[Closed] Ever given up on a bike?

Don't hold the bars so tight.
It takes time to adapt to a different position.

ravages the body

OK princess....  🙂

Lucky you. My body's not been ravaged since I got married.

Yep, a Singular Puffin fat bike, just couldn't get on with it. Everything on paper was spot on, I just always preferred riding my Mukluk

I also get lower back pain from my road bikes. Less so my gravel bike due to it’s quite upright position.

Yeah, I’ve just sold my road bike because it gave me no enjoyment what so ever. It should have been great but just wasnt.

I don't think I could ride a proper road bike. Just stick some fast tyres on the gravel bike

Sounds like your bike fitter needs to up their game. My road bike definitely makes you feel every bump in the road but actually over time it’s no more fatiguing than my mtb or gravel bikes.

Bought a Surly Pugsley once, gave it 3 months. Meh. No love was felt.

Bike goes like a dream, it's the positioning I just cannot get right.

Yes unfortunately it was my shand stoater rohloff with full dream build birthday bike for life, I swapped alsorts had a couple of fits but had to let it go, turns out it wasnt the bike it was me I had an underlying hip issue agh.....

Dialled Alpine, really wanted to love it and had similar hardcore hardtails leading up to it but it felt just too twitchy and sharp steering. Geometry change when you got through the travel on the forks was scary.

I think it happens. Don’t beat yourself up. Try something different, borrow a bike etc and work out what you do or don’t like. Go again.

Oh yes, a Kaffenback. The most dead and dull inspiring ride I’ve ever felt on a bike. I knew it was time to sell it when I caught the bus to work rather than cycle that monstrosity in.

I’ve had a bike fit

You can go to two different bike fitters and get two different results. I went to a second bike fitter to get ‘saddle mapping’ done, the first thing he said was asked why my bike was set up in such an aggressive position - but it’s perfect for me.
Just have to find what’s comfortable for you. Could be that you need different bar tape, or simply raise the bars a little.

I can't do road bikes, I'm just not the right shape. And yeah, it's not so much a case of giving up on a bike as just thinking, why ride this thing if I don't like it? Happened to my poor Scandal, I had some really good times on that bike then I rode a Soul and I never had a good ride on the Scandal again, knowing what a hardtail could actually be like.

And there was my ellsworth but the less said about that disaster the better

Ever given up on a bike?

Yup... Probably 80% of the bikes I've ever owned I haven't gelled with particularly. I make no bones about the fact I'm a real princess when it comes to a bike needing to be "just right", most bikes get a handful of rides and a maybe a setup or even a minor spec change to see if they can be improved, but if I really don't get on with it, no point in hanging onto it indefinitely... As the poster says... "Life is too short to ride shit bikes" 🤷🏻‍♂️

When I find one I gel with though... I tend to hang onto them for a long time, and even when I could/should upgrade them, have a hard time doing so!

It's not giving up if you are doing it right, it's a conscious uncoupling.

Yeah Cannondale Jekyll that was a PSA from here a few years ago, crap geometry, crap shock, cracked frame after a few months, crap BB30, crap Sram drivetrain, crap Cannondale engineering. Hated it that much it pretty much brought about my retirement from riding mtb’s!

Sore back? Try lowering the saddle or tilting it slightly forward.

Sore hands? Try raising bars or moving them further away. Or rolling the bars back.

Sore back? Try lowering the saddle or tilting it slightly forward.

A bit of shooting into a barrel with a blindfold on there.

conscious uncoupling.

Coldplay 😂😂

Yeah 5 road bikes, they're all rubbish 🙂

Cotic bfe, just wasn't the bike for me, too dead too dull feeling.

I had an early Mojo, total disappointment, oversized steel lost all of its positive attributes.

Yep, Giant Anthems!

I’ve owned two. First was a 26” that I bought new and just never found it fun to ride, so sold it a few months later.

Then 5 years on, decided it was new bike time, went through the “what XC full suss” question, to which the stock answer is “an Anthem”, so bought a 29” version, and hated that too!! I love the way they look, but just don’t enjoy riding the. - they just seem very numb to me.

Must. Not. Buy. Another. Anthem. Ever.

