Too much weight on hands when sitting down

Sorry to ask the 'awkward' question, but is the frame actually just too small?

No feels quite spacious compared to my last bike which was next size down.

It’s a Fuel M/L. I did sit on a large but it felt too big.

Where is the saddle in relation to the BB, compared to your old bike?

I've been having tendonitis issues in my fore-arms, probably due to some over enthusiasm on the gravel bike, and I've found that moving your saddle backwards helps to take a lot of weight off the hands. Your weight distribution is basically a see-saw with the bottom bracket as the pivot, if your saddle is closer to the BB then your weight will tip forward.

As saddle goes back remember to drop it slightly, I think rule of thumb is 3mm drop for every 10mm back.

Watch tilt as well! Amazing how much difference a couple of degrees up or down can make to dumping weight on hands.

Finally, bars up and back obviously helps too. Whilst nursing my tendonitis-y elbows through a very rough Lakes gravel event I went with an 80mm stem almost level with saddle. Makes the bike look like a tourer but is a very effective position, makes the drops much more accessible too which is very useful for descents.

Edit: d'oh! Ignore chat about drops, thought you were on a road bike for some reason 🙄

Beg/borrow/buy used high/riser stem, fit, ride then report back to self

Any chance of a side shot picture with the saddle at full height?

Any chance of a side shot picture with the saddle at full height?

This would be wise, and the same of your old bike too.

Not done the research but could there be an element of new school geometry here too - similar effective top tube length to old bike but more of that made up with reach and less with a slack seat tube angle on the old bike.

It could be the grips, or even the angle the saddle is set up at, tip that forward a bit and it will throw more weight onto the hands.

It might be something you can get used to - in a way more weight on the hands might be a good thing from a handling perspective.

Don’t have any pics but will get some. Old bike was a 2018 alloy Fuel and new one is a 2021 carbon fuel.

Geo has defiantly changed a fair bit over the years. Just might need a bit of tinkering here and there.

My old bars were 760mm with 7 back sweep and stock bars on new bike are 780mm with 9 degree back sweep so that’s a bit of a change too.

Not sure if this is helpful. But geo between older and newer model:

[img] [/img]

As someone above mentioned, it might just be getting used to the new geometry. Been riding the old one for 4 years so it’s a bit of a change.

Could it just be that your core strength needs work?
My various bikes have different reaches and you i can tell a difference in position and amount of lean on my hands but i find that importing my core sorts it out more than changing the bike setup

Try raising the bars slightly and see how that feels. If it gets better then you know you're on the right track!

@grahamt1980 could be. I had time out from biking for a few months and fitness levels are definitely lower.

Would the sweep of the bars have a big effect?

Steeper seat angle and 10mm longer reach, I think both will tip you forward and put more weight on your hands?

Can you measure the tip of the saddle in relation to the BB on the old bike, then adjust saddle on new bike to achieve same position?

Not sure on the effect of bar sweep, more that any changes could impact your body position which will then change your centre if gravity and affect your need for core strength.
I find i need to be much stronger on the hardtail possibly because it has a shorter top tube, but i don't know really

Guess bar width would lean me more on the bars? But 20mm doesn’t seem a huge increase.

Will see if I can get hold of different rise bars and experiment and tilt the saddle a bit.

Ideally should my grips be pretty much saddle level?

Can’t you move some spacers around or is the stem already at the top of the steerer?

Sweep solved some similar issues for me. I have 12 degrees on my singletrack bike and 27.5(!) on my all rounder.

I have 1 5mm spacer above stem, 2 10mm spacers below.

As stated before, it’s easy to slump when riding as the bars can give you support, but that ends up causing hand and arm pain.

You should be able to have your hands swiped off the bars without falling forward, for this you need to have good posture and use the core muscles, it’s the same as slumping in a chair, bug backwards rather than forward due to positioning.

Should add I’m prone to the above on rides, it’s hard to stay in correct posture, the other thing to look for is too much cupping of the wrists with hands on the grips, that’s also east to do as well.

Yeah it might be some more core strength is needed. Few pics, not the greatest but even with the higher rise bar on the new bike the grips are in a lower position to the old bike. There is 10mm or so in it.

