Incorrect on taking care of your body (PT, yoga, strength and mobility training etc) _**before**_ adjusting your bike.
First of all, some (most for short or tall people) bikes are truly set up very wrong. Using an amazingly strong and flexible body to adapt to this is not the way to go.
Second, even if your bike fit is ‘good’ for someone with good strength, mobility and range of motion, if _you_ don’t have that, you still need to adjust _your_ bike at this time, so you don’t hurt.
Bike fit is instantaneous. Body work takes a fair amount of time.
If you do the body work, and your body changes, then it’s time to revisit your fit and _maybe_ (but often not) adjust back to what you had before, but in the meantime, _**fit your bike to the body you have now**_.
You are of course correct that a higher rise bar does not offer a different position than a lower rise bar with a theoretical stem that provides the same vertical and horizontal placement.
The reason to use a high rise bar is that stems are so short these days, even very high angle stems don’t provide much rise, so you don’t have that option.
It would be nicer if bike brands specced decent stack heights on their XL and XXL frames, but for aesthetics (I assume) they don’t.
It’s weird when the saddle height on an XXL frame is 6” higher than on size S, but the headtube is only 1 or 2” taller.
July 7, 2021, 7:11 a.m. - Tjaard Breeuwer
Incorrect on taking care of your body (PT, yoga, strength and mobility training etc) _**before**_ adjusting your bike. First of all, some (most for short or tall people) bikes are truly set up very wrong. Using an amazingly strong and flexible body to adapt to this is not the way to go. Second, even if your bike fit is ‘good’ for someone with good strength, mobility and range of motion, if _you_ don’t have that, you still need to adjust _your_ bike at this time, so you don’t hurt. Bike fit is instantaneous. Body work takes a fair amount of time. If you do the body work, and your body changes, then it’s time to revisit your fit and _maybe_ (but often not) adjust back to what you had before, but in the meantime, _**fit your bike to the body you have now**_. You are of course correct that a higher rise bar does not offer a different position than a lower rise bar with a theoretical stem that provides the same vertical and horizontal placement. The reason to use a high rise bar is that stems are so short these days, even very high angle stems don’t provide much rise, so you don’t have that option. It would be nicer if bike brands specced decent stack heights on their XL and XXL frames, but for aesthetics (I assume) they don’t. It’s weird when the saddle height on an XXL frame is 6” higher than on size S, but the headtube is only 1 or 2” taller.