Original Kona coiler for me, felt like they'd taken a fairly decent xc bike and just lifted it by 2" to give more travel. Same angles, and a silly high BB. Only thing it was good at was very rocky, tricky climbs.

Yes a few but wait for Ton, he’s struggled with a number. I loved road bikes in my teens and twenty’s but now for roads I would rather take out my rigid mtb with road tyres than my ti road bike with drops. Roads just too much on going relentless tarmac, trail bikes on single track Please!

If I were to be going for a bike fit, it would be for one of two reasons - speed or comfort.

Sounds like your road bike may have been fitted for speed.

I've never had a bike fit, but for comfort small adjustments until you get it spot on is key. You do need to acclimatise to a road bike a bit too. Or just replicate your gravel bike position but that's probably a bit pointless.

Having said that, maybe the aggressive position isn't for you, the gravel bike might be better for what you want. I've acclimatised to drops a lot since extending the commute (Well, fully de-acclimatising now!) and to the position from doing some racing at the velodrome, but I wouldn't ever have only a bike with that position, some days my aero ambitions write cheques that my spine can't cash.

I did have a bike that I just couldn't get on with. In the end, my brother bought it and ran it for a good couple of years until it cracked, by which point he was fully back into MTBing, so it was all good! It was a pity, as I really wanted to like the bike, but just couldn't get on with it. One problem was the forks needed sorting, and I put it down to the forks not being good.

Original Kona coiler for me, felt like they’d taken a fairly decent xc bike and just lifted it by 2″ to give more travel. Same angles, and a silly high BB. Only thing it was good at was very rocky, tricky climbs.

I had one, but it had 30mm longer forks, which didn't help the BB height at all, but the handling descending over rocky things that might cause pedal strikes was great!

Only once, not given up exactly, but I had a OnOne 456 years ago, I was between sizes so bought the smaller one (18") and used it for quite a while but always had a niggle about it. Then they had them on sale (of course they did, this is On-One remember...) so I bought the 20" just to see and moved all the bits over. It was immediately obvious I should have bought that one in the first place...

I rode a Giant NRS for a few years. It was fairly quick, but never nice to ride. I played around with forks, bars, stems, etc., but I never liked it. Replaced it with a 26" Anthem, much nicer to ride.

A Pace RC305. I thought I wanted a hardtail, I thought I wanted a "Pace"

Turns out I wanted neither. It felt totally dead.

How much do you ride the roadie normally and what kind of shape are you in? Personally I do find that proper, racy, road bikes do require more commitment to physical conditioning than other bikes. Even swapping from my winter bike to my summer one, which is just a hair longer and lower, I end up with the odd ache, but worth it for the feel of the thing until I acclimatise.

A week or 2 of being lazy in the winter due to bad weather or doing other stuff, and my lower back will give me some gyp - ride more, stretch more, look after myself better and it goes away again. I've been riding the summer roadie a lot (within NCNGNF!) over the past few weeks and it just feels better and better as I spend more time on it and get stronger.

For me - bad back = tight hamstrings/glutes and a collapsed pelvis (too much desk time), numb hands would suggest you're supporting yourself too much with your arms, rather than your core. Sure in both cases you can tinker with the bike (or change the whole thing), but its cheaper to tinker with yourself... (arf!) If you've had a bike fit, that suggests the bike shouldn't be too far away from right - its not rocket science or black magic afterall.

Yep. Genesis Vagabond

Loved the concept.

Loved the paint.

Couldn't gel with it. It wasnt 'steel' enough to justify the heft. It wasnt ergonomic enough to justify the handling, and it wasnt fast enough to justify the overall comprimise.

Went back to my CAADX which is a lot faster and more comfortable despite being aluminium, sharper angles and less tha half the tyre volume.

Really fancy another propper gravel bike but just think Id miss the CAADX.

Revolution hybrid something.
Right size for me, just was way too short with wheels of lead, tyres of plastic doom levels of grip, handlebars of scaffold pipe flex/comfort and a saddle that you could feel the mounting points through your butt.
The only good bit was the Shimano Nexus hub - and even that was iffy to ok with you.
By the time I priced up replacing everything, it was cheaper to sell and buy a another cheap bike.
Amazingly I stuck at it for nearly three months of commuting 16 miles a day.

