Pain in the neck

[lil4399]

This is a question for the other short arses in the forum, all you giants "move along, nothing to see here"

Went on a longish ride last week, about 5 hrs in the saddle, by the time I got home I had a pain between the shoulder blades and a nagging pain at the base of the skull. A week later the pain had reduced greatly so popped out on the bike for an hour and a half and got back in agony. Two days later I am still in pain. I have thought for a while I am fairly stretch out on the bike (5'7") the seat has been lowered but I believe the handlebars are standard.

Has anyone else had this? Has anyone changed the handlebars to shorten the reach? Would bar risers help?

I love the bike and I am determined to sort it so any help would be much appreciated.

[KiwiCol]

Here Lil, check this site out.  On it you select whatever bike you want & see how you fit on it. You also have adjustable parameters (options) of handle bar rise, handlebar pull back, raised seat, lowered seat, pegs adjustment.  Heaps of stuff.

What I like about it is I can see how I fit on a given machine & also what the addition of a particular mod makes to comfort etc.


Find a bike you know you 'fit', see how you're positioned on it, then add the 14 & a TEX next to it (as an example), see the different riding position of each, then do some mods on screen to see the changes they make before you go out n buy any.


http://cycle-ergo.com/

[lil4399]

Cheers KC, tried the site, it's very good, it would appear an inch raised and an inch rake of the bars should help.

I will have a look at the renthal site. 

[Hooli]

I'm 5'10" & get that with standard bars, so did my 5'6" ex. Renthals where the cure.

I think it's the sweep of the bars pushes your shoulders back like you are stretching & that causes it.

[lil4399]

I'm 5'10" & get that with standard bars, so did my 5'6" ex. Renthals where the cure.

I think it's the sweep of the bars pushes your shoulders back like you are stretching & that causes it.

Hooli - did you go for a straighter bar? I thought that might make me reach further but I can understand what you mean by the sweep of the bars.

[Hooli]

My 14 came with Renthals, I can't recall the number but they are flatter, lower and probably more importantly straighter (less sweep back).

However one of my ex's 14s had standard bars (at one point she had three 14s!) and it was the only one of the four 14s we had between us that caused neck pain.

[Tony Nitrous]

This is a question for the other short arses in the forum, all you giants "move along, nothing to see here"

Went on a longish ride last week, about 5 hrs in the saddle, by the time I got home I had a pain between the shoulder blades and a nagging pain at the base of the skull. A week later the pain had reduced greatly so popped out on the bike for an hour and a half and got back in agony. Two days later I am still in pain. I have thought for a while I am fairly stretch out on the bike (5'7") the seat has been lowered but I believe the handlebars are standard.

Has anyone else had this? Has anyone changed the handlebars to shorten the reach? Would bar risers help?

I love the bike and I am determined to sort it so any help would be much appreciated.

I'm no short arse but I had the exact same problem.
I'm 54 with arthritis and a previous work and bike injuries.
I owned 2 faired Hayabusa's and struggled with long full day rides.
I changed to riding naked bikes with Renthals that fit my height and reach.
Now I'm back to doing high mileage again.

Only thing I will add, is lots of folk try and fix bikes, by changing seats, bars, grips, risers, footpegs etc etc when in reality the bike is fine and they are just not ride fit. Their body is used to a cruise to the shops or cafe, but not used to doing hundreds of miles. I've been riding around 38 years but if I have a few months of short occasional rides I'm in pain when I do a long haul. If I'm doing long all day rides every weekend then a 1,200 mile weekend is do able.

I'm not trying to preach, but yes, a bike that fits you is better, as is spending time in the seat.

[gsxbarmy]

When I had my 14 I had something very similar (as I have had 3 discs replaced in my neck).  Fitted Oberon risers to raise the bars up a further 20mm and replaced the standard bars with Renthal 758 Ultra lows with Oberon Stainless Bar Ends which gave much better rake on the bars and ironed out the vibration for the higher bars. Net result was that pain I had between my shoulders went.

Just had something very similar on my Triumph Explorer, which was resolved by fitting SW-Motech Barbacks. These raise the bars slightly but more importantly move them back towards the rider giving a more upright position. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SW-Motech-Up-Back-Barback-Handlebar-Risers-Silver-for-22mm-Bars/201606514054?epid=648092260&hash=item2ef0af4586:g:0MkAAOxyn9BRbWVp

What I actually fitted to my Explorer were the SW-Motech Vario Barbacks - these are superb and give both a 50mm rise and a complete range of movement so you can set the bars exactly where you want them
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SW-Motech-Vario-Barback-oslash-22mm-Up-back-variable-Silver/113115180198?epid=1874814398&hash=item1a5630aca6:g:4~EAAOSwyglbXCjX

[Kiwifruit]

Was getting uncomfortable where the standard bars were set when l bought the bike. Put 20mm risers on, rolled the bars back so when on hard lock they miss the tank by about 10mm. Much nicer now.
Your hemet can make a difference too. If you are tense on the bike your shoulders will get tired more quickly.
Lastly, like Tony says helps to be bike fit for longer rides.
It can also help to be younger......

[Hooli]

Good point about the helmet Kiwifruit.

I had one that was loose, which I hadn't noticed as it felt snug. But at speed it wobbled so my head was shaking, that gave me neck ache too.

[lil4399]

Thanks guys, definitely right about being bike fit. I had a long lay up before buying the 14 due to lower spinal surgery, so I have only been doing 1 -2 hrs at a time building up myself to being "match fit". But it feels "the wrong type of pain" for it to be fitness. Too specific so to speak, right between the shoulderblades  (head/neck may be a separate issue) I also have a new helmet, whilst it is super comfortable, I will try my old one on the next trip just to see....

I think the handlebar change to a straighter bar as Hooli suggested sounds like a plan and slipping on some raisers can't hurt either, I will look at Andre's suggestion over on fleabay.

[Andre]

I think you mean Barmy's ebay suggestion

[lil4399]

I think you mean Barmy's ebay suggestion

Oops!!   

[gsxbarmy]

Never mind, so long as the potential solutions work for you!

[VladTepes]

I find pain in the neck is caused by wind resistance at high speed, being a naked bike and all.

I did have bad wrist pain with the 14 though, changed to straighter bars (renthals) and that problem disappeared immediately.