Lower backpain+dual suspension

[Mojoman]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I discovered a few days ago that my Gobi saddle was broken so this was allowing quite a bit of 'bounce' when I was sitting and peddling. I also took a shock pump with me on a ride and brought the rear shock pressure up quite a bit, it was around 100psi, it is now about 150psi. This has made some difference, I will also go for a fitment when funds allow. Since posting this I have done another 60km and have a little backache (now its hard to tell as I am using a crap old saddle until I sort out my Gobi) but nothing like what I felt a few days ago. The rear shock is a Xfusion O2 RL, so its either on or off and has rebound. I will fiddle with that this afternoon. Kind of missing the simplicity of my old donkey GT HT!

[Sacrosanct]

Find out how to stretch your hip flexors. Took away my lower back pain...

[D Vader]

I had the same problem on DS, lower back pain went away when switched to hardtail.

It seems on the DS that your lowerback has to be stabilised as it is the fulcrum around which you pedal, there needs to be a relatively stable point from which your legs can push, this 'fulcrum' moves slightly more on a DS, so your lowerback has to try to stabilize this for your legs.

On a hardtail, your seat does not move ( much) and thus your legs can 'grip' the saddle as a stable point.

A strong core will go a long way to negating this problem. The rest of your setup obviously needs to be correct also.

SS improved my back even further, as the need to stand more, improved my gluteal muscles, and these balanced my previous overuse of quads.

[Enticement]

It is critical important to define whether the back pain is only on one side or both sides. If only on one side, it could be as a result of a too narrow saddle, meaning that you constantly shift around to get rid of the "wedgy" effect - you will then also experience chafing on one side. There are also numerous other causes, like leg length discrepancy (if so, tibia/fibula or femur), natural back arch, saddle height, saddle position, etc. The best solution is to have a proper biometric analysis done by a biometric technician that will use that information to do a proper body-bike set-up. Furthermore, this should be a dynamic process because your body continually adapts regarding pedal strength, flexibility etc.

[jules1976]

also just swopped over to DS from a HT

 

im a tall guy tad under 2m and have had no issues with lower back pains.

 

set up was done once i had the conversion done.

 

i lock out the rear shock on climbs.

 

checking the sag on the rear suspension make a world of a difference as well.

[Mojoman]

also just swopped over to DS from a HT

 

im a tall guy tad under 2m and have had no issues with lower back pains.

 

set up was done once i had the conversion done.

 

i lock out the rear shock on climbs.

 

checking the sag on the rear suspension make a world of a difference as well.

Isnt it counter productive though to be locking out the shock on climbs (like going up Breedts for example)?

One of the reasons I went DS was so I could have better climbing grip.

[Mojoman]

It is critical important to define whether the back pain is only on one side or both sides. If only on one side, it could be as a result of a too narrow saddle, meaning that you constantly shift around to get rid of the "wedgy" effect - you will then also experience chafing on one side. There are also numerous other causes, like leg length discrepancy (if so, tibia/fibula or femur), natural back arch, saddle height, saddle position, etc. The best solution is to have a proper biometric analysis done by a biometric technician that will use that information to do a proper body-bike set-up. Furthermore, this should be a dynamic process because your body continually adapts regarding pedal strength, flexibility etc.

After a dull day in the office (thanks Vodacon for not letting me have signal today!) I see there is a 2cm difference in handlebar height on my old donkey GT and the new bike (new bike being lower). Donkey also has riser bars and the DS has straight bars.

Edited September 27, 2012 by Mojoman