Original Kona coiler for me, felt like they’d taken a fairly decent xc bike and just lifted it by 2″ to give more travel. Same angles, and a silly high BB. Only thing it was good at was very rocky, tricky climbs.

Me too actually, except mine was the 2nd or 3rd gen delux version. I just never fully got on with it.

More recently , a Cannondale Scalpel. It was fast for racing which is what I got it for, but was just not much fun to ride and fest very flat and wooden, so it had to go. Sold it after less than a year.

Sort of.
Bought a Kona Paddy Waggon fixie as a commuter bike. Figured it'd be maintenance free, great in teh city and make the morning commute a bit more engaging.

The problem was that my commute is 14 miles and has 900ft of climbing in it. After 2 months of trying I realised that it was the wrong tool for the job and it took all the fun out of the ride.

However, with a few tweaks to the spec, it's actually proved a great bike for short little trips and also for canal towpath rides.

1992 Marin team issue Raced it, rode it, it murdered me. The ridged downtube and all round oversized tange prestige tubing was brutal even with a 50mm Rockshox mag 21!

Still suffering white knuckle.

Here's something that doesn't get mentioned so often, have you tried a wider pedal stance width on your road bike? I'm the same as you, can ride a racey mtb all day long but my road bike hurts within hours- still ride it though. I tend not to ride my road bike in winter and when it comes to rolling it out again I find the stance width (Q factor) makes my hips and lower back ache until it gets used to it. You can alter the cleats a bit to gain a few mil, use pedal washers on some pedals, or some pedals come with different axle lengths - a slightly wider stance can sometimes help people with bowed legs get more comfortable. As for hands, raise the bars 5mm+, make sure your saddle position is correct for/aft - you should be able to ride along hovering your hands above the bars supported by your core, if you can't do this and fall forward you could try moving the saddle rearward (counter-intuitive but can shift weight balance back to the saddle a bit) + run lower pressure in your front tyre- I go as low as 80psi on a 25c, used to be 110psi all-round back when hands/wrists weren't knackered. Or buy a Roubaix/Domane/Synapse.

If your back is sore and your hand are numb is does sound like you are pitched (falling) forward into a too aggressive position for your body condition.

Try saddle a bit more forward to support you more and get a higher rise stem before you give up on the bike.

I bought a Saracen Kili Cromo in 2010 to replace my On One Inbred, basically I wanted a 853 tubed Inbred as the 4130 tubes seemed a bit dead. Unfortunately I couldn't find one. On paper the Saracen had similar geometry but had the tubeset I wanted plus it looked gorgeous.

When I rode the Saracen it lacked the Inbred's bomb-proof feel but also lacked any steel "feel". I guess the CEN regulations had something to do with that. Fast forward to 2019 and I got a Pace RC627. It does feel bomb-proof but also lacks that mythical steel zing. I do love it though, but I think that has something to do with expectations and recent geometry changes.

Never given up on a bike but I've given up whilst on a bike a few times 🙂

My last gravel bike - Genesis CDA, was alright but never really wanted to ride it, just didn't do it for me somehow, think cheap wheels and drivetrain were a factor.

Cannondale aluminium road bike things, road it a handful of times and hated the site of it! Stiff as hell and really unpleasant to ride, felt like you've been for 10 rounds after a days riding. Took my 7 years before buying another road bike again....

Yes. An Ellsworth ID. It frequently tried to kill me. T say the geometry was weird is an understatement. Still, pedal strikes were a rarity .....

Yup.   Broke my shoulder and bought an Intense Tracer which I spent 3 weeks building up one handed.   I just could not get the suspension right.   I had the shock TfTuned, eventually went coil but the thing just blew through its travel every time - or was rock.    I don't like to "feel" may suspension as a see-saw motion so after 3 months I sold it to an Intense fan who loved it.

Shame, I so wanted to love it.

I suppose I gave up on DH bikes in general, after dabbling with a few used specimens.

Yes they were unbeatable for actual DH riding, but a freeride bike did 85% of the job and I could pedal it around the hill for a few hours winch-and-plummet style.

