DMSPECIALIZED

Hello Community,

I am extremely new to MTB and would like to start with a thank you to anyone who responds.

Ok here is my story:

I am currently 314lbs (Down from 360lbs in January) and just started using a MTB as a form of exercise to supplement my weight training. After long hours of studying up on MTBs I ended up buying a 2007 Specialized Hardrock Sport. I love my bike and started riding the day I purchased it. From trail riding 2 miles the first and second days of ownership and four to five miles on the fifth and sixth days of ownership. BUT...On the seventh day of riding, I went on a "roadtrip" and cycled down to the beach 5.1 miles away from home. This amounts to a round trip total of 10.2 with an average speed of nine miles per hour. Yeah I know I'm a newbie but the problem is........ it is wednesday and my back side is still killing me!! Where did I go wrong? The body geometry saddle that was supplied with the rig is nice, but three days of bottom troubles? Come on give me a break, lol.

The gentleman at the bike store told me that this bike is NOT for long distance riding on the streets and advised me not to commute with it (I told him I would eventually want to commute 18 miles each way to work). Did I go wrong by street riding on the knobby tires? Again I am new to your entire world.

Please be gentle everyone, I am still a bit sore. Lol, I want to learn your world because it brings me to another place, because it is not just hours of repetitions on an elliptical machine.

Thank you again,

-Danny

biffstephens

That is crap info from the bike store...I road my mtn bike (with a body geometry saddle as well) 100 miles in a day....

What are you wearing for shorts?

pj7

I'll be blunt, honest, and man to man here.
The guy at the bike shop needs to shut the hell up. So what if the bike "wasn't" meant for long distance commutes. It WAS meant for mountain biking, and some of us mountain bikers go 15-30 miles at a time, hell I just did 20 Saturday. By the way, I'm a fat-ass, down to 295 from 310, was 360 as you were when I first started.
By the way, I commute 25 miles a day an old mountain hbike that I converted to a commuter, and so do ALOT of people on this board. Get you a second set of tires, something a bit thinner with NO KNOBS and your street riding will be much more enjoyable.
As for your sore butt, it could be just that you are new man. When I had to take a few weeks off for a trip and finally got back in the saddle, my keister hurt for a few days. The first day after the ride was pure hell and I hated sitting on the bench outside of work eating lunch.
I'm sure others will chime in here with talk about getting the right saddle and wot-not... LISTEN TO THEM! I don't have the time right now to go into detail, but a saddle is a big thing when it comes to comfort, and there is a *perfect* saddle out there for you.
I know I'm not much help right now, but I jut wanted to chime in to let you know that we are here and willing to help and someone will be along shortly

audioel

+1 on the tire swap on your mtb. You don't need knobbies unless you're riding dirt/gravel/snow. In most cases even on rougher roads, tires with less tread will grip better.

The saddle pain can be from a couple different things (or both combined): fit, or irritation due to friction.

I've had great luck with the BG saddles - I have one on my mtb myself (i'm uber clyde, 310#). Do some research on how to set up the saddle for fit; angle, height, front-back distance, etc.

If the problem is due more to irritation (broken, chapped skin), stay off the bike for a couple days, keep clean, and use some antibiotic ointment. You should look into getting some actual bike shorts. Aerotech designs makes some very good ones. In addition, you might want to look at using something like bodyglide or butt'r to reduce chaffing & irritation.

I found that my comfort and ability to ride longer distances increased when I figured out the correct fit for my saddle, and also started wearing cycling shorts. I pretty much wear them daily instead of underwear now, since I ride 20-30 miles a day.

Wogster

First, go back to the Specialized dealer, and ask him if he has a butt-o-meter, and make sure the saddle is the right width, your supposed to, sit on the sit bones, and a saddle that is too narrow or too wide, will not work for you. Get the actual width from the measurement, then your not limited to only Specialized saddles in the future. The actual width of your butt, and the width of the sit bones are not related, some people with very wide butts have narrow bones, and some people with narrow butts have wide bones. Women tend to have wider bones then men do, do to the extra "plumbing", however some men have wider bones then others do, and may find they need a womens saddle, just as some women have narrower bones, and might need a mens saddle.

Second, your butt is probably used to soft upholstered chairs and car seats, it's not used to using it's own "padding", with a hard bicycle seat. Butts though, do toughen up after a while, and once it has, then there shouldn't be butt pain.