I can put the 5mm spacer below the stem. Bars are 27.5mm rise which I thought was plenty and thought front end of new bike would have been higher. But guess the change of geometry has an effect.

[img] [/img]

Could it just be that your core strength needs work?

Definitely this. Do a bit of bouldering or rock climbing to make it fun and you'll be sorted out in no time.

Your weight distribution is basically a see-saw with the bottom bracket as the pivot, if your saddle is closer to the BB then your weight will tip forward.

This is interesting as I’ve always thought the opposite i.e. seat further back puts more weight on your arms as you’re leaning further forward so having to support more of your body.

I’ll have to have a play as if I’m not careful I get really achy shoulders and haven’t really ever properly solved it.

If while sitting on the bike you were to adopt a position where you arent leaning so hard on the palms, what would that position be as opposed to how you feel currently.

Would it be up and to the back ? I kind of think of the position my palms would be resting. So if im leaning on them id want them to be further back, because im not leaning forward, and because my body position has changed, i'd want them up a bit

Normally I'm fine with smaller frames, but the latest ebike is an XL(im 6'3",so XL should be correct) im currently resting too hard on my hands, which is causing pain on the outside of the palms, which i think is the sweep more than anything.

Im going to alleviate the discomfort a bit by opting for foam grips rather than the solid rubber affairs the bike came with.

You probably won’t need more core strength, it’s at the required level through day to day activities, I just get lazy and use my hand and arms to support, it takes a lot of discipline to not just slump and let the hand and arms take over, it’s so easy as they’re already in position to do the work.

I just tend to loosen my grip and straighten my hand supporting the bars (so only a small part of the palm is on the bars) so I then know it’s the core and body being correct, it’s not strenuous or anything, you do more doing no handies or 1 handed riding.

Yeah lazy sounds about right!

Strange thing is the bars with the bike are meant to be 27.5mm rise but they just seem an odd shape. I do have a set of Nukeproof V2 carbon bars to try but they are 25mm rise.

Saddle nose up takes weight off your hand. No core strength needed. 1000 miles touring in a month and not a single ache for me.

Hello jx2a

I have the same issue. Moved to modern long geo bikes (from classic geo from 10 years ago) and get dead / v painful hands within 30mins of riding.

Handlebar height and saddle height relative to ground are same as the old bike but the reach is materially longer.

Presently going through trial and error process of changing one variable at a time: bar height (even tried one of those fork steerer extenders), rotating bars back and forth, saddle back and forth, saddle tilt back and forth. None of which has worked. Next is new shorter stem , new bar, Ergon paddle grips, and if none of that works then frankly a new frame but maybe a bike fit just to see what else I may be missing.

I think steeper seat angles may be playing a part as much as the new norms on reach but I’m definitely no expert. There are a few scholarly articles on the web regarding seat angle and it’s relation to power transfer but nothing I’ve found which really helps or is definitive on the issue you and I seem to be having.

Will try saddle tilt and put my narrower bars on. I just like the sweep more.

I’m one of the odd balls who finds less sweep more comfortable as my writs naturally face inwards more than a normal human lol

Which bike is which, is the grey one or the orange one the new one?

I find that while I've very long legs my arms aren't in ratio, so I run a high-rise bar, a lot of spacers AND have my saddle pushed well forward. And due to my long legs I never can get my saddle anywhere near as low as my bars, so I suppose I've got use to it, especially when I look at old pictures of me on (what are now) tiny 26er's.

Maybe for you it's a bit more playing needed and a lack of core strength?

An old physio of mine who seemed pretty clued up on this (and pretty current, she was doing her PhD at the time) just laughed at the idea of core strength with relation to holding you upper body at 45 degrees to your hips for the duration of your ride. The relevant muscles are tiny, they couldn't support your upper body at that angle for any serious length of time.

I'd understood that the purpose of developing low back muscles is to protect the spine but also to actually develop the muscles themselves so they can cope with the strain they are put under when you're leaning forward on the bars, I think the premise was that a larger or at least more well developed muscle can endure that strain for longer and with less discomfort.