Then I gave up on freeride bikes for "super-enduro" bikes. Some might say that was more of a rebranding exercise though.

you should be able to ride along hovering your hands above the bars supported by your core

I've heard this theory a lot but not sure I really buy it, if the core muscles were supposed to be supporting your upper body in this way the would be in a state of constant strain and tension which in my experience is very bad news!

A huge +1 for just adapting to a road bike again, I had six months off dueto a herniated disc which eventually required surgery, so have been very gradually re-introducing myselfvto the road bike. 'Little and often' is key, an hour a day mostly for me, and my back/knees/neck have felt better with every ride, and that's making a conscious effort to RELAX all the muscles in my core e.g. letting my belly hang out.

And for what it's worth, work your glutes! If they're weak or just not engaging then the lower back ends up overworked and fatigued, resulting in low back pain...

I bought a canyon torque in 2015, went to the alps with it once, hated it, just never felt right. Sat in my basement ever since. Should have sold it straight away, worth peanuts now.

Absolutely loads -
1996 Marin pine mountain
Mk 1 santa Cruz bullit
Marin single pivot east peak
Intense tracer
Gary fisher cake.....worst bike ever owned
Nicolai cc.....sooo short
Santa Cruz blur lt hate vpp

And a few others.....that I just felt meh about
Yeti SB 95...ok but meh
Turner sultan....really liked lots about it but too short

If it ain't working move on....
They come and go.....
50 ways to leave your bike

Also gave up on a few bikes for various reasons:

Orange P7 19" - it was just too big and unwieldy for a SS
Santa Cruz Chameleon - my back couldn't take any more
OO Ti456 - the front end felt so low that I kept thinking I would fall off it unless i was hanging off the back of it.
Cove Hummer - just a bit numb for a Ti Bike
Cotic Soda - because it felt too flexible - I honestly thought i was going to snap the head tube off it.
Ibis HDR - just didn't get on with it despite loving my Mojo and SLR before it
Genesis CdF 725 - just dead boring
On One Pompetamine Alfine 11 - as above

Singular Puffin

- Utter rubbish, long, heavy and laborious even with lightweight bits.

That's it for bikes that I didn't keep long.

I never got on with the original Turner Burner (well 2003 but you know what I mean), far to XC for me, the thing was I spent a shed load of cash to replace the Azonic propulsion that I bought because I couldn't afford the Turner in the first place & it was a far better bike for me, I rode it until there was play in the frame where the seat stay bearings fitted, used a coke can to shim it & gave it to a mates son who still uses it, meanwhile the Turner resides in the loft ridden only a handful of times.
Ho hum.

Yep, Orange P7.
2008.
I did have some good times, but i think they were despite, rather than because, i was on it.
Just felt dead, uninspiring to ride.
I can’t put my finger on why exactly, I changed virtually every part on it, to no avail.
In contrast, 10 years later, a surly karate monkey is in a different league, and definitely has that steel feel, exactly what I expected the orange to feel like but never did.

Orange P7 didn't matter what I did it just rode like a bag of shit.

Yes, a DW Turner Sultan that I rode for nearly 5 years and thought it was great.

Then I bought a new skool geo hardtail, rode it exclusively for 4 months, got back on the Sultan and just went 'Nope!'.

It was for sale inside of 14 days.

Ignorance was indeed, bliss.

Specialized Tricross. Good solid bike, comfortable and perfect for C2C with a rack but it was heavy, sluggish and dull to ride.

I sold it to a colleague for commuting and when I saw it months later both disc brakes and hubs were a blackened mess of oil and dirt. When I asked him why he replied that he was in the habit of giving the wheels a good oil every week!

Really interesting reading these replies.

The dead feeling bikes in particular. In my experience the tyres, spokes, rims and wheel build (in that order?) have an incredible impact on feel. A dead bike can be enlivened with a good wheel or even just a good tyre. A cheap way of rescuing an expensive relationship breakdown between you and a bike.

As to the OPs problem: if your fitter isn’t starting with your cleats then all they are doing is matching your physical dimensions to the bike measurements.