Tires, there are two kinds of bicycle tire, wide knobby ones, and narrow smooth ones, for the road, you need narrow smooth ones, for off road you need wide knobby ones. You could try cyclocross tires, which are narrower and smoother then MTB tires, and wider and knobbier then road tires. What some folks do, is invest in a second set of wheels, same rim, same hub, same cassette, the difference being the tires and tubes. Then when you want an offroad ride, you put the offroad wheels on, when you want road riding, you put the road wheels on. Others buy another bicycle, and use the MTB for offroad and the road bike for on road.

old and new

Not good advice,there's nothing inherently wrong about riding a mountain bike on pavement.Your butt is sore,you have a ways to go,for now,don't over excersize and don't fret over not being able to ride really far besides,the ride you took is nothing to be ashamed about.It's slow-going for awhile,then you "break-through".I weighed 368 at one point,my first rides were measured in yards not miles,I'm still a slug,I weigh 238 as of ten minutes ago.It was a long road to lose the pounds and a month or two more before I'll cover more than 30 miles in a ride.I've not ridden nearly enough in years,even since the wt.loss.I've done it all before,being fit is more painfull than being inactive.All your body parts need to get into condition.

bdinger

Well, here's some personal experience. I have a '07 Hardrock Sport that I bought last year when I was at ~420lbs. 700 miles later, I picked up a more road-ish bike, but still have the Hardrock. Probably always will, it has almost 800 miles on it, every one of them trouble-free. Needless to say, you made a good purchase.

First, the saddle will take a week or two to get used to. After that, I loved mine. Better than anything else I've had except for my Brooks B-17. But that's another story

Second, the bike is definitely up to a long daily commute. I commuted 16 miles/day last summer to my girlfriend's house, and as I said, no problems. The wheels are still true as new. Two weeks ago I did 20 miles on it, no problems at all.

That being said, if I was doing it again I would have put slicks on it from the start. The stock tires are big resistant balloons. My average speed on that bike is ~13mph. On my new Trek 7.3 FX I average above 15mph, now close to 16mph. This is on ~15 mile rides.

Anyway, ride it and enjoy it. I love my Hardrock, and will probably keep for a good long time.

DMSPECIALIZED

Thank You Everyone!

I need this communal support to back up my hypothesis of "my sit bones need time to adjust".

Truthfully I am amazed that for the amount of riding my novice a$$ has withstood, I do not have saddle sores or any type of chafe happening right now.

I didn't think the hurt in the sit bone region would last more than a day or two. The first few rides I became sore throughout my body which is understandable for a first time MTBer. But this pain....oooh aaaah when I went to get out of my RECARO racing seats in my car and I caught the thigh support right in between the sit bones AAAAHHHH man. Still walking a bit funny.

I understand that the gentleman at Specialized may have over exaggerated the "fact" that I can not ride my MTB to work. Nevertheless, the "balloons" aka my tires that I am riding on are 2.10" of road resisting knobs. At about fourteen miles an hour on a descend I sound like a monster truck hauling a$$ down the sidewalk..ha ha.

Wow anyway, thank you for the vast amount of information you have all provided. I am definitely shopping around for a Brooks B-17, If anyone knows of a bargain, shoot me the info on a pm.

So the derriere is going to heal up eventually...THANK YOU MTB SEAT GODS!

Be safe Everyone,

-Danny

Wino Ryder

Yeah Danny, It sounds like you just mainly need more saddle time, time for your sit bones and surrounding tissue to acclimate to riding a bike. Its good that you dont have any chaffing or rubbing going on down there that would really make it uncomfortable to ride. A good pair or two of quality cycling shorts would surely help. You should consider maybe getting a new saddle, specifically a Brooks B-17 or the new B-68 saddle. With the relatively upright riding position you have on your Hardrock, both these saddles would be ideal and would most likely end whatever posterior issues you may have.

~welcome to the forums

fig

So is it sit bone pain, or tail bone pain? I found that when I started biking again, the way my particular bike was set up, I was sliding down the seat (toward the handlebars) and ended up putting a lot of pressure on my tailbone. I would get into bed at night, and tucking in my legs would send a stabbing pain up my spine. I ended up tilting the seat back a little to keep my rear from drifting forward, and problem solved.

Seat position is critical, and a hard thing to narrow down sometimes. I just went through about 3 saddles on my road bike, and about 3 weeks of adjusting to finally get a bike I can ride without pain or irritation. Don't be afraid to move the seat around and experiment. Your rear end will thank you.

geo8rge

Knobby tires reduce efficiency and may produce vibrations that bother you. They do keep your tube away from the road reducing flats.

You may need more rests, more break in time. Some people like Brooks ($$) saddles, I cannot say for sure. You may want to more upright handle bars, perhaps you are leaning foward, or perhaps the opposite. There are many variables you can change. Raise lower the seat post. ect.

