[Closed] New rigid bike - long ride - palms destroyed

Slightly bigger front tyre and tubeless?

Was going to suggest chewy Knickleballs with their foam grips, but currently, that will set you back ~£88, rather than the ~£39 I paid last year! 😯

Obvious answer is to fit some suspension forks, I wouldn't dream of doing long rides FR these days.
But trying different grips would be the easiest thing. ESI chunky would be a good place to start.

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some ideas....
- thickest foam grips you can find
- big volume front tyre running with the lowest pressure you can get away with
- try and keep the weight to the rear on the descents i.e. off the front wheel

Ergon grips and Crank Bros Cobalt 11 bars.

Gloves?

I always find (like saddle recommendations) that grips can be quite a personal thing.
My father loves foam grips.
Others I know rave about ergon style ones. I've tried Esi but wasn't overly impressed and now stick with anything that has that mushroom groove like Odi Attacks of old!

As suggested above, play around with tyre pressures. Maybe less death grip too which can happen if you aren't used to bouncing around on a rigid bike IME.

Frame has a straight headtube so no nice bouncy forks for me. It was the one thing that nearly put me off the bike, but I sold it to myself on the basis it would remove the temptation to spend more money on nice bouncy forks.

I was thinking about 3" tyres (currently 2.8s) but not sure how much I'll gain and 3" tyres ain't cheap. The current setup is said to go up tubeless fairly easily (though I've never done tubeless before) so I'll try that. I was running relatively high pressures to avoid the puncture fairy (timed event and only had a 2.4" spare tube) and because it was dry, which won't have helped.

Even £39 for grips makes me weep a bit. Still, at the time, if someone had offered me those weird suspension grips from a while back that are like £150 I'd probably have bitten their hand off.

Good advice about weighting back.

You might have too much weight on your hands - tilt the saddle back slightly?

Also get used to changing hand position if you can. More difficult on a flat bar, but I tend to move thumbs to the top of the grip on flat bits to relieve pressure, or move hands inward for a bit. This is the main advantage of loop bars, having different places to put your hands. Keeping them in one place hurts after a while. And yes, less death grip, riding lighter on rough bis and different line choices!

EDIT - definitely go softer with front tyre then

Should point out I was wearing gloves (my old Fox fingerless ones, always been fine before).

I was conciously trying not to death grip, but probably was because speed=pain (even though also, braking=pain).

Tubeless and comfy grips - esi chunkies should do it. No need for massive tyres, carbon bars or wotnot.

Yep, I kept shifting my hand position to anything I could think of, only to realise that I'd already tried them all and all of them hurt.

I've never been a fan of loop bars and the like because I don't really like anything with backsweep, but maybe it's time to give it a try.

I recently switched to rigid forks. With 25mm rise 720mm bars, Ergon grips and 2.25 tubeless Crossmark @15 PSI the bike is very comfy.

I got the rigids for the time I service my bouncy forks, but now I think I'll stay with the Project Two for longer!

Blisters are nothing to do with needing suspension or a bigger front tyre. Grip, gloves and riding position.q along with having baby soft hands. Go to decathlon and buy several different grips and experiment. Then consider some other bars. You seem to be happy with the gloves so I would leave them for now.

Tipping the saddle back is the wrong thing to do! It will mean that the saddle keeps pressing on your perineum which will become sore which will force you to put more pressure on your hands. Tilt the nose of your saddle down by about 5-10 degrees. This will encourage your core muscles to engage properly and release pressure on your hands.

I was having similar problems, actually it was numb ring and little fingers, on long rides even with front suspension. Once I'd made the above change I no longer have the problem even though the bike is now fully rigid and I'll do multi-day rides of 12hrs or more.

Foam grips and softer bars help, even just more expensive aluminium ones (EC70 flat bars on my el-mariachi).

But the best combination I've found was relatively normal grips and Endura FS-260 aerogel mits. The padding is thicker than most grips, so you get all the advantages of thick grips (comfort) with the advantages of thinner grips (hand wraps round the bar and distributes the pressure better).

Jones bars for the win!

Girvin flex stem!
Or a modern equivalent - there are a few available.

When I went to a rigid bike ESI chunkys, an On One Chunky monkey 2.4 on the front tubeless with 15-20psi and bars with some back sweep sorted it right out,

I built my longitude with stiff alloy bars, was quite harsh on the wrists. Then switched to Chewey Knuckleball - much improved. Used same ESI grips with both bars. Running 3" front tyre here.

Frame has a straight headtube so no nice bouncy forks for me.

Straight as in 1 1/8" rather than tapered, or straight as in threaded?

If straight, surely you can either find some secondhand older Rebas/whatever, or get a headset adapter of some sort?

Also tubeless. Then run your front tyre at sub 30psi.

EDIT: it's a Genesis Longitude? Get some straight steerer 1 1/8" forks already.

Girvin flex stem!
Or a modern equivalent - there are a few available.

Just ride with the front QR undone, it feels about the same.

Light hands heavy feet as they say

25.4 bars and stem would help.

Should point out I was wearing gloves (my old Fox fingerless ones, always been fine before).

Try riding without gloves, or look at thinner ones? chunky, padded palms can bunch up and cause blisters and force you to grip tighter as they squirm.

