.
Shoulders and shoulderblades started bothering me on longer rides, and despite moving to the shortest stem the bike will take by design (50mm) and bars with shorter reach (Richey Corrolitos) I am still struggling a bit. Measuring from seat nose to hoods, its a full 2.5" longer than seat nose to bars on my mountainbike - which is a Bird Aether 9A in ML; not a short bike by any means.
My thinking is that Alpkit (and possibly others like Nukeproof) are lengthening gravel bikes without making the required seat tube angle adjustments to compensate. But I don't know anything about geo really!
I've asked Alpkit if theres any scope for swapping my frame for an ex-demo or other customer return; but that feels like a massive long shot.
Anyone else having similar struggles on gravel bikes? I'm not sure what else I can do.
what about seatpost? Is it a layback?
Have you tried angling the hoods up a touch and also taking a spacer out from under the stem, both of which will make the bike feel shorter.
If it’s your shoulders, i’d also look at bar width. The bike industry habitually specs bars that are too wide on drop bar bikes creating tension in the neck, shoulders and wrists. For example, I’m 6ft 3 and a 42inch chest but run a 40-42 cm bar on my road and gravel bike. Unless you’re exceptionally broad shouldered, anything above a 42 will likely be too wide. The guy who did my bike fit commented that he often has people walk in with 44-46cm bars complaining of sore shoulders backs and necks, and they almost always leave with a compact <42cm bar. The whole ‘leverage and control’ thing on gravel bikes is utter pish.
But yes, bikes everywhere are getting longer and I really wish they’d just quit it!
No; standard dropper
Get a bike fit, I had similar issues and ended up with a lay back seat post and longer stem!
I've both angled the hoods and dropped them a spacer down in the stem.
I'll admit I fell for the marketing on wider bars; I went for the 46cm Ritchey Corralitos. I do enjoy them; I tried the 48cm too and they were a blast to ride; but I admit probably not ergonomically sound; especially on a longer bike.
I've thought about a bike fit; but thats another £150-£300 I have to drop which I can't really afford.
I might put the Sonder Bomber bars back on as they measure 43cm at the hoods and see if thats better. May as well have burned the money I spent on bars and tape 🙁
I've looked at the geometry for the bike, and there's nothing that I'd say is wildly out of the ordinary for a large gravel frame, and with your height you should be able to make it fit you I'd have thought.
I agree with other posters though, I'd start with the bar width if you're feeling it in your shoulders. but also, some core/neck and shoulder strengthening exercises; as cyclist tend to just stretch their backs, they get sore pretty quickly, also make sure you're not shrugging, if you can, try to relax your neck and make a conscious effort to relax your shoulders so they're not up around your ears (something I had to learn to do)
I did not ice wider bars (46 vs 44) made my new bike feel longer, despite geo being almost identical to the previous bike. I ended up going 20mm shorter on the stem as a result, but sounds liek to tried that already.
are you on the facebook camino group, you see the occasional swap offer on their.
i got the v2.2 Ti camino Dec21 internally routed, and got the medium i'm 5ft10.5 /31" inside leg.
i was concerned about pedal stroke and the front wheel, but theirs tonnes of room, medium frame feels ideal, 60mm stem for me.
I'm only a few inches taller than you and ride an XL Freeranger, do run a short-ish stem (80mm) and I've the saddle well forward on the rails plus Ritchey Beacon bars which have a short reach and short drop.
I like a big frame as I've long legs, so need plenty of stack - would prefer a bit more TBH as I'm not young anymore...
I really like the Corralitos bars for the short reach and shallow drop; it’s why I got them. I’d like to try and make it work.
I’ve got one stem spacer to play with; I’ll heighten them first before stripping them and changing over the bars (again!)
Similarly I have long legs and the back end of the bike feels fine. I can appreciate the stability from the wheelbase too; apart from the shoulder pain I really enjoy riding it!
I got a Camino Al in the spring, and deliberately downsized to a medium. At just under 5'10 I've gone +10mm on the stem.
My knees are probably a bit close to the bars for complete comfort on out of the saddle efforts so when I replace this I will look at geo etc a bit more as it seems neither size would be perfect
taking a spacer out from under the stem, both of which will make the bike feel shorter
Say what????
I would say get a fit. Where are you based?
And yes wide gravel bars pull you down, you could have options there (short reach or narrower). You first need to make sure the seat is in the right place/angle and without a fit this in guesswork (IMHO).
+1 on a bikefit and see what they say.
May as well have burned the money I spent on bars and tape 🙁
If you’re careful, you should be able to re-use the tape, even if it doesn’t wrap all the way across the tops. Bars will likely resell if Ritchey.
Regarding the spacers - IME a slightly larger saddle - bar drop although not in measurement terms making things shorter, can feel shorter through arm position and a flatter back through hinging the hips rather than curving the spine and hunching the shoulders. All personal of course, but I’ve never had a bikefit thats put more spacers under a stem. If the bike feels too big, rarely will you want more stack.
+1 on the bikefit. Generally cheaper in the long run than trial and error components, frame swaps or unridden bikes
I'm based in Chester. Seems like quite a few places do it; about £140 which isnt as bad as I was expecting
First just move the saddle forward in its rails, unless it’s already as far forward as it will go
Is your stem pointing up? That might help. Every spacer under the stem?
I would probably own a Camino but I can see by the numbers that the head tube is too short for me
FYI the position on a drop bar bike would normally be much more stretched than an MTB