The MTB frame is find for commuting, the rest of the set up might be less than optimal.

andymac

Pretty much everyone immediately recommends getting rid of the knobby tires on a mountain bike and going to slicks. My opinion is that you should consider what you want to do with the bike before making this step. Do you want to commute or do you want to mountain bike and if the answer is "both" then are you willing to put the time into changing tires regularily? Do you want to be able to pull off the road on a whim and ride off on a trail?

Slicks or inverted tread tires do not mean that you can not ride the bike off road but it can limit your ability to get through muck, ride over wet wood and get through soft packed sand and dirt. If you are strictly on packed dry trails your tire choice will not make much difference but in other conditions you are probably not going to feel that secure on slicks. You can buy tires that are a compromise between road and trail that may suit your needs. You will notice that practically everyone that sticks with cycling actually deals with this issue by buying a second, third, fourth ...... bike so they have a bike that matches what they are wanting to do at the time. This also lets you have something to ride while you do maintenance on one of your bikes.

Personally I rode my hard tail mountain bike with 2.35" knobbies on my 34 mile round trip commute today as it was one of those days I felt like catching air off the speed bumps and I may ride one of the trails by my house for the last couple miles of my return trip. It is lots more work with the more upright position and the huge tires but I can still hang with my riding partner at 20+ mph on the flats, I wouldn't do it every day but it is nice to shake it up once in awhile.

DMSPECIALIZED

I purchased my bike with pure intent on "off-road only" riding. BUT after the past few rain storms the trails were washed out and muddy. So I had to use the streets to break in my new stallion (Specialized Hardrock). I do not want to commute to work everyday, nevertheless I want to eventually get up to the fitness level necessary to attain such a riding distance and work a ten hour day. Currently I ride around the condo complex I live in [I]and[I] through the many trails I have access to locally.

I love riding and am not going to give it up because it is a pain in the tush. I went out today and rode a five mile hybrid course by including both my complex and the trails. It feels great to exercise and see different things all at the same time. People are getting used to seeing my large self flying by on the walkways through my complex. I get a big smile and a wave from the majority, I feel they know I am doing it for exercise purposes and not to stir up the dogs in my neighborhood. Lol, well any hoot, thank you all again.

Be safe everyone,

-Danny

SmackDab

I'm a returning rider (40 years off of bikes), rode a couple times last fall with significant discomfort for a few days after riding. This spring I changed the seat (or should I call them saddles?) on the bike, didn't notice much discomfort till a while after getting home. (This was my first ride of the year)

This time the discomfort was less and was gone the next day.

Thanks all for the helpful hints on how to sit, hope to eventually discover my sit bones (or whatever bone it is) do their adjustment.

breadbin

You sound quite excited about riding your new bike, good stuff. Its great to see. I'd agree with a previous poster, don't rush out and buy slicks, just make sure your wheels are pumped up though especially for the roads. It makes it easier to go. I get that feeling of monster truck madness too sometimes. it doesn't help when some guy on a racing bike flies past you but take the rough with the smooth

edit:although saying that, as soon as you probably do get slicks you'll never look back

ScotteeD

There is always the option of going down to a 26 x 1.5 knobby tire that's a trail and urban combo. The Continental Rooster is a great tire.

Also, a softer saddle does not always mean a more comfortable ride, everybody's sit bones respond differently .

badgermac

bdinger can elaborate but I think he did this as well to his Hardrock and loves it. I had planned on doing this but am going to keep the knobbies on mine since I Have the GIant now for road-hauling.

Tom Stormcrowe

Get some slicks for the road, and keep the Knobs for mud. You can go a couple of ways here, get a spare wheelset for the other set of tires, or spend about 15 minutes changing out the tires if you're going on the dirt.

People have used converted mountain bikes to tour from coast to coast, after all.

bdinger

I did, and I absolutely LOVE it. I'm running 26 x 1.50 Nimbus Armadillos, and they are a great mix of tough + fast. Last Saturday I did a nice 50 miler, and while I was slower than I would have been were I on my Trek FX, it wasn't bad. To test myself I did a 8.8 mile "I need to get back to town NOW" sprint right at 30 minutes. That's on a highway with rolling hills, but still not bad for a big heavy dude on a big heavy mtb! And it proved to my wife that yes, if I need to, I can get back into town NOW if she goes into labor while I'm on a bike ride!

Anyway, highly endorse the Nimbus Armadillos. They are spendy, if you are on a budget just go with the regular 26 x 1.50 Nimbus, but man are they good. Turns the HR into a urban assault device!

For dirt I'm running 26x2 Fast Trak's. Well.. will be, as soon as I ever need to put them on..

Richard_Rides

For the saddle I highly recommend the Brooks Flyer.