I bought a FELT S32 for myself at Christmas. (Great bike except for the newbie mistakes of not clipping out of my pedals and thinking that I could ride over a bumpy road in aero bars one handed at 18mph. Man that one hurt! ) So when I bought the bike the owner said the bars sit a little high but you can reverse the neck to drop them down some. I thought, Why do that? I felt fine where they were.
So I have been riding the same route on my long weekend rides and averaged speed was 14 mph and average cadence was 72 RPM. Well a few days ago I was reading Joe Friels bible and looking at pictures of the PROs bikes and noticed how their bars were so low in comparison. So I get the tool kit out and reverse the neck and take out three spacer rings to drop the bars about four inches. I then moved my seat forward about an inch and a half to support the bar drop.
My first ride out I noticed the difference pretty quickly, the low angle was pretty noticable compared to what I am used to. However, after about 10 miles I noticed that I was shooting at 20+ MPH and not with a tail wind, but with a regular wind. I have also noticed my average speed are now 16+ mph and my cadence has moved up to over 85 RPM. I can only attest it to a much more agressive aero position which is making me faster.
Pretty cool.
Is there something else I should be doing to be more aero? I have my knees in, my head down already.
BTW, First post…
a four inch front end drop is HUGE in the world of bike fitting. if your body can handle it (and you seem to be MORE powerful) without any problem, more power to you. but typically one would make minor adjustments, spacer by spacer, to allow for a slower adaptation. whatever works for you though!
Does your stem hurt from the low position?
Maybe your seat was too high. Keep ridin!
What you are calling a “neck” is actually called a “stem.”
That’s a big change all at once, maybe flip the stem first, then week by week take out a spacer or two and see how it feels. Yes generally, as you go lower in the front your saddle should go up and forward. However, have an experienced fitter take a look at your position as the internet is never the best way to do this.
Forgive the newbie word choice, we used to call the stem a “gooseneck,” there is where I got the term.
Well My seat height is fine given that on the down stroke my leg is fully extended at the heel as per the Joe Friel bible.
From the rides I have been on I havent felt any worse. My neck muscles are always sore as I am adapting to the aero position, I have always been a mountain \ BMX biker growing up.
My neck hurts no worse than when I had the bars at the original full height. They were so high that its the equivelant to riding out of the aero bars now. I am just more aero and therefore much faster.
I guess I should look out for the aches and pains. Hopefully I am going to feel better as I adapt to the whole TRI bike position.
RD