[Closed] Sitting on your hands - Bike setup content

Have you tried different bars, not just 4-6deg sweep, more drastic like 25-45deg.

After the first 5 minutes On-One Fleegles feel completely normal (you may need to find new grips as they suit much longer grips with the brake levers mounted closer to the grip (i.e. not inboard) and saved my wrists and thumbs. They're only ~730mm wide, but because of the angle of your wrists they feel much wider.

I've got Geoff bars on another bike, those are 45deg sweep and feel wierd, comfortable, but I'd not go doing deliberately gnarr jumpy stuff with them. Fleegles just feel like straight bars, but better.

I tried ergon grips, they kinda worked but I found they just moved the problem to another part of my palm.

Yeah I'm not sure about more sweep. Feels like it would put a bend in my wrist.

Get a Chopper?

How's your core? I find if I'm not using my core to keep me upright I end up putting more weight through my hands and wrists. Slouching at a desk and mouse/keyboard work affects my shoulders which pinch my nerves and then gives pins & needles in my hands if I'm not too careful when riding.

Difficult to say but I found that fitting some Ergon GE1 grips gave me just enough added sweep to make "normal" bars comfy without going to 12 or 16 degree sweep which was my next option.

Try some very thin/slim grips.

Extrapolating out to extremes, but imagine hanging on for dear life by your hands - would you rather be hanging under a 1" diameter rope, or a 4" diameter pipe you can barely get your fingers wrapped round?

I found that thinner grips have helped my arm pump a lot (I have tried ergons and various other shaped or big chunky grips). and I don't have particularly small hands either.

Carbon bars? The "chewy" Knuckleballs helped my right wrist in combination with On One Foam grips after my RTA and buying the Wazoo.

No "chewy" left, but there are some "hard" Knuckleballs left at PX for just under £30 using SPRINGFWD20 code.

It's not arm pump. I know what that feels like. It's something about my setup which is causing me to be putting weight through my arms/hands.

It gets better in proper terrain as you're moving about more. It's bimbling I suppose where it is more amplified.

Yeah I’m not sure about more sweep. Feels like it would put a bend in my wrist.

I (and most people who use them) find the opposite, pick up just about any object and your natural instinct isn't to try and hold it 'flat'. Try it with something like a tennis ball at your side, your hand/wrist wants to relax at about 45deg (palm behind your legs, thumb in front).

Only problem is last time I checked the only reasnobly wide version was the 25.4mm non-pro ones. They weigh a ton and have the vibration absorbing properties of scaffold. But I can forgive them and use a shim because they're just so much comfier.

Have you tried adjusting the angle of your brake levers to try and keep your forearms and hands more in line. This will take some of the pressure off your wrists.
I suffer from ulnar neuropathy (cyclists palsy) and getting the angle of the brake levers correct combined with using Ergon GA3 grips has made a huge difference.

As TINAS says, get on planetx.com and buy a few different higher sweep options. even 15 degrees is enough to make a big difference, and they are cheap enough you can try a load of options and funnily enough thanks to Brant I assume they have a really good range of different shapes.

Have you tried saddle fore and aft adustement? Even lowering it a few mm can help. Also stem length and height can make a big difference. What kind of bike is it?

It happens fairly consistently across all my bikes. Full suss, hardtail, fat, half-fat-rigid.

Weight training strengths your hands alot as well as your wrists

I've started using a powerball. It's good but aggravates things too. 😕

Get rid of the Oury grips, I know they seem to have a status of awesome but honestly they suck, I've got big hands and they gave me hand cramp on my home trails (Morzine). Try some Odi Longneck lock-ons.

I think the moral of the story here might be we're all different I am afraid.

For me I tried:-

* spaces under stem up and interestingly down (which helped in my case)
* Ergon grips, I went untrendy with short bar ends (tried going back recently, went back to Ergons)
* Greater sweep bars, I shared your cynicism, but do work had 12 degree bend bars on fat bike and solved it for me (Again you may be different)

I think I'd beg, borrow, steal different bits from your riding mates, by cheap options, tweak adn tune till you are comfortable 🙂

Good luck and happy fettling.

James

It’s something about my setup which is causing me to be putting weight through my arms/hands.

It’s bimbling I suppose where it is more amplified.

Was going to ask if it was a steep seat angle enduro bike but

It happens fairly consistently across all my bikes. Full suss, hardtail, fat, half-fat-rigid

- so, are you quite heavily built up top ie not the average skinny cyclist? Generally sounds like your balance point / C of G is too far toward the bar and not near enough to the pedals/saddle. ie, may need to shift your weight back a bit and moving the saddle back is the easiest way to do that.

I got some ulnar nerve and white finger issues when I was singlespeeding with lock-on grips as a result of the heel of my hands pressing on the locking ring. When I swapped for Ergon paddle-style grips the problems went away.
The downside is that my grip became so relaxed that one time my hand slipped forward down a bumpy section as it wasn't actually holding on. That happens only once.
Oh, and if you tilt the nose of the saddle down a bit on a road bike some people find it reduces the pressure on your hands. Sounds wrong but apparently your core muscles work harder to keep you upright. Since a riding mate did that I copied him and am *almost* ready to accept it's true.

I don't particularly have any problems these days with my wrists unless I decide I'm going to start practising handstands again.. I know what you mean about weight bearing more while bimbling. I try to just grip mostly with fingers to avoid too much weight on palms. Just changing grip around a bit, no hands when possible, really light fingers on top of bars sometimes rather than gripping. Etc. Not really a solution but can help.

– so, are you quite heavily built up top ie not the average skinny cyclist?

How very dare you!...might be. 😉

Yeah, I'm not skinny, but I'm not crazy big like....I don't think.

I've ordered two sets of bars from Planet X with quite pronounced sweep and what have you. I'll try them. In addition to being sweepier, they're a fair bit narrower than my current 780's, although they do say that because of the sweep they feel like wider. We'll see.

I'll try the Ourys on the other bars, then maybe nick the Ergon Ga3's off my fattie and try them.

I'm not holding out much hope really. Things seem to be getting worse for me in the hand department recently. Not good.

I personally find sweep helps a lot, and design my own frames taking actual (swept bar) hand position into account.

Go cut two short stubs of broom handle. Hold them with a relaxed grip and put your arms out at bar width - the relaxed / natural angle of your hands will probably have a surprisingly large amount of "sweep". Why force them out of this position with an almost straight handlebar?

I'm running 16 degree sqlab bars now and hate anything with less angle. Think Salsa and sjs cycles used to have some large sweep options (together with px already mentioned).

Sounds like fit.

I've been trying lots of the LLS geo bikes of late and they are just plain bloody awful in the recommended sizes.

Been causing me much discomfort.

Can you shorten one down, I'm talking the virtual top tube length.

For me it is still a vital measurement to get right as sitting on the bike pedalling is still the position I spend most of my time in.

I prefer that shorter with wide bars.

This takes pressure off the hands and wrists.

Good luck fettling, it's crap when riding is marred by pain.

…might be

Ha, didn't quite mean 'a few extra pounds', more like how some blokes are clearly heavier up top, muscle weighs more than fat etc, it's enough to change bike fit needs for 2 people of the same height and limb length.