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Well that got your attention!
So, I got the wife an e-bike so she could join in on the two-wheeled fun, and she is loving it, even though rides take twice as long 😉
However… she’s grumbling about shoulder pain. The handlebars are 740mm wide, and I’m thinking that might be a bit much for someone who’s, shall we say, fun-sized at 5’4”.
Is there any kind of “scientific” method—using that term as loosely as possible—for figuring out the right bar width? Or do we just keep trimming until she stops complaining?
It's not the size that matters so much as the shape. Probably.
For me at least, I need at least 15 deg of sweep for my arms to feel vaguely normal.
I'm relatively broad, but the same height. Trimmed mine to 740mm, down from 770. SO much better, it feels less like a bus now.
The thing is, I never got any shoulder pain - the bike just felt difficult to turn/control.
So if she's typically narrow in the shoulders like many ladies are, you might want to go narrower, but the relationship between saddle height, bar height, reach etc can be explored beforehand by making some adjustments?
If you've got lock on grips, can't you just move everything in until it feels right? Women tend to have shorter arms as well as narrower shoulders so you might want a fair bit off. I don't know if a simple rule of thumb for flat bars like there is for drops.
How is the reception upstairs?
Classic thread. Wonder if that made it through the database move.
I'm relatively broad, but the same height. Trimmed mine to 740mm, down from 770. SO much better, it feels less like a bus now.
The thing is, I never got any shoulder pain - the bike just felt difficult to turn/control.
So if she's typically narrow in the shoulders like many ladies are, you might want to go narrower, but the relationship between saddle height, bar height, reach etc can be explored beforehand by making some adjustments?
That was actually her first route. The saddle’s pretty low right now since she’s still building up confidence. We’ve got a dropper on there, so she’s slowly inching it up as she gets more confident.
I feel it's her saddle height. Too low and it's not good for the back, maybe transferring the problem into her shoulders instead. I'm the same height as your Mrs and even though it was tricky to learn to move the body to dismount (meaning one can't touch the floor, as most women seem to want to do), It meant I was riding correctly. A physio friend gave this advice. Maybe she could spend an hour just learning how to mount and dismount with the saddle at correct height.
More wimmin on bikes the better.
do a plank or press up with your(her) eyes closed. find the easiest hand position. thats where you want the grips - work out the bar width from that.
although, as above, may not be the cause of the pain.
Can I just mention that I found, after getting my first ebike my shoulder ached for several months, from using it. Pushing the extra weight around was a significant change, could it be that this is part of the issue? As above, I wouldn't want you to go down the rabbit hole of trying to find a perfect setup, when she may just need more time to acclimatise to the extra weight.
Thanks everyone for your inputs.
Appreciate it!
do a plank or press up with your(her) eyes closed. find the easiest hand position. thats where you want the grips - work out the bar width from that.
Don't do that. Press up position does not equal riding position, otherwise I should be riding ~600mm bars
To go back to the OP. Get some grip that have separate bar plugs, then slide the controls along the bar until she finds the comfiest position for her. Then trim bars to suit.