"Always try to keep our shoulders pulled down away from our ears, relaxed, but squared off," says Maxwell. Make sure your handlebars are in a position so that you feel like your shoulders can relax and aren't too high up toward your ears, and make sure you're not hunched over the bike as well. "It's going to take your shoulders kind of up into your ears rather than riding with a chest open and shoulders relaxed down," she says. You'll also want to avoid adjusting your handlebars too high because you can feel discomfort in your shoulders from having your arms too high up in comparison to the bike seat. "If your handlebars are too low, you're going to feel fatigued or sore in your lower back," Maxwell says.Īccording to Maxwell, you can feel discomfort from a low handlebar position because you're riding in a hunched-over position, which is not good form. Handlebars that are too high or too low for your body can lead to all sorts of pain and potential problems over time. Your bike handlebars will help you ride with proper form and support you - if you have them adjusted properly. Mistake 3: Handlebars are too low or high Your handlebars need to be adjusted properly so you have good form on the bike. Before you sit on your bike you can place your elbow at your seat and slide the seat forward to where your fingertip touches the handlebar. "A great way to measure is usually the length of your forearm from your elbow to your middle fingertip," says Maxwell. So you don't want to feel like you're reaching for your handlebars and your arms are stick-straight, and you don't want to feel like you're too close where your knees are bumping up against the handlebars," says Maxwell. "When you're sitting in the saddle, you want to be able to touch your handlebars with a comfortable bend in your elbows. In addition to the height of the seat, you can also adjust how close the seat is to your handlebars - or the seat distance. +5 More Mistake 2: Seat too far from or too close to handlebars a 3% to 5% bend in your knee where you can still look down and see the top of your foot," says Maxwell. "When you're at the bottom rotation of your pedal stroke, you should have a slight bend in your knee. Once you're on the bike you can do one more check to make sure the seat is adjusted correctly. If you raise it up to a 90-degree angle, the height of your leg should be at the same height as your saddle, because that's about the length of your pedal stroke," Maxwell says. "Another way to measure is if you stand on the floor next to your bike with your feet flat and raise the leg that's closest to the seat. One common way to measure how high your seat should be is to stand next to it and adjust the seat so that it's even with your hips.
That's because if your seat isn't the right height, you can put more impact on your knees and joints, which is the exact opposite thing you want from a bike. But it can be impactful if you don't set up your bike correctly," she says. "The whole thing with indoor cycling is that it's high-intensity, but low-impact. It's also the most important thing to get right, according to Maxwell. When you get ready to ride your bike, the first thing you'll look at is the seat height.
Karen Maxwell, a senior master instructor and head of Training Development for CycleBar, shared with us the top mistakes you should avoid (and how to fix them) when you're adjusting your new bike at home. Most bikes come with videos or tips on adjusting your bike to fit your unique needs. Everyone needs to make sure their bike is adjusted to fit their unique body - including adjusting for height and arm length. If you don't, you may regret it later: Rushing into things can lead to injuries and pain. But before you do that, you'll want to make sure you're taking the time to properly adjust your bike. One option is to hop on and jump headfirst into a class. You place the order and wait (sometimes more than 10 weeks depending on the bike) and the day finally arrives - your spin bike is here. You've spent hours reading spin bike reviews and finally decided which one to invest in. Avoid these mistakes when you set up your bike at home.