Bike fit - Handlebar soreness

Is it sore hands like numbness / pins and needles? Too much weight on the bars you'd think about shortening the reach, not extending it. Longer stem would make the problem worse, other things being equal. Flat bar quite different to a gravel bar though.

Are the saddles similar? When dealing with numb or sore hands you need to plant that ass on the saddle, should feel very connected at the back and through the core. If you're sort of collapsing forward through some combination of saddle shape / angle / weak core it will tend to pile weight onto the bars.

Exactly same saddle I made quite sure I got all same saddles on all bikes 

Could it be saddle angle? Something I haven't checked?

Same saddle on an MTB and road bike will feel completely different due to your body position. Gravel should be somewhere in between.

Do you actually want the same body position on a gravel bike and MTB?

I’d have thought you’re far more sat up on an MTB (I may be wrong) and the same contact points will move you too far forwards at the bar. Which is a longwinded way of saying as above try a shorter stem. 

Surely the fit and saddle position can't transfer from a gravel bike to a mountain bike? I'd have thought the geometry was too dissimilar...?

When I bought my new MTB, I discovered quite quickly that the bars were uncomfortable, a lot of jarring came through. Solved by replacing them with a carbon bar bought in the dying days of the CRC firesale for £15 instead of £175!

Solved the problem straight away, the extra vibration damping on carbon worked a treat. The issue was simply that the cheap OEM aluminium bars were rock solid. 

Lots of possible components

 Agree about saddle shape with the poster above.   

Is it an FS bike and is everything measured static or sagged?  

If you've copied reach, bar drop etc have you compensated for the bars being wider which effectively makes your cockpit longer between contact points? 

I found the Road Cycling Academy guy on YouTube one of the best at explaining stuff.  He doesn't really do mountain bike content but the main principles should hold other than you obviously have other compromises in terms of more standing up time. 

There's some interesting and sometimes (to me) counter intuitive stuff around shoulders and arms and how that interacts with your pedalling position and bar height.  

For example

Yeah, don't assume a saddle that works on your road bike means it will work on your MTB, the body position is different. As for sore hands, shorter reach or riser bars would be something to try in order to shift some of your weight back to the saddle and off your hands.

Can't see how a bike fit on a road or gravel bike with drop bars with hoods and hands in that position would translate at all to an MTB with flat bars

What’s the damper like in your forks? When I upgraded mine some hand pain disappeared. Also try different bars. 

Posted by: kerley

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Can't see how a bike fit on a road or gravel bike with drop bars with hoods and hands in that position would translate at all to an MTB with flat bars

My first thought - gravel bike is presumably riding on the hoods, so hands in a more natural "big fish" orientation; MTB flat bar has the elbows out, more torsion through the wrists, and inherently a different kind of fit, unfortunately. 

I've just had a glance at my bikes and the nose of the saddle falls just (2"ish - all slightly different) behind the centre of the cranks on my MTB's. On my gravel bike the nose of the saddle is in line roughly with back of the (big - on a double set up) chainring. The reach on my gravel bike is much, much shorter than my MTB's as you might expect - and it's a medium, where all my MTB's are a traditional large.

I couldn't imagine trying to mirror a gravel bike set up on my MTB or vice versa. I don't know how bike fit works exactly, but can you have a separate one for your MTB?

I generally set up a bike roughly how I think it will feel right and then play around from there, but find changes as small as 5mm here and there, or a degree or so of bar roll can make a big difference

I get constant pins and needles - im convinced it's nothing to do with the bars, grips or position - but the gloves i wear (pressure on tips of fingers from poor fit) and the possibility of pinching nerves somewhere else in the body.  Only happens in my right hand too which makes me think it's not the setup. 

Posted by: Sui

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I get constant pins and needles - im convinced it's nothing to do with the bars, grips or position - but the gloves i wear (pressure on tips of fingers from poor fit) and the possibility of pinching nerves somewhere else in the body.  Only happens in my right hand too which makes me think it's not the setup. 

I don't realise I'm doing it until I catch myself and adjust, but I often end up riding with my wrists in this position

I suffer with numb hands and probably reynauds on my bike and put it down partially to me doing this. Try angling your levers down a bit more, I find it helps (maybe)

My first thing would be to have a play with the bar rotation. As you roll it fore and aft it will change the reach slightly and which part of your hands bears the load of your weight. This has the benefit of being a free change.

Posted by: Sui

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I get constant pins and needles - im convinced it's nothing to do with the bars, grips or position - but the gloves i wear (pressure on tips of fingers from poor fit)

Eeesh, that's rough. Specialized (used to?) do some Body Geometry gloves which added padding to counter-intuitive spots (the actual palm rather than the heel of the hand, for example) and I found them really good. 

Another random thought is when running I get pins and needles in my toes, and it seems to be from cramp in my calves; not sure if there might be an equivalent in shoulders and fingers?

All good thoughts thanks guys. 

When I say I copied my gravel bike fit I only did saddle height and position of the saddle.

Couple things it also could be:

Added weight due not riding for quite a while, something I'm on with changing.

I do get some pain in my left elbow during other activities (Mind out the gutter thank you!)

Those gloves btw: https://www.specialized.com/us/en/mens-body-geometry-sport-gel-long-finger-gloves/p/156925?color=248780-156925

...and from the product page:

When I say I copied my gravel bike fit I only did saddle height and position of the saddle.

That's all you can do I suppose as the rest of the bike is different so even if it puts you in the correct seating position it may mean when you reach for bars they are in a completely difference place (lower, nearer/further away, wider) so the fit is not the same at all

All of the above plus other things to try including wedge shaped grips (less likely to death grip), grips with a gap in the plastic insert under the palm (Burgtec?), 31.8mm bars

I don't think anybody else mentioned them, but Ergon grips have made hand numbness a thing of the past for me. They do different models for different types of riding, but most of them help support the base of the palm and also fill in the "hollow" part in much the same way as the Specialized Grail gloves, I haven't used padded gloves since I fitted them to all my bikes.

Any kind of acute numbness in the hands is a honkin big warning sign that you need to do something drastic in order to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome.

its not sufficient just to try different gloves or grips. You’re just slowing down (slightly), the inevitable.

you’ll also need to factor in longer brake/ gear/ dropper cables to go with a much, much higher bar with significant back sweep.

i also swapped out the wheel on my 29er for a 27.5 with a 2.3 tyre. That helps a lot by dropping the rear end about an inch. Loads more pedal strikes!!!

It’s a good idea to combine the upswept bars with an adjustable angle stem, just to help dial in your position.