Two people with identical dimensions are unlikely to be on the same fit due to flexibility and condition differences. For that reason it’s often a good idea to examine flexibility and condition deficiencies before making changes beyond adjustments to existing components unless something is way off.

Lockdown is a great excuse to spend a bit of time looking at whether you could improve flexibility that you might have decided in the past you didn’t have time for...

I'm feeling meh so far about my pretty new Jeffsy CF - just feels a bit dead. My first FS for about 15 years and I'll admit I'm still learning about it. Tempted to trade frame for a Ti hardtail, but I'll wait until I've had more time on proper trails after lock-down.

Lockdown is a great excuse to spend a bit of time looking at whether you could improve flexibility that you might have decided in the past you didn’t have time for…

Nope flexibility and core strength is not the issue. Pre lockdown I swam 3k a week at least, as well as 3 hiit classes and gym work. And I’m still flexible enough to bend over and rest my elbows on the ground.

numb hands and backache persist.

Try 10—15psi less in your tyres. Honestly that bike fit and vibration stifling carbon is more or less worthless if you're running your tyres too hard...

Go on let a puff or two out, it's free and very easy to replace if you find there's no benefit...

A Marin Mount Vision. First and only time I bought a full sus, in about 2000, rode it, thought it was ok at first, well it was a big upgrade over fully rigid I had before it. But never really liked it. Bought a hard tail not too long after and then got rid of Mount Vision.

Just didn't like the energy sapping feel of it, and much prefer riding a hard tail, it suits my riding. Apart from one 5 minute ride of a mates bike I've never rode another full sus since.

Keep thinking of buying another full sus, but don't want to shell out a load of money and not enjoy it.

If your back is sore and your hand are numb is does sound like you are pitched (falling) forward into a too aggressive position for your body condition.

Try saddle a bit more forward to support you more and get a higher rise stem before you give up on the bike.

I thought exactly the same when I had a similar issue (also accompanied with a numb groin). But I was wrong.

After giving in and getting a professional fit. The answer for me was actually the complete opposite. The fitter moved my saddle backwards almost as far as it would go and dropped it by 5mm. They lowered my stem by about 25mm. Moving the saddle back meant more weight on the saddle and less on the arms, together with an improved hip angle. This meant that my back and core muscles were doing less work and my spine was much more relaxed with a more natural curvature. The difference for me was like night and day. After a few rides, the position got even more comfortable as my flexibility improved.

@13thfloormonk. The logic of being in a position which you can remove your hands from the bars whilst supporting your weight with your core is about guaranteeing that you are riding in a position where your hips are stable and the core and arms are not overworked. Your weight should be supported by the saddle, not your arms.

If you need to use your arms to support a lot of weight, or stabilise your body then your arms and back and core will soon fatigue (unless tribars are used). It is the opposite of trying to work your core as hard as possible.

If you’re that flexible then you have some muscle strength or tension imbalance that you could work on. Road bikes don’t inherently ravage your (very highly flexible) body and you’ve had a bike fit so there is something you can do for yourself before you give up.

I have to very consistently work on my psoas and iliacus to stay pain free. Sometimes the strength or weakness can be the opposite of what you think for where the pain is.

If you’re serious about solving the problem I’d find another bike fitter and have them diagnose you.

Here’s something for road riders with lower back pain to try:

Tip the shifters inwards to rotate the thumbs over and palms more downwards which changes the angle of all the joints from elbow through shoulder and down into the scapula. This reduces tension in my lats and down into my lower back.

Try it just standing without a bike to feel the effect.

I find it also spreads the support into the hand and reduces pressure points too.

I never got on with my Orange 5. Tried different stems, bars, even a larger frame! Couldn't get it to work for me, I think in the end it was the brake jack that was the issue for me. Its put me off single pivot bikes since which may not be fair to more recent designs using that approach

I've had a few bike like this:

Kirk Magnesium- nice looking but terrrible. Flexed soo much at the back it changed gear itself.

Dekerf Team SL 853 frame. Steel that was comfortable but had no front triagle torsional stiffness and did NOT like tight steep descending. Terrifying.

Lightspeed Pisgah Ti- overpriced and uninspiring to ride. not so much a bad frame / build, just bland to the point of boredom. For the money a terrible dissapointment.

