Aaargh my hands, recommend me some kit to stop my hands hurting

Ok started biking again late last year and as the trails have got harder and faster my hands have developed some pain.
Sore thumbs when gripping and what feels like tendonitis in the palms of both hands. After a week off the bike symptoms have only eased slightly. Going to see osteopath tomorrow but also looking for kit recommendations.

Gel gloves, anyone know of some well padded options?
Bar grips, looking for something more forgiving than the stock specialized ones.
Bars, can’t help but feel a bar that curves towards me would help a lot. What’s out there?

“Chewy” Knucklball carbon bars are great for absorbing some vibes, sadly out of stock at PX now, only “hard” left. Don’t know what options are comparable.

ESI Chunky silicone grips are excellent at absorbing vibration, I can’t use ‘normal’ grips now after using these as everything else I’ve tried causes some level of discomfort.

As well as the above, check your lever angle and move your levers away from your grips so you need less effort to brake. Hand pain is often caused by hanging on too tight!

Bike fit? Though it sounds like you are over gripping the bars. Is it on every ride on every type of terrain or only when things get hairy?

Ergon grips, with the little ‘wings’, they spread the same load over a bigger area, thereby reducing pressure.
I literally can’t ride without them now.
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/ergon-gp1-handlebar-grips/ Like these ones.
Other retailers are available 😎

Maybe look at your position and technique too, it could be down to more than just the bar shape / grip compound.

**edit** Ha! Too slow.

Great tips thanks. Agree I am probably gripping too hard on the “knar”.
Riding has got progressively harder as my fitness has improved.

Might be worth looking at you fork sittings too, perhaps set up too hard?

I also like mitts with thick-ash padding. I got some of these last week and I’m pleased with t hem so far: https://www.cyclestore.co.uk/endura_hummvee_plus_2_mitt_2018-ID_75172

Do you have big hands? I use chromag squarewave grips on my single speed and ergon GA2 fat grips on my tail bike as I find “normal” grips too small leading to death grip and numb hands.

SQ labs make some well regarded back swept bars that many claim to have had reduce their hand issues.

But from a vibration/impact comfort point of view fork setting probably make the most difference, followed by tyre pressure then bars/grips.

Rev Grips super expensive but work extremely well.

Specialized Body Geometry Ridge gloves stopped my aching hands, wouldn’t be without them

recently started back? into bikes on a vitus nucleus
even flat riding i was feeling intense pressure in my hands, initially it was on the inside of my hands only
first thing i did was play with bar rotation, until i found even pressure across my hands
pressure was still too much, too much weight on bars
so after ensuring saddle height was correct, i started on the angle, tipping the nose up helped somewhat.. alongside sliding the seat back and forwards.. however i found that had a greater effect on front/rear weighting of the bike so kinda left it central
bike was better by now.. next thing i went for was carbon bars (on sale at £39?) and some DMR deathgrips… hands are starting to get more relaxed on the bar.
Adjusted the position and angle of controls, too much reach or effort on brakes was easily tyring my hands
ive now got it to the point were i can ride on the road with no issues (on back, arms or hands) and hit some trails with minimal discomfort upon completion.
Im now playing with tubeless tyres and a fork upgrade, which may or may not increase comfort but primarily because i ma tinkerer and want to go faster down the hills

or

Specialized Grail

I have two pairs of these arriving tomorrow. Reviews suggest that they might help you.

I have happily used the Specialized BG mitts for years

The Grail are different as padding is in the middle of the palm (not at pressure points)

What helped me was:

Rotating my bar so there is no up sweep. This makes the biggest difference to me.

Spank bars. I had some 777 on my dh bike and loved the bend. Now have the vibrocore bars on both mtb. I think it’s the shape rather than the gunk inside them that makes a bigger difference to me.

Chromag wax grips. There are not lock on so there is more rubber to damp vibrations.

Good luck solving the hand pain

I’ve got some Madison gloves with twin pads on the palm.

https://www.madison.cc/p/roam-men-s-gloves/mcl19s3513

Also I found some vibrocore handles bars quite good at taking out the buzz

edit. What about Ergon grips?

Another vote for grail gloves, make a huge difference for me for numbness, especially for long road rides. ESI super chunky grips make a big difference too. Oury ones are good too. Think bigger grips work for my big hands on the MTB.

I find ESi chunky grips and carbon bars help.

Wolf Tooth fat paw grips are like the ESI ones but even fatter. I use fox ranger gel gloves, they are not soft but the gel pads distribute the pressure.

Another vote for Spank vibrocore bars. I’ve not tried them and think they are ridiculous but maybe those suspension grips might be worth a try? You might have to sell your bike in order to buy a set though.

Lots of things to consider really – just basic things like rotation of the bars / how hard you are gripping the bars – are you tending up too much etc / are your forks setup as good as they could be / tyre pressures too hard / are you in a good position on the bike? All these things you can play with (one adjustment at a time) are free.

After that you could try new grips – are the ones you have too thin or too fat to be comfortable? I’ve settled on Raceface half nelsons which are quite thin – I tried some fatter uberbike and Nukeproof Sam Hill’s but I found they were too big and made things worse.

In terms of tyre pressures I’m now down to 20 psi ish at the front and 25 at the rear – I never go lower but occasionally go higher if I’m going somewhere where I’m worried about pinch flats / denting rims. Generally it gives you an easier time and more grip to run lower pressures.

I found one handlebar I had made me feel uncomfy on the bike – it wasn’t a cheap one (Raceface Aeffect) – and I concluded it didn’t have enough sweep so my hands felt too ‘straight’ on the bars. I picked up a Planet X el guapo which is actually a cheaper bar but had more back and up sweep and I’m much happier on that.

Another small thing, but what angl ehave you got your brake levers at? I always had them about 45 degrees down from parallel with the ground but as I’ve ridden steeper and faster terrain I’ve rotated them back a bit closer to parallel – which stops you being so twisted over the front of the bar. Not a huge adjustment but it made a difference.

Are you mostly sitting? If so, I’ve had that when my saddle is too far forward.

You mention “the trails have got harder and faster”. That suggests not sitting.

Things that work for me:
– fatter grips (Lizard skins North Shore, Ouro)
– rotating bar forwards and a bar with more sweep (currently I prefer the Burgtec shape)
– fork settings (fast rebound as a starter)
– brake lever position (inboard/outboard and flattening them in general)
– getting the skills so I’m braking less – fewer white knuckle moments means a relaxed grip

Any fit recommendation needs to take into account everything that’s currently going on with your fit so needs

ESI Fit XC grips. Extra chunky thickness on the outside, thinner chunky thickness on the inside. Seems to be the best of both worlds. The thinner inside thickness where the forefinger/thump grips seems to give more control, and a bit more ergonomic depending on the angle or your wrist/elbows. So far I prefer over extra chunky.

More expensive though! After a few tree strikes they look a bit tatty.

Osteopath was interesting, think it will help. Certainly seemed to find plenty of tightness in my hands arms and neck.
Grail gloves ordered, so will try them along with brake lever position change for my next ride.
Fingers crossed I can move tomorrow after all the manipulation.

Saddle height & position as well as height of handlebars made a huge difference to me (I went for a bike fit when I was getting hand pain and they changed those aspects rather than handlebar sweep, which is what I thought they’d focus on). I also found changing to gloves with no gel helped (but I have small hands and I think the gel made it harder to grip).