Obviously in general core strength is A Good Thing but I don't believe that you can support the weight of your upper body for the duration of a ride with your low back musclature.

Edit: didn'thurt on here gave me a quick go of his HelloDave which had (to my eye) a crazy steep steep angle. My first thought (given my recent experience) was how much weight it must dump on the hands, but the bars were really swept back so I think by moving seat forward, but hands back, it kept the centre of gravity far enough back to keep the weight off the hands. So I guess maybe it is a function of reach AND saddle position. Compare modern MTB seat angles to the road cycling world and the nearest comparable bikes are time trial bikes, but they have big padded elbow rests so that your hands and forearms aren't taking the weight.

New bike is orange one. Bars are probably level or maybe just below the saddle.

Will have a play around this weekend and see the results.

I have suffered from this on quite a few bikes and jumped on my new one this week and it was the one thing I was frustrated by. I stopped a few times on the ride and adjusted the things taked about above. Started with the bars tilted forward a little more which gave a little extra rise, this had some positive impact. I then stopped again and moved the seat back a few mm and adjusted the tilt upwards a few mm. All 3 of these combined had a noticeable impact, my bike is pretty slack as you can see (gratuitous new bike photo)

I think people underestimate how much higher bars need to be on bikes with longer reach and steeper seat angles. I’m only 5’10.5” yet am running 40mm rise bars on 29” bikes with 160mm forks, the bikes don’t have short head tubes and have fairly low BB’s so the stack is pretty big already. If you’re 6’+ don’t be surprised if you need really high rise bars to get a good fit.

I’m 5ft 10. Might have to look at some higher rise bars as only have 5mm spacer above stem so can’t get the stack much higher.

My renthals are only 20mm rise so maybe it’s time to upgrade to higher rise if I want to use them. I do like the sweep and width as they seem to suit my shoulders and odd wrists.

I prefer the sweep on Renthal bars too - it's a subtle difference but they're about a degree straighter than most. I run the FatBar Lite alloys which are 760 wide 40 rise but they're 770 wide once most single lock-on grips are fitted - good compromise for most situations and I have looooooong arms for my height.

See how the bars feel with the stem at the top of the steerer before spending money on taller ones.

Always a joy to resurrect an old thread!  I found this one whilst searching for the forum's wisdom on precisely this topic.  I've been suffering from pain in my hands whilst sitting for a wee while and I've tried all sorts to fix it.  It's far worse in my right hand (I broke a finger in that hand in a crash a few years ago and always struggled with it since).  I tried saddle back, saddle up, bars up and Ergon GE1 grips - virtually all to no avail.  Though bars up improved handling enormously!  At a bit of a loss.  Think it's gloves with lots of padding to try next.  When I stand up the pain disappears immediately so it's something to do with the weight distribution when I'm sat down, feels like raising the bar height further might help - but I've got no option to move the bars up so I'd be looking at new bars.  I've got a set of Burgtec's on there right now with a 30mm rise.

Have you considered ergon grips?
They are absolutely essential for me.
Literally the difference between being able to ride or not.
Edited: I should have read the whole thread eh😂😂

Might not be the bike but be either your body needs time to adapt to the new position or your core might needing strengthening in order to accommodate the new bike's geometry. I find changing between my own bikes can cause a few odd aches the day after the ride.

Bars with more sweep can help with wrist pain. My wrists ached a bit on my Hello Dave until I fitted a pair of Stooge Moto bars, it probably helped that I already had a pair on my Stooge.

Nice wide sweepy bars with a fair bit of rise too.

Edit: Just remembered that I'm sure the Stooge design (including its bars) were to help lift your weight off the bars as they're rigid bikes. I read somewhere that Jones bikes do something similar, could be coincidence but Jones bars also has a fair bit of sweep to them.

yeah I find sweep can make a big difference, but it can (for me) go too far as well. Try a set of bars off a different bike to see if they make a difference

Remove the 20mm spacer.

Swap in a much higher rise bar (38mm at least, preferably 50mm).

That's what I'd do anyway.

YMMV.