Some suprising bikes:

Raleigh Magnum 15- despite being made of pig iron it climbed like and absolute goat.

Saracen Tufftrax- similar to above, it just egged you on to climb. Seemed to find grip everywhere.

Note: both of these were typically poor compared with modern stuff for decending on. But they offered something above a run of the mill bike at the time.

Pompino. Awful, then some tosspot with rigid panniers cut me up on a corner and brought me down because he couldn't stand a singlepeed bike overtaking him. Gave it away.

Knee replacement has made all bikes fairly challenging over the last couple of years and finally had to give up on my Ritchey P29er. Gutted as was previously an absolute joy to ride. Road bike is more bearable since losing the clipless so it's staying for now.

Weirdly the Jones has become easier to ride which I put down to the contrary nature of the bike itself.

I've recently in the last couple of weeks sold my road bike (Giant TCR Advanced 2) that I bought 18 months ago, it's the second time I've tried to persist with road biking and given up.  I find it uncomfortable whatever fit or position I've been set to, my neck normally suffers the most. The truth is road bikes are just not designed to be as comfortable as a more upright style of bike is.  Not for everyone.

I've always had mountain bikes since the early 90's and just find them more enjoyable to ride.  My recent bike build I've specced a lightweight carbon frame and will build a set of wheels with skinny semi-slick tyres for when I want to do a reasonable road ride.  But right now I'm much preferring being back on an MTB again.

A couple of bikes, both full sus. The 1st was my first full suspension - a 2007 Santa Cruz Superlight. It was quite flexy (I could make it change gear without using the gear shifter if I pedalled hard enough) and the single pivot suspension was quite crude. Ended up riding my hardtail more than the Superlight which spent most of its time sat in the shed unused. Had it for couple of years I think then I sold the frame.

The 2nd was a bit of an oddball - A 2006 Kona A singlespeed full sus frame which I built up. Turns out it was very short in the front centre for its XL size, I just didn't really gel with it and sold the frame in the end.

I never got on with my Orange 5. Tried different stems, bars, even a larger frame! Couldn’t get it to work for me, I think in the end it was the brake jack that was the issue for me.

I took one out on a demo ride up in the Lake District once. Absolutely terrifying. I was used to 4-bar linkage which worked all the time; this seemed like a significantly worse design in all ways.

Never stopped MBR raving about them though so 🤷🏻‍♂️

My Jeffsy oddly. The spec and reviews were unbelievable. Never felt right on it compared to my soul. So much so I've just bought a rocketmax frame and put the YT up for sale.

There were a couple of MTBs I *nearly* gave up on but was really glad I didn't.

One of the original Charge Dusters which just didn't live up to the 'steel is real' hype, i.e. it was heavier than my previous aluminium Bianchi, and also stiffer. But I just got used to it, fitted progressively wider tyres until I'd gone as wide as XC717 rims and the frame could accommodate, and then I went tubeless which turned the whole thing into a bit of a hooligan really, a friend described it as a 'cross country BMX' (this was in the days when 100mm and saddles higher than your 560mm handlebars was still relatively common). Enjoyed some of my best days MTB on that bike once I adapted to it.

I eventually replaced it with a Whyte 905 (when they were still 26"). It also seemed harsher and heavier than I had really hoped, but once I learned to actually ride it hard at things and set the suspension up more 'poppy' it (dare I say it) came alive, lots of silly cornering moments and trying to jump off every root I saw (again, this was a pre-dropper mostly XC hardtail albeit with 120mm forks). Didn't give it much of a chance before I replaced it with a big full suss in preparation for moving to Canada.

The one bike I never gave a chance was a Cannondale CAADX. No real reason, I bought it because it was going cheap, but it was just never as fun as the singlespeed Genesis Day One I had owned previously, possibly because the Day One actually DID exhibit the whole steel is real whippy compliant ride, or maybe just because singlespeed is more fun for that style of bike. Either way I sold the CAADX on nearly mint and barely having made a loss (might also have co-incided with moving to Canada, I forget).

Original Cotic Soul.

Just couldn't get it to work for me no matter how much I changed things. Got rid after 6 months.