Collective single track mind.. help me out!
Been riding a Cotic soul for a couple of months. After a while, wherever I ride, I get bad hand pain both sides in the joints of the fingers. Its not necessarily related to braking but heavy braking doesn't help. Round Bristol its just about bearable, had to come down the fire road at Cwmcarn today halfway down as couldn't bear it anymore. Road a friends steel frame and an Orange 5 to see the difference- less vibration and I think had the damage not already been done today I would have been alright. My friends rode my bike- said it felt like there wasa strange vibration at all times and quite crashy. Fork and everything else is smooth...
Its a Cotic Soul frame, just serviced Fox F120 fork (new seals/oil), this was done at a bike shop so crown race etc all fine. This was happening before the service and I bought a carbon bar from here to see if it helped... unfortunately it didn't. Otherwise its a Chris King headset and XT front wheel- all seems to be working fine.
Anyone got any ideas? Its got to be something simple but its really beginning to affect my enjoyment of riding...
what pressure do you run your tyres at? forks locked out? rebound set to too fast? headset loose?
Gripping bars to tight?
tyres started today about 40, then let out. forks on slow rebound, headset no creaking etc.
dont think im gripping too tight, felt much more comfortable on friends bikes...
spoke tension done up silly tight?
Brake levers far away from bars? Do you have any reach adjustment on your brakes? That is where I would start.
I'm guessing grips, or back sweep angle of the bars? Will your mate let you swap his bars/Grips onto yours for a ride?
good suggestions... how would i tell with the spoke tension?
grips i changed to some thick superstar ones a few rides back- helped a little but not a lot...
will try bringing brakes closer...
this is good stuff guys
Did you recently put on a longer stem? Might be worth considering a shorter stem to try and push the weight off your hands and back to you feet/arse?
Had hand pain a few years back after breaking my wrist. Used ergon grips for a number of months and they were great. A few friends use them all the time
Also, try dropping your heels more on descents. This puts any braking force through the pedals, instead of through your hands on the bars.
I also find when I'm out of the saddle, moving round on the bike, I don't grip as hard, reducing hand fatigue.
Hope you get it sorted!!
stem is very short... was even thinking about putting longer one on...
Surely a longer stem would put more of your body weight on your arms ?
Brakes in line ok? As in pointing down so your not grabbing up for them?
As in pointing down so your not grabbing up for them?
Pointing down bad, quite high good.
bad hand pain both sides in the joints of the fingers
I had similar occasionally with a pair of Domains with a medium spring, switched to a soft one and it didn't happen again.
I was told it was caused by death grip, but I know it wasn't.
This may be of no help to you 🙂
Too much "gentle mans relief"?
From what Rob H said above, what pressure is your fork at, and what weight are you?
Check your brakes aren't positioned too far inboard so you're stretching to reach them - could be putting strain on your fingers, and check angle and reach of levers as said above.
Also look at saddle angle - might be tilted forward putting extra weight on arms?
Might be a daft question but has anything changed recently? New gloves/grips or changed any angles?
Thanks guys great tips- ill check fork pressures again but were done fairly recently... Ill try saddle/ angle/reach breaks first.. Determined to sort this out.
And well done bobby- you just made my wife laugh out loud... Dont think my issue is 'cough' caused by your suggestion!
must be my mind sorry,it was the first thing i thought of...i only get sore hands when i hang on for grim death...relax is the byword
How old are you? I get pain in my knuckles too, but didn't used to. I'm pretty sure it is just my 34 year old joints getting creaky after years of riding, but more likely years of using a mouse all day. I found it worse with thin grips (renthal) but better with thicker ODI grips.
I had a similar problem for a while and it turned out it was a mixture of new gloves (too much padding around the palm) and grips that were too thick.
Another one for gloves, and could try ergon grips, both of which helped my wife