There's lots of things to try of course:

Foam or suitably squidgy rubber grips (already suggested)
Look at brake/gear lever positions?
look at the bar rotation?
larger volume tyre(s)?
lower pressure(s) in tyres?
more flexy/shock absorbent bars?

Yep, 1 1/8" straight head tube. I know there are suspension forks out there, but I'd like to keep it rigid if possible. Blistered palms aside, I do love the bike the way it is.

Try riding without gloves, or look at thinner ones? chunky, padded palms can bunch up and cause blisters and force you to grip tighter as they squirm.

This is a good point, I've had the bunching up thing before, but not with these gloves. Pretty certain that's not what's caused it this time.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm probably going to order some ESI Chunky grips, get the tyres set up tubeless, and play around with rolling the bars and tilting the saddle to get the position right, and see how that changes things.

I've just realised good old fashioned bar ends would be an easy way to get another hand position.

nixie - do you feel a 3" tyre makes a lot of difference, generally I mean, not just to comfort?

The current setup is said to go up tubeless fairly easily (though I've never done tubeless before) so I'll try that. I was running relatively high pressures to avoid the puncture fairy (timed event and only had a 2.4" spare tube) and because it was dry, which won't have helped.

Suspension hubs? Yes, they are a real thing!
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You might have too much weight on your hands - tilt the saddle back slightly?

if you want erectile disfunction.

move the saddle back or forward but keep it flat

2.8's at ~12psi soak up a LOT of trail chatter.
I'd definitely start with going tubeless and bringing pressure down.

Hhmm blisters are usually about friction and heat. I expect Handlebars, suspension etc will not help with friction and heat. Maybe different gloves and different grips might. But I expect would still be an issue just maybe / hopefully for you finding the right combo means not so much. If not due to friction or heat see a doctor asap as could be a bigger health problem when blisters appear without these.

I have a rigid fortitude, and found tubeless and titec bars did the trick for me (couldnt afford jones loop bars)

I've got the same bike, 2017 longitude (fist bump) and found the stock bars too wide and the grips too hard (although they are great now I've put them on my hardtail!). I switched to on-one OG bars with a 70mm stem and Superstar silicon grips. Feels much nicer after a short test ride, although the swept bars probably aren't as good for technical riding. Definitely try lower pressures in the tyres, you want to be able squeeze them easily by hand and I although I haven't converted to tubeless yet, it's the next thing on my list!

I reckon you're just gripping the bars too tightly. I ride rigid bikes a lot (from Fat, through B+, 29er, Graaaavel and CX) and never have any issues with blisters on my hands.

Jones loop bars and foam grips, combined with, a 3.25" tyre like the Vee Buldozer, run tubeless at about 12psi. Or ditch it and buy a Jones Plus 😉

£3.50 foam grips off eBay & 19psi in the front trail king 2.2

My rigid bike has On One Fleege bars and Ergon grips. The higher sweep makes my hands at a better position and the grips fit perfectly to support my whole hand. When I ride a normal bike now it feels like all the weight is on the outside of my hands.

I ride it long distances, in fact it's my distance/adventure bike. It took me a while to learn to take it easy on descents after years of pinning them on FS 🙂

To be fair you've just done a massive ride over rough terrain on a rigid bike. I'd be surprised if it didn't hurt 🙂

It's taken me awhile to get my longitude comfy but the most important was tubeless and less than 20psi in the front as a few folk have already mentioned.

I also went for mouldable grips( the ones you put in hot water) and the Stooge Moto Bar which is ace......

I always have at least one non sus bike in the collection. Don't death grip the bars and I'd expect the grips are the issue. Try foam - Ritchie comp or esi are both good.

I also get blisters with rubber grips. You sweat which causes slip so grip harder to compensate.
And as has been said, it's a fairly long ride to try a new bike.

Needing tubeless, new bars etc is complete crap.

Road gloves
Less pressure
Lossen up your upper body
Go faster

Big tyres. It's all about the big tyres 🙂

nixie - do you feel a 3" tyre makes a lot of difference, generally I mean, not just to comfort?

I've never used a smaller tyre on the front of this bike and went straight to tubeless. I've used around 12psi over roots this winter and around 14psi for 100 miles in two days bike packing. The front 3" did offer more comfort than the rear 2.8". WTB bridger front and trailblazer rear.

Esi extra chunky and spank Vibrocore bars

Riding position. Your body hasn't evolved to take impacts through your upper limbs. Not a problem with suspension, but on a rigid bike I'd suggest a position where most of your weight is on your feet.

Another suggestion is bars with a parallel grip, ie straights with bar ends, or dropbars.

I ride rigid exclusively and I find a dropbar lets my hands hook in so I can ride with a really loose grip. A bar end with a slight tweek up at the end would be just as good for that, but the dropbar also gives you an alternative position which is useful on a long day.

[url= http://g-tedproductions.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/drop-bar-for-mountain-biking-part-i.html ]Worth a read[/url]

Suspension hubs? Yes, they are a real thing!

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/revolution-suspension-grips-review-2016.html

Seriously though, they might help?

I like 'OURY' grips (got mine from on-one)

The endura fs 260? are a good idea, but maybe swap on the descents for something like this...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292097857884

My bike looks like a Raleigh chopper (well the bars are way higher than the seat...maybe not too good for the climbs?)